TICKS

yeah my wife who is a licensed veternary technician warned me the other day that it is tick season even here in the Adirondacks. I told her to run in the woods and I would check her over when she got back! haha

Ticks suck. They start becoming active right at the time of year you don't want to be all bundled up and taped shut into your clothing. Rick

We don't have them in the NW. We also don't have poisonous or dangerous snakes. Only thing I need to worry about in the woods is bees.

To be fair there are reports of some rattlesnakes out in the desert and likely there has been an occurance of some crazy tick here but you're more likely to win the lottery than to see them.

Oh and supposedly there are grizzly bears too, yeah right.

Light colored pants, clothes and clothes sprayed with Permethrin are supposedly effective for ticks. of course, not all ticks are deer ticks and those are the ones that carry lyme disease.

check often!

Jay

Highbeam said:

We don't have them in the NW...

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True, and I don't miss them one bit. Back in Virginia they were everywhere in the springtime. I've no idea how many ticks I removed from my dogs during the 12 years I lived there. Nasty little guys! And the Deer Ticks, of course, carry Lime disease...not something you want to contract. Rick

I can deal with the ticks because at least most of them you can feel/see but it's the d@#m chiggers that get me every year!

You can also get Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever from ticks, not just deer ticks, however, it's rare(r) than Lyme I think..

http://www.cdc.gov/ticks/diseases/rocky_mountain_spotted_fever/faq.html

Jay

Yup, they are a pain.
Was on vacation once, went to take a leak....and wow, had one right on mr righty....not a fun thing...

got 3 off me last weekend cutting wood and a few off the dog.

If you're looking for a good educational web site for ticks, check out www.mainelyticks.com. Lots of good information and links.

Tick season is a long way off yet here. We're still snowed in. Not many deer ticks here, mostly wood ticks. We avoid the bush and long grasses when they're in season but AFAIK the wood tick doesn't carry any diseases. We do the full length mirror tick check every night. I also check the dog daily.

Shipper50 said:

Not sure where this should go and after doing a search I didn't find anything for ticks?

Am I the only one who seems to get them? I had a small one just outside my right arm pit the other day and now find one on my left hip. They are small and not embedded but just starting to get hungry. I don't know how the pro loggers get by with being around them all the time.

Shipper

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I read somewhere that ticks only move against gravity; this gives a clue how to avoid them most of the time. Pants inside of socks (looks a little doofy but works) takes care of legs, crotch,butt. Shirt inside of pants takes care of upper body. Long sleeve polo(tee) shirt,gloves take care of arms. Hat helps most of head. Wife checks neck when I come in. I leave all clothes in garage to be washed in hot water. I have not had a tick since using this procedure, and previously I had many, including the bullseye rash and early Lyme disease.........but no shortcuts or you will pay for it. May be good to put some OFF on neck.

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I read somewhere that ticks only move against gravity; this gives a clue how to avoid them most of the time. Pants inside of socks (looks a little doofy but works) takes care of legs, crotch,butt. Shirt inside of pants takes care of upper body. Long sleeve polo(tee) shirt,gloves take care of arms. Hat helps most of head. Wife checks neck when I come in. I leave all clothes in garage to be washed in hot water. I have not had a tick since using this procedure, and previously I had many, including the bullseye rash and early Lyme disease.........but no shortcuts or you will pay for it. May be good to put some OFF on neck.[/quote]

Down here in South Texas we have a lot of ticks. Just dust the lower pants leg and boot with sulphur. They stay off!

Oh, yeah, their usual mode of transportation, meaning how they get on you or deer, is they climb to grass or anything high that when the deer (or you) run by it, it'll hopefully get picked up by you, maybe land on your pants leg, boots, socks, etc... Then it can crawl it's way til it finds skin. This means that sometimes it takes quite a long time from arrival to actually getting to skin, so it isn't doom and gloom at first. which means you should check regularly.

Also, as for Lyme disease, not everybody gets that bullseye rash...

Jay

Ticks this year is the worst I've seen in a few years. I have a trail cam and everytime I go to check it I pull at least 5 off me. Not looking forward to spending all day in the woods with that many around.

Winter has traditionally been a limiting factor for ticks, they don't like the freezing temperatures. I don't know how this winter stands in terms of average temp but deer ticks also fluctuate with the deer population, just like any relationship between prey and a predator. More deer == more deer ticks and certainly the deer population is generally increasing and they're also coming out of the woods and migrating towards urban populations which means more ticks in more civilized areas. i know I get a ton of deer in my yard and see them all over the roads in NJ...

Jay

Ticks and chiggers are a plague here in N.J. Two years ago my father got lymes disease while splitting logs in may. So basicly if you are not heavily sprayed down with something containing deet you do not enter the woods or mess around with wood from may till october. Unless you wanna have a hundred little baby ticks crawling all over you and have chiggers bites from your feet till your neck its not pretty.

I know a docter in PA. that claims 80percent of people he's test have lymes disease.

The key to kick control is to use a tick repellent on your clothing that has Permethrin in it. Permethrin is the ONLY repellent that woks for ticks. I did extensive research on it, and even tried putting some permethrin on a piece of paper and a tick on it. The tick died in a minute. The best source of this stuff is made for horses and is like 1/4 the price of the stuff for people. It's the same stuff too.

Sray it on your clothes, shoes and hat. it' will remain active across a few washings even. While using it, I've never had a tick.

Permethrin is a effective tick control agent. Something as simple as vinegar, either in italian dressing or just drink a small amount in water will do wonders as far as keeping mosquitos and chiggers away. Actually, it is an old Army trick. I know it sounds crazy, but it will work.

The Western and Eastern (oft called a deer tick)black legged tick could care less what bird or mammal it hosts to, as long as it gets a meal.
They live for two years, so its not uncommon for them to be out in the Winter if it is mild enough long enough.
We have plenty of ticks here, even when there are no deer. (there were none for 50 years) draining a swamp for a commercial center allowed them access into this area.

I have ticks so bad on my property that I have to put down this granular called seven. I put it down in june and late august and it takes pretty good care of them on my property. I had western pest control come out and they told me that the main carrier of ticks are mice. They wanted to put these boxes in my yard that had a wick at the top of them that was saturated with a chemical similar to frontline or advantix. So when the mice went through the box they get a nice shot of frontline on them and it kills all the ticks. Sounded like a good idea but they asked for way to much money. Guess I will just stick with the seven.

Highbeam said:

We don't have them in the NW. We also don't have poisonous or dangerous snakes. Only thing I need to worry about in the woods is bees.

To be fair there are reports of some rattlesnakes out in the desert and likely there has been an occurance of some crazy tick here but you're more likely to win the lottery than to see them.

Oh and supposedly there are grizzly bears too, yeah right.

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Awww, no poisonous snakes? I got this the night of August 2nd, 2008. Protip: don't wear crappy shoes at night and go out with no flashlight. It was a copperhead, so far as we know.

A technicality but snakes are venomous, not poisonous as many people say. Venom is Injected, Poisin is InGested.

Jay