Egg

• Chiggers begin life in egg-form. Adult chiggers wait out the winter season under leaves or in the cracks of soil. As spring arrives and a the temperature begins to consistently reach 60 degrees, adult female chiggers emerge from the dormant stage, laying up to 400 globular-shaped eggs (15 per day) in soil.
  
  

From Egg to Larvae

• After four to five days, chigger eggs hatch into larvae or the uniquely "parasitic" phase of their life. Larvae, not adults, feed off of adults and mammals, immediately climbing onto plants to wait for humans, reptiles, mammals, birds and amphibians to feed off. Larvae attach to a host when the host brushes against the plant that the larvae are attached to. Larvae then find a place to feed off the host, injecting a skin-liquefying saliva. Larvae feed for three days off the host, leaving behind an itchy yet harmless pimple-like spot.
  
  

From Larvae to Nymph

• Once they have gotten their fill of food from the host, chigger larvae leave their mobile meal station and return to the soil. In the soil nymph chiggers feed on tiny soil insects called springtails, isopods, plant material and even mosquitoes, as they grow into adults.
  
  

From Nymph to Adult

• Fast moving, bright red and about 1/20 of an inch long, chigger adults (also called chigger "mites") spend their days searching for food. Like chigger nymphs, they prefer soil, feeding upon insects and plant matter. The overall life cycle of a chigger can vary from as little as one month to a year. Male chiggers die shortly after mating, and female chiggers die after laying eggs.