Tick bites!

[darwin]

In Scotland last year, the dogs kept getting ticks on them all the time. Every night we searched and removed as many as we could but there was always some got through.

Vets recommendation is smother the tick in Vaseline, then it cant breath and it dies in a few hours-removal is easier then.

On the second last day, we bought some Bob Martin Spot On from Tescos for about £6, applied to the dogs and the next day I walked the Badenoch Way through heather and all and not one tick on either of them. Best £6 I have ever spent but I wish I had had been told earlier in the week though!

[eeyore]

The trouble with burning them, zapping them with mozzie rep, smothering them with cream etc is that the shock makes them regurgitate into your bloodstream which is precisely whay you dont want.

yanking them off works but it hurts because their proboscis is corkscrew shaped so you are also yanging out a little tube of flesh, it also risks leaving the probosics behind which will then become infected like a splinter,

it is best to hold them firmly behind the mouthparts with tweezers and unscrew them in an anti clockwise direction (left hand down), holding the mouth parts fimly also stops them spitting infected blood back into you.

[ianj]

Nasty little b**gers. Had a large one on my cat a couple of years ago - pulled it off and it tried to bury itself under my fingernail. Advice from a vet recently was to use cat flea powder on it and it just drops off. Also vets now sell a tool which you insert between the tick and the skin and just unscrew it!

[Wild-Woman]

Ewww! I feel sick.
Question-when I'm out on reserves etc-I quite often where long shorts,nettles etc don't bother me-am I playing Russian roulette with these ticks? Are they everywhere there's long grass? julie

[DL]

Deer and sheep seem to be the main culprits in the initial spread of ticks. Once in an area they can then jump onto anything else. I have found them on a number of cliff faces where I presume that birds have brought them in.

I still find that anywhere popular with deer is where you are most likely to get them in high numbers, particularly in heather or at woodland edges where deer go to sunbathe

[Airehead]

I have been picking them up every time I visit my retreat in Scotland for years. The rest of the family usually avoids it, but they don't wander about in the marshy ground and bracken as much as I do. I shall try the flea powder mentioned above next time. What baffles me is how they get onto my belly when I think my clothes are all well tucked in.

Someone mentioned Wales. Years ago my brother came home from a holiday in Wales and after a few days found the tail end of a beetle emerging (dead) from his leg. He had it surgically removed. Never found out what it was, but not long after, a friends dog had the same experience. They had also been to Wales.

[catalaze]

Don't ordinary insect repellents work to keep them off in the first place? I've never had a tick on me (touch wood etc) but then I always wear insect repellent as I'm a magnet for everything that bites. Particularly those dry grass Harvest Mites, Trombicula autumnalis.

I've removed ticks from animals by anaesthetising them (the ticks, not the ready-meals) to make them relax their hold, then pulling them gently away with tweezers, head and all. It is difficult to get chloroform but meths applied on a cotton wool pad works. Don't smoke at the same time though, as wholesale cremation is inadvisable.

Maybe alcohol works, too - now there's a subject worthy of experimentation ...

As for dogs and cats, as suggested above, the decent spot-on flea treatments (which have so transformed pet ownership) also proof against ticks.

And I do hope you don't have Lyme Disease. Let us all know if anything develops!

[Tinkerbell]

I got zapped by a tick last year whilst up in Perthshire - I assume. I had been itching for a couple of days and it wasn't till I got home that I had a look in a magnifying glass and sight this quite horrible insect, with a red area around it, sticking out of the flesh near my collar bone. My husband took as much out as poss with tweezers, but some remained. Other folk told me to check for Lyme Disease, but our nurse said chances of catching it were slim. The itching went on for at least 2 weeks; eventually the rest of the insect found its way out of my flesh and the itching stopped.

Not nice, but no other effects.

Tink

[Chalk Downlanders]

Originally Posted by catalaze

Maybe alcohol works, too - now there's a subject worthy of experimentation ...

I always keep a bottle of Cuticura Anti-Bacterial Hand Gel in the car. I always wash my hands and any cuts and grazes with it when I'm out with the camera. That's high in alcohol, maybe that will work.

It's less than a quid in Tesco's etc so well worth taking with you

[nightshade]

I usually have that sort of thing (different brand) in the car, what a good idea Sticky,
mind you if you read where the ticks are picked up from; Sheep, Deer, Long Grass, Brackens
you can take the precaution of making sure everything is tucked in wear leggings and check your clothing as you remove it in case anything is hanging on