Tick season- beware!

[jbailey930]

I went to our local park today for some hiking and shooting. I stayed on the closely mown pathway but still picked up 3 ticks (at least so far). That's on top of two from our beagle who is Frontline protected and two others I pulled off myself earlier this spring. Please take precautions!

From the suburbs of N. Va.

 

[STBear]

They have been bad this year in SE PA.

 

[midocr]

Bad in Ohio this year too!!!!

 

[Ryan_T]

I'll have to keep this in mind, thanks.


I love walking through the woods or laying in the backyard.

 

[sambo.]

hehe, i'm in rural Queensland, Australia and some MORON brought cattle ticks into the district.

about a dozen farms have been quarrantined and cannot shift cattle off their properties (which really sucks for them right now as beef prices are better than they have been for a good long while).

i constantly have to check my dog for ticks. i havn't had to pull one off him in about 6 months (touch wood).

 

[jbailey930]

Funny. We get our pet Mede, Frontline, from Oz.

 

[NateS]

Yeah, I've gotten two so far...one of which is a seed tick tonight. I usually use OFF when out bug hunting and that keeps the mosquitos and ticks at bay, but both that I've gotten this year are from times when I didn't use the OFF.

 

[Kingfisher]

I don't even want to talk about ticks. Got one yesterday. These things are terrible.

 

[donski]

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[madecov]

We haven't had a bad tick problem here. But fleas are horrible. no treatment is working. we are getting them constantly

 

[Dutchwindmill]

As Scoutleader i know when its tick time.Removed countless of them on the weirdest places.When you remove one Never use alcohol to sedate them.Just like a human the tick will vomit when he gets to much alcohol,and the vomit gets in your system what makes it almost sure you get Lyme.When one removed and you see a red dot? Make a circle the size of a coin around it.When the dot grows out of the circle? Go see the doctor!What you use to remove is your choice.A tickpen or needle nose tweezers? They both work good.
In the instruction manual you often find the remark to remove the tick with a counter clockwise turn of the wrist .Just for the heck..try make a clockwise turn and you see that it wont work very natural.

 

[nuclearjock]

Found one in the car after a trip to a birding site in the western Chicago 'burbs last week. I've heard that if you heat a pin and place it on the tick it will back out and you can deal with it. Actually saw it work along time ago.

 

[Kingfisher]

We haven't had a bad tick problem here. But fleas are horrible. no treatment is working. we are getting them constantly

Best treatment to get rid of fleas is to place aluminum pie plates filled with water and a bit of dishwashing soap such as Dawn. Depending how big an area you are trying to cover you will 6-8 of them. Strategically put two in each room under the sofa, tables, anywhere you have carpet or think they are. The fleas will jump in and the soap removes the surface tension of the water and they sink to the bottom and drown. Just use pie plates that are about an 1" high so the fleas can get in. Easiest way to make the soapy water solution is to almost fill a gallon milk jug with warm water and add a good bit of soap before shaking. Doing it this will keep the bubbles to a minimum.

This really works! We did this as a last resort and after about two weeks all the fleas were dead. Two weeks should be enough to get the second batch of eggs that will hatch. I will never use flea killing chemicals again as this has proved to do what the chemicals couldn't.

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[Dutchwindmill]

Found one in the car after a trip to a birding site in the western Chicago 'burbs last week. I've heard that if you heat a pin and place it on the tick it will back out and you can deal with it. Actually saw it work along time ago.

Dont!! The tick will spit the Lyme straight in your blood.Using a tick pen or tweezers is the only safe way to remove them.

 

[JLBrown]

Not sure if you want to use chemicals and not sure if it's still being made, but I've used the Raid w/ " egg stop formula". It's a room bomb that kills adult fleas and their eggs.

BTW, have used the Dawn in shallow pans, it just takes longer.

 

[Kingfisher]

Not sure if you want to use chemicals and not sure if it's still being made, but I've used the Raid w/ " egg stop formula". It's a room bomb that kills adult fleas and their eggs.

We bombed the house twice with the current Raid flea stuff and it didn't work. The latest "green" and safe chemicals just don't cut it anymore. Plus, it is such a pain leaving the house for the day and coming back only to air out all the chemical smell. If the chemicals worked it would have been worth it.

 

[cbbr]

I use fishing shirts and always wear a hat, both treated with permethrin mostly for mosquitoes, but it works wonders on ticks too.

 

[STBear]

The permethrin sprays work well on clothing and will last through a few washings. I have not tried the pretreated from the factory clothing but the permethrin should do the job.

 

[NateS]

On lyme, I've heard/read that if you get the tick off within the first 24-48 hours the chances of getting lyme are greatly reduced. Also you never want to let the tick back out on it's own as it will always release stuff when backing out unlike when you pull it out it's sucking in still so less stuff gets into your system. (as rob mentioned)

Not all ticks carry Lyme so just because you let the tick back out using heat or alcohol doesn't guarantee you'll get it...but the chances are much higher that you'll get it. I'm a bit of a hypochondriac so when I got a tick bite a year or two ago (first one since being a kid)...I got freaked out and did a bunch of research on lymes and luckily found out I had none of the symptoms.....always good to research the diseases that are common in your area from bugs.