Ticks

Just did my yearly hose-down of socks, shirts & pants with Permethrin. Never saw a deer tick in my life until I found 5 of them embedded in various parts of me in '09. Then, I found over 100 of them crawling all over the back doors of my barn! A few more got on me then ...

Nearly every year since, I find at least 5 stuck in my skin. Since I started using Permethrin, I'll only catch one or 2. I've become an expert at spotting the bastards.

That first year I had red welts that lasted almost 2 years. They've all finally healed up - never got the Lyme "ring" though. Never went to the doc's either - I'm not big on doctors, but never had any of the classic symptoms either.

Little bastards ...

never got the Lyme "ring" though

The ring is not the Lyme ring. It is not 100% that you will get it if you have it and it is not 100% that you will not if you don't. The only way to tell is to test for the antibodies to the infection. Get tested.......

Kevin

And don't believe that they aren't active in winter either.

A few years ago, I was squirrel hunting one morning in late December on the north slopes of a ridge line in the eastern Adirondacks. It was in the low 20 degree range and there was a foot of snow.

I came down for lunch and had to make my way through some tall marsh grass, then ford a small stream to get back to my vehicle. Right after I got in, I felt some small bug moving on my left temple. I reached up and picked off a dear tick. It was just like they say, the size of a poppy seed. Wrapped it up and took it home. Got on the internet and double checked and it was indeed a female dear tick. Luckily it hadn't got it's chompers into me.

So, now I use the "Off Deep Woods Sportsman" spray even in winter. It has one of the highest amount of DEET. Walking hay fields - or sitting in brush lines waiting for woodchucks - with many years of using it, I've never gotten a tick on me.

Paul

Google Tick Key I have used this for many years and it works very well removes the whole tick

creek44 wrote:Cut a long "V" in a plastic card or a teaspoon. Manipulate "V" from behind and under tick and advance towards head under tick to catch head of tick in apex of "V" to remove.

Pet stores and vets sell a little plastic spoon about the size of a 1/4 teaspoon measure. It has a V cut into it, very much like the claw of a carpenter's hammer. They work great on our dogs but have failed miserably on three ticks embedded in family members -- must be something different about the skin or how deep the ticks burrow on humans. There is a fairly new pill you can give a dog monthly that builds up insecticide in the skin, so when the tick bites it dies. We are using it for the first time this year and haven't seen a tick on the dog since we gave the first pill. It's like the heartworm pills that the dog is happy to eat, she seems to think it is a treat.

I had my dog at the vets the other day & she said this has been a real active year so far & I asked what she thought summer would be like if they are that active now. According to her ticks are the most active around 30 to 50 degrees, I was thinking the hotter the better for them but she said it's the opposite & they like it cool.

samhill wrote:... ticks are the most active around 30 to 50 degrees

Yes. My wife got an embedded tick this spring while there were still patches of snow on the ground. Also the dog got a couple. They mostly disappear here when the weather turns hot, then they come back in the fall.

Yesterday, while working in the barn I felt a crawling thing on the back of my left hand. A tick prospecting in quest of some food was the problem. I took him off before he started to drill and frack, using a set of [closest tool] mig pliers. He failed the compression test and won't be back. They harvested the alfalfa fields all around me yesterday and I suppose it stirred them all up. I am sure there's plenty where this one came from. I'm off to get Off today. Mike

Found one on myself, pulled him out with tweezers. Put him under the magnifier glass and could see I got him all out, saw his boring drill still attached to his head. Was a deer tick, must of caught him soon cause I pulled him right out. Lots of people around here are finding them attached to them.

While at the VA Clinic today they asked if I was aware of having any tick bites as there have been a rash (no pun intended) around these parts.

[quote="SMITTY"]I found 5 of them embedded in various parts of me in '09.

Smitty, I got 3 of those welts right now. Wow, they are sooooo friggen itchy!
All from Deer Ticks.

Oh I hear you Chris! It's enough to drive you nuts!

I found the only relief was to scald the ever-living *censored* out of the bite with smoking hot water, or a hair dryer at extremely, blister-inducing-close range.

Just came across this posted on saltwater fishing forum.

Think this was what was mentioned a couple posts ago.

http://www.otom.com/how-to-remove-a-tick

Looks like it works real well.

Rick

Got one real similar to that from Pet Smart, even has a hole in the handle to attach to a key chain inside my wife purse. I just wonder now if you would have to twist counter clockwise below the equator. But they do work well, if not too embedded (like that big puffed up one) & you can see it well you can just use the curve to pry that sucker out. With my dogs coat it's never that easy to see so the twist is best.