They live in the places that make summer summer — waiting, just waiting until they can bite you in the most sensitive regions of your body.

And this year, there are more of them than ever.

The worst chigger infestation in 30 years has befallen North Texas, KXAS-TV (NBC5) reported - the result, experts say, of June's warm temps and high humidity.

But wait, you say: Chiggers are such tiny little creatures. Surely they can't be so bad.

Mike Merchant, an urban entomology specialist at Dallas' AgriLife Center, would tell you different.

"Chiggers are my personal worst nightmare," he told NBC5.

The little parasites are barely visible to the eye, roaming soil surfaces or dense long grass in places you and your kids want to be in warm weather — ballparks, picnic areas, hiking trails, summer camps, parks and playgrounds.

You often don't know they're there until it's too late.

"You don't feel chigger bites immediately," Merchant told the news station. "It's a delayed gift."

In other words, you're already relaxing at home after that lakeside brie-and-wine blanketfest or that softball game that dragged on just a little too long. You're camped on your couch watching Fargo or Brooklyn Nine-Nine and mindlessly scratching at your waistline when you realize that itch is getting worse.

Before long there's these big red bumps, and you realize: You've been fed on by chiggers.

And they might not be gone, either. According to the station, the little bugs burrow into your skin and lounge around for up to two weeks.

Chiggers munch on thin points in the skin, Merchant said, usually around the base of hair follicles or areas where clothing is tight.

"That skin gets irritated and starts to swell and swells around the chigger and it buries the chigger in the skin," Merchant told NBC5.

If there's any silver lining to it all, it's that chiggers aren't known to carry disease.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to protect yourself, he says.

Apply good repellents to your shoes, socks and pant legs before traveling into chigger country.

Tuck pant legs into socks to make it harder for chiggers to get in.

And finally, shower and scrub well after possible exposure, since it's usually a few hours before the little bugs start feasting away.