Tick reaction. Picture!

[Kattt]

(Yes I treated my pants…but ticks  also hang out on ceanothus and end up on my head before they wander down lower).

This is how I reacted after no more than 1/2 hour of a tick being slightly embedded in my hip yesterday afternoon. By slightly embedded I mean I had to tug but it came out head and all without much trouble. It had already treated me with its enzyme, which is what I have become allergic to, but had not started feeding yet. I did not squeeze it either. There is a bruise, a swollen area 3″ in diameter and it hurts moderately.

I try very hard to prevent this, short of not going where I need or want to be. I mowed the trail. I wear treated pants and rubber boots that I spray. As soon as I walk in the house I take a shower and change.

I hate ticks, I really really do. It is the only creature I do not feel bad at all about killing, also because it attached first…

[Bri W]

Yikes. Watch for the Lyme disease ring!

[Kenneth Keating]

Are you treating both the inside and outside out your clothes with Permethrin? Retreating after six weeks, if using Sawyer, per their guidelines?  I noticed in another thread you’ve been bitten numerous times and I’ve always wondered how effective Permethrin treatment is.  Every time I hike along the coast I always Permethrin treat my clothes as a precaution, both inside and outside.  So far I’ve been lucky as I haven’t gotten any ticks, but I don’t know if it’s been luck or if the Permethrin is actually working.

[Jim Colten]

ticks  also hang out on ceanothus and end up on my head before they wander down lower ..

wear a treated hat and/or a treated bandana around your neck perhaps?

[DAN-Y]

Thanks for posting this.

did you quickly apply an antibiotic  after removal?

I spend a lot of time in the woods and in natural prairie remnant areas. I tuck my pant legs into my socks and spray shoes and socks with max strengthDEET.  Shirt is tucked into pants, waist is sprayed with DEET I wear pull over shirts, no V neck shirts.

[Kattt]

A few answers.

@Kenneth I treat the outside only.

@Jim I wear a hat but I have very long hair and I don’t ALWAYS tuck my braid in my shirt.

@Dan I did not apply antibiotics because I did not have any. Supposedly since I got it out in less than one hour I should be fine. I wish I had already received my tick test kit though.

I went to my doctor’s today for a different reason and she checked my bite and gave me  some papers to read . She also thinks that given the amount of ticks I have had I have developed an allergy to their saliva.

I don’t just hike on the weekend….I am outdoors 10 to 16 hours a day and often unless I take care of the vegetation I am in some pretty tall grass. This year I have already string trimmed 3 times and it’s back again. Usually once, sometimes twice is enough if done after the last rain. I have never seen the vegetation grow like it has this year.

[jimmy b]

Yeah tics are a bummer…BUT if you want the easiest way I have ever seen to remove them try one of these

O Tom tick twister removal tools

After watching there video I was amazed but still a bit skeptical. I ordered a set and stuck them in my FAK  just in case. Then while hiking with a good friend and his pup we noticed that our 4 legged friend had picked up a bunch of ticks that evening. We used the tick twister and they spun out as easy as could be. I challenge anyone to find a better tool. I sure wish I had them when my pup was still with us and heck for me too! I’ve had a couple badly embedded. Had to cut and dig for one. No more. My buddy bought a different brand and reported back that it did not work as well as the one in the link.

[DAN-Y]

That tool works great:

[jscott]

Boy did I not want to look at a tic bite but I figured I might learn something. And in fact I instantly ordered that tic remover tool. When I lived in Mendocino I’d get bitten–drilled, whatever. It wasn’t all that easy to untwist them or just tug them out. I hope the tool works as well as advertised.

Geeze I hate tics.

[Christopher *]

I use one just like the O’Toms called the Tick Tornado. I love it.

I live in PA and this year is a literal tickpacolypse  on the East Coast. Despite counter measures, I have already removed about 50 from my dog and about 2 dozen from myself in just the past 5 weeks. Only problem is this tool is plastic, meaning it cannot be quickly disinfected using an open flame (Lyme bacteria can be spread through contact).

[Jerry Adams]

is the tick still alive after you remove it?

do ticks crawl on the ground and get onto you when you’re sleeping?  I’m pretty sure that’s not the case  but…

[Jerry Adams]

I used to have a tick key from REI, something like

https://www.rei.com/product/110436/ultimate-survival-technologies-tick-wrangler

[Simon Kenton]

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/05/12/lyme-disease-prevention-treatment-umass-medical/

[jimmy b]

Jerry,

tics are still alive after removal with this type tool. The practical use of it is that it does not squeeze the insect forcing fluids back into your body…and I suppose ticks could crawl on the ground at night but I think most of the time you pick them up off the foliage during activity and if unnoticed they travel on your body until they eventually bore into you. You don’t feel them on you and you don’t feel them boring into you. They really are a PITA to manage.

[Jerry Adams]

that’s what I thought

I got one on my stomach and didn’t notice it until it had burrowed into me, like in those pictures.  Kind of an itchy feeling, then I felt something odd.  I got it out with some tweezers, but I couldn’t quite get all of it.

I better get one of those.

[Window walker]

If you don’t feel like carrying a tick twister, you can always do the smoldering stick routine. It has worked very well for me in the past and the tick dies.  Just find a twig and light it on fire, then blow it out so you have a red ember. Put it near the ass end of the tick and it will back out all on its own and burns up all at once. But then I guess you can’t save the tick for testing.

Ben

 

[Kattt]

If the tick is deeply embedded that tool will not work to get the head out and neither will the “smoldering” method. If it is small deer tick and it is really in there with the tissue around all swollen and inflamed, the only way to get the whole thing out is to cut it out. Losing the head in there is not a very big deal but it will take a long time for the body to work that nasty little thing  out. It depends on how your body is reacting to it. I have tried most methods at most stages. If it is really in there it’s scalpel work because the barbs preventing it from backing out.

[DAN-Y]

What can we really believe :-)

http://gardentenders.com/projects/1316

YUCK! Ticks are nasty parasites that can spread Lyme disease and even without the threat of contracting the disease, they are Nasty! NASTY! NASTY!! [Enough to give one the Heebie Jeebies! A Contagious, but not dangerous symptom.]

This is a project I intend to work on, as my new home is among a heavily wooded area and we have a LOT of white tail deer. Admitingly, I have been feeding them as 1) Entertainment to see the wildlife; 2) To hopefully keep them from eating the azaleas, etc.; 3) To help the economy by purchasing deer food from the local feed store. So far, #1 and #3 work well. #2 is debatable, as the azaleas, holly, etc., are being trimmed and not even in bud yet. Someone also removed the small bunch of white crocus.

Last year our local nursery was selling Tick Traps that were in tubes that you place in the undergrowth of the perimeter of your yard. They attract the ticks and entrap them, and you throw the tube away. The active ingredient in these small plastic tubes are permethrin treated cotton balls (there is a website for their product). I’m not here to advertise them so I’ll let you Google the product. You can contact me if you like.

[brian H]

Thanx 4 the education Kat & y’all

[Kattt]

That will work if it is not more embedded. Believe me that the picture does not represent what an deeply embedded tick with inflamed tissue looks like. When they look like that…yeah, don’t even need tweezers for that situation. I hope not to have another but given how things have been…next deeply embedded one I have I will post a picture that will explain how that one above is pretty silly.

For one that is not a deer tick. The tiny deer ticks are not flat either and once your skin is inflamed it almost swallows up the tiny tick and getting a hold of the front of the body becomes very difficult and at times impossible without cutting it out from below.

My doctor tried to get one out before and lost the head and it took 6+ months to heal. My 90 year old landlord, blind in one eye, got a similar one out from my shoulder but with a scalpel. That healed up very quickly and left less of a scar…

[Jerry Adams]

I used my Uncle Bill’s tweezers

It did get the tick out but left some of his mouth parts

[DAN-Y]

The DOD Chemical Protection System: The Department of Defense (DoD) utilizes a system of two chemical components in conjunction with the field dress uniform. The EPA approved components of this system include the insecticide permethrin and the insect repellent deet (N, N-diethyl-m-tiluarnide) in concentrations less than 33%.

The DoD system consists of both permethrin treated clothing and deet applied to skin. The use of one without the other will undermine the system and increase the risk of insect or tick bite. Many non-deet products are available on the market and are not part of the DoD protection system. They show ineffective repellent performance and are not recommended for any situation where disease transmission is a threat.

http://www.tickinfo.com/permethrin.htm

 

According to that, DEET is necessary for complete protection. Tuck your pant legs into your socks and spray with 33% DEET.

[Greg Mihalik]

“Damminix Tick Tubes are biodegradable, cardboard tubes filled with permethrin treated cotton balls. Mice collect the cotton to build their nests. Deer ticks that feed on mice in the Spring and the Fall are exposed to permethrin and killed. All the while, the mice, other mammals and your lands are unharmed and undisturbed.”

My exposure to ticks in my yard is minimal.  We minimize mice and chipmunks around the house by removing habitat.  My exposure on 10 miles of meadow trails every week is huge, but is manageable with premethrin sprayed on shoes, gaiters, and pants, and “tick checks” when we get home.

[jimmy b]

Deeply embedded ticks are not always preventable but it is important to point out that the early detection and removal is the most important part of tick management. When found early in the attachment stage that tool is much better than all the conventional methods of removal including all the now disproven methods like burning or applying oils and gels. The later are not always effective and can have the opposite of the desired effect of removal without fluid transfer or continued fluid transfer.

I’m not sold on the idea of the tool not working on embedded ticks as in the posted video some of those ticks are on their way to being full of blood so they are probably pretty well attached. Looking closely at the anatomy of the ticks threaded attachment hardware shows why the design is so effective. That is the whole idea behind the easy removal.

[Greg Mihalik]

A thinner tool –

http://www.tickinfo.com/protickremedy.htm

And some additional information.

[Author]

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