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.

[MrWolf]

I ordered some Sawyer. Thanks for the tip! Walked my dog other day in woods behind my house. Found 5 on me and one on him.

[Geezer in NH]

Tick inspection was an always, every night thing in NH. For adults it was also called foreplay and was great fun!!!!

[Snow ninja]

Grandpa always swore by vitamin B-1. Seems to really help keep them away.

[Texas by God]

The only good thing about Texas summer is it kills the ticks. I am outdoors constantly year round and we've had ticks & skeeters this past winter. The ticks are always bad during Spring Turkey season- which is now!

[dagger dog]

Permethrin is a go for me, you can get an allergy from deet I used to swab it on, woke up in the middle of the night with red welts on the underside of my legs and arms fingers were as big as hot dogs and ITCH like the bejezzeus . Can't use it any more so I started dosing my outdoor clothing. The wife pulled 7 of those little buggers off me last summer in one setting.

I always date on the calendar when I pull one, been lucky so far !

[HP9MM]

The Lone Star tick's bite can cause an allergy to red meat. The allergy doesn't appear for 6 months after the bite so it may not be recognized as what it is. The Lone Star tick's body has a light colored area that appears star shaped.

[Preacher Jim]

After a bout with rocky mountain fever I am really careful about tick bites. Them critters are mean with stuff they carry.

[camp]

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

Wow it's been a long time since I heard the Portage River mentioned, I use to ice skate on it. I'm originally from Tontogany

[guywitha3006]

Thanks for the tip on Sawyer's...I can't stand ticks.

On a similar topic (not trying to hijack this thread, but didn't want to start a new one if possible) I thought someone posted a good mosquito trap recently in another thread and for the life of me I can't find it. They looked like black cylinders and were good for about an acre if I remember right. Any help could be appreciated, if I can prevent interactions with tics and skeeters my spring and summer just got a lot more enjoyable.

[mold maker]

I lost a very good friend to Lyme disease in the 70s. No one gave a thought to it then and it wasn't diagnosed till after his death. He was a scout leader and a real outdoorsman. Being tough, he didn't seek help until too late.

[RU shooter]

Tick inspection was an always, every night thing in NH. For adults it was also called foreplay and was great fun!!!!
Lol reminds me of the country song by Brad paisley I wanna check you for tics !
There again bad this year already in Pa was just a spot on the news that were the tic bite/Lyme leader in the nation our county alone had over 600 reported cases of Lyme last year .
My woman already knows the routine after I get back from fishin or huntin . Cloths come off on the porch and get hung outside for a few days ,follows me into the bathroom For a top to bottom tic inspection .

[Mal Paso]

I got Lyme Disease, it was 2 weeks of antibiotics 4 times a day and that was catching it in time. One fellow in the neighborhood didn't and was under treatment for years. Now when I get bit I start looking for a sympathetic doctor. In spite of overwhelming evidence not every clinic will give you antibiotics for tick bites.

A month ago I woke at 1 am with a burning on my chest. The bugger's body wasn't as big as the head of a pin but a 4x8" red patch on my chest was swelling. I heard we had a tick doctor but it took a day to track him down.

He identified my tick as a Western Black Leg, known carrier of Lyme Disease and put me a 5 day treatment of Doxycycline with a refill to keep on hand. He also gave me a print out from the New England Journal of Medicine. The Israeli Army did a double blind study with 93 individuals who had been bitten or just had contact with a tick. Within 48 hours of contact half the group got 200mg of Doxycycline the first day then 100mg for 4 days. Out of 46 people in the control group 10 were diagnosed with the illness. None of the people who got the Doxycycline got sick.

In my case the swelling was down 60% within 24 hours of taking the meds and gone in a couple days.

[2wheelDuke]

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!!

Cigar smoke seems to have protected my grandfather back in the day, even if he wasn't actively smoking, the nicotine in his system seemed to have kept bugs from biting.

Last summer I found myself being eaten alive by sand fleas one morning in the aftermath of Irma. The other 2 guys on my post weren't bothered and questioned my whiskey intake. Seems if I drank whiskey more often the bugs may not have liked me so much.

[richhodg66]

I thought the late cold snaps had done them in, but the past few days, I've picked up quite a few. Time to start really start disciplining myself to putting on the permethrin treated clothes every time I go off the mowed parts now.

I still don't think they're as bad as last year though.

[Rick Hodges]

When I was a smoker I was never bothered by ticks....and mosquitoes were bearable.....been tobacco free for the past 12 years and have become a smorgasbord for every tick and mosquito, black fly and no-see-um in Michigan's woods.
Permethrin is my friend....along with DEET.

[Steven66]

I've had good results (as in no ticks or mosquitoes when I wear the treated clothing) with Permethrin treated clothes that I sent to or bought from:

www.insectshield.com

You can either send them your clothes or buy theirs. The treatment is supposed to last the life of the garment (70 washings). Apart from the label they sew on, you'd never know the clothing was treated.

[Lloyd Smale]

we got some high strength tick spray at work. It was suppose to be only for clothes but we spayed it everywhere in tick season. Nobody got sick or died from spraying it on skin. Stuff worked. I remember once when I was a kid I had one right in my belly button out to camp. Dad and his chronys were a bit tanked up and he decided to burn it out with a cigarette. My whole belly button was a water blister. I still remember his buddys laughing and dad telling me to man up and stand still!! Believe me a cigarette burn in your belly button doesn't fell to good;-)

[Tatume]

My brother duct tapes his pants cuffs to his boots every morning during warm weather.

[bdicki]

To remove tics put dish soap on a cotton ball or a Q tip and rotate the tic counter clockwise and they will release and come right out. Learned this from an emergency room nurse that found one on my back when I was there for something else.

[jsizemore]

I got 2 off me yesterday. I had to read this thread. Now I can feel the things crawling on me. Darn it!

[Lloyd Smale]

saw in the local paper that this year is suppose to be exceptionally bad for ticks.

[winelover]

A small dab of Peppermint oil and the tick backs out by itself.


Winelover

[Whelen]

Just yesterday we had an abrupt end to our Mothers Day camping trip in mid Michigan. Found a tick buried in my 5 year olds back and momma was DONE with the festivities. It's amazing how many of the *** hats in white coats don't believe ticks in Michigan can cause Lymes disease. Thought this stuff was common knowledge.

[JoeJames]

I live in the foothills of the Ozarks, and of course we are over run with deer. Always had more than our fair share of ticks. Always just pulled 'em off. A flatlander I know proposed using cotton balls and petroleum jelly to smother 'em. It would take a pickup load to handle them in the woods around my place. Just pull 'em off.

[DxieLandMan]

This past Saturday, I picked 6 off the dog. We had been out in the woods that day, kayaking and enjoying the outdoors. Got home, took a shower, scrubbed and got dressed for the evening. After all that cleaning, I found a tick on my back that had already attached itself. Dang things really are bad this year.

[JoeJames]

We use Frontline Plus on the dog; so he's ok, but one announced itself to me this am at the office.

[jmort]

Ticks are abundant here in the Ozarks and I agree with the notion that there will be a lot of ticks here this year.

[MaryB]

I have been in thegarden, out by the compost pile in waist high grass... no ticks... SW MN had a cold spring so it might have them delayed.

[MaryB]

Well I spoke to soon, had a wood tick crawling on me today. He met his demise under a 50bmg bottle opener... flat tick!

[Dave18]

been hearing about them being thick, here in northern IN, but my immediate area, they are actually below normal in what Im finding on me, normally 2 or 3 after mowing or weedeating, lately its been maybe one if that, and they are not biting at least on me, they are crawling but none have decided to burrow in , been sprinkling seven granules in the yard and areas Im in a lot, maybe that's helping, but my barn cats this yr who normally show up with 2 or 3 hanging on their ears, are not showing up with anything so far, what ever it is, that's working Im glad

, having delt the last few yrs with being told I have lymes and then not having lymes, and they really don't have a good test from what I was told, for a positive this is it, diagnosis but went through about 5 doctors on this, and the last one pointed out different things in his conversation saying he didn't think I actually had lymes , like other cases he has seen, his big thing was white count , which was good and all others had white count issues which to him was the deciding issue, but he had no answer for the chronic fatigue I still deal with[smilie=b:

[dragon813gt]

We use Frontline Plus on the dog; so he's ok, but one announced itself to me this am at the office.

I would not consider him "ok" just because you use Frontline on him. For one the tick preventatives for dogs vary greatly from dog to dog. What works on one may not work on another. In my case Frontline does not work on any dogs in our family. It failed to prevent or kill any ticks that attached. It's more suited for an urban environment

My GSP caught Lyme two years ago. It's even a controversial subject w/ vets for some reason. And I'm still not sure if my dog really had Lyme. The test at the vets was positive. They then sent a sample out for testing. It only showed positive once in twenty attempts. This was a two week process, thanks to the doctor that checked my dog going on vacation and not telling us. The other doctors at the practice would not get involved because it was Lyme related. Eventually my dog was treated as a precaution.

At the time, and to this day, we use Vectra 3D on him. It failed to kill the tick that gave him Lyme. But it does the best job of keeping them off of him. They gave me a pamphlet for a new treatment that's a pill. But it's even more costly then the Vectra. And I'm not talking a few dollars.

We've had to really cut down our time in the woods. W/ a one and four year old son at home Lyme is terrifying. I don't want to even think about them getting it. I don't think I would ever forgive myself if it happens because I failed to find one on the dog and it infected one of the kids. Lyme is an ignored epidemic in the north east. Doctors refuse to diagnose and treat it properly. Throw in the Lone Star ticks that carry a disease that makes you allergic to red meat and ticks are very scary little creatures.

[MaryB]

Where I am west nile disease is more likely... mosquitoes are thick at sundown already...

[Beagle333]

We got em. Everywhere. We just have to use lots of spray and constantly check each other for them at night before they dig in tight.

[Elkins45]

We are getting tiny little ticks here that I didn’t used to see. I’ve pulled two off of myself already, one in a place I don’t even want to think about having an infection! I think I will try the permethrin this year.