Ticks!

[AR27]

I live in northern IL and the ticks are insane! I went out into the woods to do a bit of varmint hunting with my .22 and within 10 minutes I spot a tiny deer tick climbing up my jeans! I have always hated ticks more than anything in the world but I am mortified of a deer tick! The last thing I want is a case of lyme after my friend told me how his went a few years back. So I tried to ignore it and continue on but sure enough I feal another climbing up my neck, a wood tick. So I said enough and came home and did a thorough tick check and found two more in my clothes! The last thing I want is them crawling off of me or my clothes and on to my dog were they could hide until basically killing him. So I soak all my clothes underwater for a day to try and drown any out that are still hiden.

How do you battle ticks or prevent them? This is the only thing that sucks about warm weather.

 

[kimbershot]

deet-around neck, sleeves and ankles. i even spray it on the outside of my clothes. then tick patrol--get home, get naked in front of the mirror (or significant other)and do a full body scan--check armpits, knees. deet is the active ingredient in most repellents and comes in a variety of strengths.

i would also become familiar with the different stages of a ticks' life--they start out about the size of a pinhead.

 

[allank]

The woods on my property have many ticks especially in the spring. I use a Sawyer Permethrin Military Soak Treatment Kit to treat the clothes I will be wearing while working in the woods. You need one kit per person, and the treatment lasts for 6 weeks or 6 washings. Follow the directions and treat your shirt, trousers, and socks with this kit. I also wear my trousers tucked inside my socks. It looks a bit odd, but it does help since ticks now have to crawl past a treated barrier. I have had great results, even in areas very heavily infested with deer ticks. And if the odd tick does get past the barrier and does bite it seems to be half-dead and is easier to remove.

You can get this in most outdoor stores, or many places online. Since I buy a years supply at a time I order online after finding the cheapest price. It is low cost insurance to prevent Lyme disease.

 

[jbkebert]

We got 3 inches of snow less than a week and a half ago. Yesterday my daughter came in from playing outside nice day mid 70's and she had two ticks on her. Not ready to deal with these suckers but I guess they are ready for me. deep woods off seems to work as well as anything. Except lorsban applied to the edges of the yard. You have to be licensed to buy it but nothing works better.

 

[Yarddog]

"[deet-around neck, sleeves and ankles. i even spray it on the outside of my clothes]"

Works Great & the smell aint going to scare of no critters ; )
Y/D

 

[cottswald]

The last thing I want is them crawling off of me or my clothes and on to my dog were they could hide until basically killing him.

They won't kill him. Just feed until they're done and then scamper off.

As for your own personal protection. Try Permanone. Some department stores and most sporting goods stores carry it. Follow the instructions. It works!

 

[AR27]

They won't kill him. Just feed until they're done and then scamper off.

As for your own personal protection. Try Permanone. Some department stores and most sporting goods stores carry it. Follow the instructions. It works!

I dont know about that one, I think even the smallest and earliest case of lyme would be the end of my good ol buddy. He is a 14 and a half year old golden retriever.

I once had a wood tick completly latched on to the inside of my upper ear flap thing. That one really bothered me because it was so close to crawling inside my ear hole.

Do ticks ever drop from trees or do they only stick to high grass/weeds?

 

[Ironclad]

I'm not sure this is real healthy for you but my great grandpa used to dog-dip his overalls. Worked real good for him til grandma washed them without telling him one time.

 

[Shadow 7D]

Um, you are right, the few milliliters of blood they take won't kill

But the diseases THEY CARRY WILL

 

[cottswald]

Do ticks ever drop from trees or do they only stick to high grass/weeds?

Yes ticks drop off of trees as well has hanging on to the tips of leaves and grasses. Mammals and birds have been dealing with them since the beginning of time. One of the ways they find there host is by the emmission of carbon dioxide when exhaling (same with mosquitos and bed bugs). So if you breath, they can find you.

Ticks proliferate around deer trails and bodies of water where animals typically come to drink. Here's an interesting discussion:

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=340928

You'll find more information about Permanone. Unlike Deet which is sprayed on your skin (and is more effective against mosquitos than ticks), Permanone is sprayed on your clothing the night before you wear it. When it dries it has a residual that can last for weeks, even after washing. I tried it after coming home one summer evening and picking off over a dozen of the pesky critters. Since using it I've had virtually no problem at all. The stuff really works.

And yes Lyme Disease is a very serious illness that can be transferred by ticks. In addition to forested areas, ticks can in exist in city parks and backyards. Exposure to ticks is greater when hunting because of our close contact with trees, shrubs, and grasses. But hey, there's risks to most everything we do in life!

 

[FNA]

They won't kill him. Just feed until they're done and then scamper off.

As for your own personal protection. Try Permanone. Some department stores and most sporting goods stores carry it. Follow the instructions. It works!

+100

 

[unwise11]

I hate ticks too, I got one inside my bellybutton once, a trick to getting them off is by taking a knife, and heating the tip, and touching the tick with it.. I assume that's the equivalent to us getting touched by a flaming airplane wings.

 

[courtgreene]

I personally HOPE they get on my dog. As soon as they do, they die. That's the miracle of "frontline." Having my dog in the bed next to me assures any ticks I find are dead when I find them. Not that I don't do everything to avoid or remove them from my own body... but if you treat the dog monthly, at least he or she won't have anything to worry about. For you cat people, they make the same stuff for them but it's formulated so as not to kill them.
DISCLAIMER: I have never worked for whoever makes frontline, and I receive nothing from them. To the contrary, they receive plenty from me, about every six months or so.

 

[USAF_Vet]

I hate ticks, personally.

I treat my dog with frontline religiously, yet even though a tick will die if and when it bites, it can still pass on disease before it goes to the great beyond. My dog got lyme disease, presumably from a tick. He never showed a single symptom and beat it on his own, and now carries the antibodies. His vet was impressed, in the many years he has been a rural vet, he had never seen a dog beat lyme disease on it's own.

 

[Ironclad]

If he never showed a symptom, how did you know he had it? Not trying to be a smart @$$. I'm genuinely curious.

 

[trapperjohn]

as i recall, a tick has to be attached for 24 hours to transmitt a disease. I have never had lyme disease, but i did have a tick fever once and it was no fun.

 

[Cob]

After working on a timber inventory in the woods one looong day, i came home and did the routine tick check. I pulled about 5 out of my clothes, and from me, around my belt area. I was getting ready to bathe, and momentarily set on the bed next to my wife before getting into the shower. we talked for a couple minutes, then i hopped in the shower.

later that night, I saw a tick crawling across my wife, while she was sleeping. I gently removed it from her, and never said a word.

 

[saltydog452]

Are ticks and chiggers repelled by the same chemicals?

Years ago, prior to aerosol, powdered sublimed sulpher powder could be bought from your neighborhood feed store or drug store. Put it in a sock and dust it on your pants, cuffs, collar, waist, socks, and other places where chiggers might want to visit.

Since we never had a problem with ticks, maybe it worked to repel them also.

Interesting thread. Thanks.

salty

 

[scythefwd]

eating sulfates help. I deet my shoes the night before. I permethrin all of my clothes before I go to bed. I've only had 3 ticks in 7 years. Two where when I was hinting... Same day. Other came from the yard.

 

[lizziedog1]

When I lived in tick country I used to dust my pants with the powder you use for rugs and pets. That seemed to work.

 

[MATT .45-70]

1.)the night before wash of with FELS-NAPTHA soap it is a heavy duty laundry bar soap, ticks and mosquitos cant stand it

2.)the night before spray your clothes with repel brand paramone for clothing and gear. DO NOT SPRAY THIS ON YOUR SKIN!

3.)that morning spray with regular off or some other brand repellent, spray especially good around ankles and legs

this is what I do and i never get ticks or mosquitos

also FELS-NAPTHA soap works great on poison ivy if you wash with cold water, it removes the oils like you would not believe

 

[forgetitohio]

100% Deet is the best.
It also repeals chiggers. Them critters that bite your family jewels.

BTW... old wives tale... put fingernail polish on chigger bites.
All it does is BURN big time. They are not under your skin.

http://www.medicinenet.com/chiggers_bites/page2.htm

During WW2 the Army issued underware infused with DDT.

It would indeed be a tragedy if the history of the human race proved to be nothing more than the story of an ape playing with a box of matches on a petrol dump. - David Ormsby Gore

 

[homers]

Permethrin = ticks no more!

 

[Sidewinder72]

Permethrin, spray your clothes not on your skin. Works great. I store my clothes in trash bag for next use.

 

[heeler]

You guys are probably going to split a gut laughing about this but something I learned in the early 70's from an old guy that made a living harvesting Pine timber in east Texas was to wear.......Women's panty hose.
Yes!!
They work especially when sprayed with one of the common tick repellents.
Also works for warding off those damn chiggers as well.