All I did was lunge for the basketball in the grass behind the goalpost--
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from: Chiggers

by Lee Townsend and Mike Potter, Extension Entomologists

University of Kentucky College of Agriculture
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...The larval chigger is an active creature that moves to the tip of grasses and fallen leaves to wait for and grab onto a passing meal. Rodents are a common host but chiggers can attack a variety of other animals and humans. Chiggers move to a feeding spot (ears of rodents, around the eyes of birds, or where clothing is tight on humans) and attach themselves tightly to the skin. After secreting digestive enzymes, they suck up liquefied host tissues. They neither suck blood nor burrow into the skin. The rash and intense itching associated with chiggers is an allergic reaction to the mite's salivary secretions...
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With the abundant spring rains and big yellow Mexican Poppies still in bloom, we must accept the lovely chigger, invisible to the naked eye but oh so insistent on being noticed.

Let's be fair. We all must eat to survive. Chigger larvae included. I too am part of the food chain--