Ticks :-(

[Johnch]

Went fishing tonight along the Portage River , here in Ohio for Cat fish ... got some nice ones

But also brought home 2 ticks on me
So I figured I would post a heads up

Darn things seem to like me
Don't wish them on 99.9999% of people ... just 1 or 2 make my list and IMO non of you will even get close to making it LOL

John

[Boolit_Head]

I used to take a dog flea and tick collar and cut it in half and attach it to the tops of my boots when i was in bad areas. Worked like a charm.

[country gent]

I have heard this is supposed to be a bad year for ticks and chiggers.

[ghh3rd]

Permethrin 0.5% - sold here in Florida under Sawyer‘s brand, it has eliminated all ticks for me. I usually got a few ticks on me every trip, but none in the years that I’ve been using this. Sprayed on your clothes or socks whatever let it dry and then it’s odorless. I had sores that would last for months from ticks because I’m very sensitive to them. One treatment I believe last up to six washings although I reapply a little more frequently because I hate tick bites so much.

I go the extra step to roll back and spray inside pants cuffs, shirt neck, and socks. Helps with skeeters too.

Good luck

Randy

[Thin Man]

Three years ago I hit the woods in the spring for early squirrel season and deer hunting area exploring. The ticks were out in force. They were so small I could not see the body of the creature but could feel them and see their shadow (odd, isn't it). I came down with muscle aches and cramps, no appetite and a fever that finally hit 104 degrees. The doctor insisted I get to his office quickly (to make sure what exactly was going on as I have some other long term medical challenges). After blood testing they settled on bites from what is called the Long Star tick, thought they were saying Lone Star but nope, Long. Odd name. They prescribed antibiotics and the issues went away. I was ordered to use the Permethrin spray on any clothes I wore in tick country when these is a possibility of seeing them again, and have. No problems since then, and I'm grateful for that.

[winelover]

Another vote for Sawyer‘s branded Permethrin spray. Last for 42 days. I respray my outdoor working clothes, religiously, every 40 days.......seems to work for chiggers, too.

Winelover

[porthos]

i contracted lyme disease last december. didn't see a tick or notice a bite. the third time that i went to the E.R., i asked them to test me for Lyme disease. two previous hospitals did not do that. the third hospital that i went to may have not if i had not told them that i have symptoms of lyme disease; and, to test me for it. i was a very sick puppy for about 6 weeks. i am left with a permanent erratic heart beat that i will take meds for forever. i fear ticks. if you get sick and no test can determine the ailment you should ask to be tested for Lyme; because its not something that is on the "test for" list.

[blackthorn]

Ticks are unusually bad here this year. I went out in the yard and noticed the kids next door had lost a soccer ball over the fence into our yard. I went down a bit of a bank, past our Lilac bushes, tossed their ball back over the fence and went back in the house. Three ticks. Gail was out pulling weeds from around her Lilly plant and came in with two ticks. Most surprising was when I crossed the yard (gravel/short grass) to the shed I got one there also. Do those things run any kind of life-cycle like so many species do?

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Ticks and Lyme Disease are no joke. In 2005 I woke up one morning and found one embedded in my armpit. When I tried to pull it out the head came off, so I dug most of it out with a pointy pocket knife and put antibiotic cream on it. Next morning it was red and puffy with a ring around the bite. I dug out more specks of head and put on some more cream. After a couple of weeks it seemed to be gone. In 2010 I started experiencing severe pains and aches in the shoulder. It spread to the back of my neck where all the lymph nodes swelled up like marbles, then across to the other shoulder. The doctors hadn't a clue as to what my problem was, and I was slowly dying. They said that something is killing your white corpuscles as soon as your body is making them, and you're losing. They gave me all sorts of tests and scans without success. The only thing I could do was to take large amounts of aspirin, as the doctors wouldn't give me any type of medicine because they said they couldn't treat what they didn't know. One night before bed I knew it was my last night and prayed for help. In the middle of the night I woke up ringing wet like I'd just gotten out of a shower. I had a medical appointment the next day and the doctor, a Chinese fellow, asked about tick bites. I recalled that I had been bitten 5 years earlier and he prescribed the antibiotic treatment saying that he'd heard of a 2 year delay in the symptoms manifesting themselves, but never 5 years before; but since I had been very healthy, he speculated that my body had been able to fight it off that long. About 3 weeks later the pains were almost all gone. I ended up with diminished eyesight, a heart murmur, some hearing loss, and stiff joints. The final diagnosis was advanced Lyme Disease. Now, 8 years after the fact, except for the lasting damage, it's like it never happened. No one can tell me that God doesn't hear and answer prayers. In my case it was within a few hours, and then a referral to the right doctor, a man from half way around the world who figured out a problem that isn't seen too often on the West Coast. Don't mess around with tick bites -- see a doctor immediately if you develop a ring around the bite.

[Tom W.]

My buddy has a son and daughter that have Lyme disease. It's affected his daughter pretty badly. They both went to some clinic in Arizona to see if that would help.

When I was working in the woods drilling and mining Bauxite I would also wear dog flea and tick collars over my boots. Also took sulfur pills...

Before I was diagnosed with colon cancer I was extremely anemic, and the Dr. prescribed iron sulfate pills, to be taken for a year. I never got so much as a mosquito bite that year.....

[Ballistics in Scotland]

A good friend of mine, Colin McKelvie, died from heart disease associated with what was thought to be a mysterious interaction between Lyme disease and another tickborne disease picked up from his deceased eland in South Africa. He lasted long enough to lose his publishing business and firearms dealer's licence, and see his marriage in a state of collapse. I greatly value the signed copy of one of his books he gave me, on woodcock, with the foreword the Duke of Edinburgh wrote for him.

So one thing I will never skimp on is my Irish terrier, Lanty Hanlon's, rather expensive tick tablet, which is so big it has to be cut in two to get it down him. There is no pre-infection treatment as good for humans, but the danger increases a lot with long-term attachment of the tick, and we don't have fur to hide it.

[zymguy]

So one thing I will never skimp on is my Irish terrier, Lanty Hanlon's, rather expensive tick tablet, which is so big it has to be cut in two to get it down him. There is no pre-infection treatment as good for humans, but the danger increases a lot with long-term attachment of the tick, and we don't have fur to hide it.

$$ well spent. our local vets office had 2 dogs with lymes while there was still snow on the ground ! well theres still snow now so maybe not surprising?

[labradigger1]

I caught a tick crawling up my leg last year. Put it on the porch railing and sprayed it liberally with sawyer permethrin. 45 minutes later and still going strong. It got burnt till it popped with the zippo.

[MaryB]

If you have cats be very very careful with the permethrin, it is highly toxic to them! I use 99.9% Deet... and ticks don't like me, I eat a LOT of garlic and like my dad it comes out in my sweat so that may deter them. I will catch them crawling on me but they never bite.

[therealhitman]

Went coyote hunting yesterday about 15 miles up into logging company mountains. Nothing came to the call all morning. Hiked up to the truck to drive to a new area and had a flat tire on the rig. Bad enough day right there. Headed home early. Got a call from my buddy this morning, he picked up three ticks! As far as I can tell I am bug free. Just ordered the Sawyer's.

[rockrat]

I don't know what was in Grandads system, mosquitos would land on him and then leave and he said he never had a tick, even though he hunted bobwhite quail all the time. Me, on the other hand, a walking buffet for the things!!

[richhodg66]

The Sawyers is good stuff. We had them really bad the last two years, so I treated an old uniform heavily and wore it anytime I was out in the yard or woos and never picked one up while I was wearing it.

Last Winter was still pretty mild, but in March and early April, we had a couple of warm spells followed by sudden real cold snaps and it seems to have killed a lot of them off. I know they were a lot worse than this by this time last year.

[mold maker]

I also don't attract either ticks or mosquitos, but ciggers will cross a busy four-lane to feast on me. Lots of Deet is the only remedy that seems to have any effect on them.

[dverna]

There are some decent tick remover tools that remove them properly. I carry one at all times on my key chain as ticks here can be bad.

NEVER leave the head attached. Pulling them off is not the way to remove them. Some of the rednecks burn them off with the end of a cigarette.

I have Sawyers for the clothes. BTW, light colors are the best. Supposedly insects are less attracted to them and at least they are easier to spot on white or beige.

[lightman]

We don't have ticks or chiggers very bad here. You only get them if you go where cattle are, or heavy populations of Deer. Maybe its because the farmers burn so much. They burn off rice fields and wheat fields after they harvest. Burning ditch banks and turn rows is a method they used to use to combat Bowel Weevils. Now Mosquitoes, we're blessed with them! During the summer, about dusky dark, you better be done for the day! A walk through tall grass or around bushes will get you fogged with them. They don't seem to like me as much as some others but they can be bad.