Tick bites and Lyme disease

[sportbikerider78]

Got my first tick on me this weekend. It hadn't bitten yet.

Thinking about getting chickens just for their ability to decimate the tick population.

 

[Woody5506]

They say upstate NY will be terrible this year for ticks. I'd never gotten one either until then. I flicked one off my arm earlier in the week but it hadnt bitten me.

I've spent countless hours in the woods - hiking, fishing, camping. Never had one. I always figured they didn't like me much. I'll be second guessing that from now on.

 

[Ashful]

Those of you getting ticks in your yard may want to check out Allectus. My neighbors, all of whom spend far less time outdoors than me, tell me they find them weekly. I've been here 6 years, and not a single tick. I also don't put anything on my dogs, and they haven't had a tick in 6 years, either. I put down a fertilizer product containing Allectus once each year in early June, and that seems to be doing the trick.

 

[Woody5506]

Those of you getting ticks in your yard may want to check out Allectus. My neighbors, all of whom spend far less time outdoors than me, tell me they find them weekly. I've been here 6 years, and not a single tick. I also don't put anything on my dogs, and they haven't had a tick in 6 years, either. I put down a fertilizer product containing Allectus once each year in early June, and that seems to be doing the trick.

Interesting. Never even heard of Allectus.

The problem is i have this big brush pile/pit I have been working on burning off since I bought the house in the fall. I have to do a little at a time, can't just torch the whole thing like I would like to due to being in such a residential area plus power lines right above it. That's where all the ticks have been. I know there are a lot of mice in it too, so it's no wonder.

 

[weatherguy]

80% of ticks in our county carry Lyme, so they say. That figure combined with it being a deer tick combined with it being buried in my prick for well over 12 hrs i figured were all reasons I chose to get the one dose antibiotic for it that ran me a whopping $2.50.

Anywhere else, I would've pulled it out and carried on business as usual.

I don't blame You, those little buggers will attach anywhere. You name a part of the body and I've had to pull a tick off said part. Yes, even my arse, had an itch on my arse for 3 days, I normally don't like to look at my naked arse in the mirror so it took 3 days before I noticed the little bastage. Doc usually just gives me 2 doxy tabs in that situation and to be cognizant of any symptoms.

 

[Hasufel]

More tick-related nastiness: Tick-borne disease suspected in 2-year-old's death

 

[BrotherBart]

Two nights ago I felt something on my leg. Biggest tick, not just engorged, I have ever seen. Two hours later after I went to bed I felt something and it was another one just like it.

 

[HisTreeNut]

Spent the day trimming tall grass around the property. Have not seen any ticks yet... Doesn't mean that are not there. Although the gnats are awful this year and never had them since we moved into our house. Unfortunately, my one son is a magnet for mosquitos. Over 30 bites on his legs the other day...he's getting garlic & vitamin B every day now and has his own personal bottle of Deep Woods Off. Missing winter a little bit.

 

[jetsam]

I am running about one a day here, same as last year. The Big Tick Plague appears to have bypassed Long Island.

Actually, I really should have more ticks, not less, as we decided not to mow the yard this year until late fall. (It is about waist high now and very pretty!)

 

[Ashful]

Careful the county doesn't slap an "abandoned" notice on your front door, jetsam. [emoji14]

 

[peakbagger]

One of the approaches to tick control is to put out tick traps which are tubes full of cotton balls soaked with permethrin. Mice apparently like to use cotton for nesting and will haul it quite a distance. The mice (and other small rodents) will nest in it killing the ticks. They are the intermediate host for ticks so effectively the ticks are stopped from reproducing. Probably worth trying before nuking the lawn with permethrin which kills other beneficial insects like spiders.

 

[jetsam]

Careful the county doesn't slap an "abandoned" notice on your front door, jetsam. [emoji14]

There's nobody to complain. The yard is bordered on two sides by wooded parkland, on one side by the neighbor's woods, and the front is the house (which has woods and driveway out to the road in front of it).

I mowed it last year when we had kids visiting, but it looked like.... a lawn.

Not only is it awesome looking, but it also requires zero poisonings per year to keep it that way.

I tend to get my ticks from the woods, not the tall grass. Maybe the turkeys are taking care of the ones in the yard for me!

 

[jetsam]

One of the approaches to tick control is to put out tick traps which are tubes full of cotton balls soaked with permethrin. Mice apparently like to use cotton for nesting and will haul it quite a distance. The mice (and other small rodents) will nest in it killing the ticks. They are the intermediate host for ticks so effectively the ticks are stopped from reproducing. Probably worth trying before nuking the lawn with permethrin which kills other beneficial insects like spiders.

It's also deadly to cats, so don't use it if you have cats about. It is safe enough for dogs that it's a common flea and tick control product there.

It's pretty great at getting rid of mosquitoes and ticks though.

 

[peakbagger]

It's also deadly to cats, so don't use it if you have cats about. It is safe enough for dogs that it's a common flea and tick control product there.

It's pretty great at getting rid of mosquitoes and ticks though.

Concentrated liquid permethrin when applied is deadly to cats. Most of the flea and tick baths are a far higher concentrations than that used for clothes treatment. The diluted product used for treating clothing is not as the active ingredient binds to the fabric (which is why it lasts through multiple washings). Cats get poisoned by directly grooming the product off their fur or grooming other animals like dogs in the household. Cats don't groom clothing or cotton balls in plastic tubes in the lawn set for tick traps.

Unfortunately pesticides in general are easy to buy and many amateurs are unable or unwilling to read the directions and apply per the recommendations. Its not just amateurs that do that, some farmers are somewhat infamous for cutting corners on application and pay the price in the long run. The general by the public is if a little works a lot better works better. Folks also like a "quick kill" on pests which usually means over application.

Like many pesticides, the highest potential abuse and exposure is during the mixing and application. For someone who wants the benefits and minimize exposure there is at least one firm that you can send clothing to have it treated. A benefit to the treatment is that the application lasts longer. Some aid agencies require their workers to have this treatment applied prior to visiting areas with high pest potential.

 

[jetsam]

The Big Tick Plague of 2017 still hasn't materialized here. I quit using bug spray unless I'm going out in the woods, and zero ticks for weeks now (which is abmormally low even with bug spray).

We have had ramped up turkey and chicken patrols, so maybe that explains it.

 

[Ashful]

After six years of bragging we have no ticks in my yard, I picked up my first one last Saturday. It was on my forearm, after mucking about with a bad GFCI receptacle in one of my larger gardens. I was waste deep in ferns, and under a low Mulberry tree that the deer love to feed from, so not a huge surprise. I was carrying him up to the house for proper disposal, when he got away from me and fell into the grass. Hopefully there's enough residual Allectus from the June application to end him there, before he finds one of my dogs.

 

[tnroadkill]

terrible ticks this year just test positive for Rocky mt, spotted fever on antibotics

 

[JRHAWK9]

Here's a documentary we all need to watch.
http://underourskin.com/

Sister was recently diagnosed after 5.5 years of battling with the MD's.

 

[jetsam]

We had exceptionally few ticks this year. I picked up far less than usual in the woods, and zero from the yard.

The yard did have more chickens and turkeys than in past years, but the chickens don't go far out into the woods.

Tough to say if the dogs got any because they get Bravecto in the spring, so any ticks that bite them die.

 

[zambien]

Lots of them here in high country North Carolina this year. In the upper elevations (4000+) most folks say this is the first year they have seen ticks. There are tons of deer ticks this year. Last year I was out in the deep woods and neither me nor my dog got any on us. This year it is lousy.

 

[They Call Me Pete]

Dealing with this right now. On Doxy for preventative measures. Just a way of life on the farm. Pulled 12 ticks off our dog after she was up back of our property with me. This would be the 4th or 5th time I would have it if I didn't catch it early....sigh

 

[Birdbrain]

Here in Ohio I went to the health department for sceptic permit this summer. They had a brochure on ticks facts for Ohio. There are more kinds then I thought. Lymes is carried by more than one kind of tick and Rocky Mountain spotted fever is in Ohio also, and there are other tick born diseases her also. Yucky little things.

I have two grandchildren diagnosed this summer. 11 year old granddaughter has lymes. Her eyesight was getting so bad they went to naturalpathic who has asyra testing machine. Dr. John Mulliken in eastern PA gave her homeopathic remedies and she is much improved, but he wants her to go to a Lyme specialist also. Her brother has Pandas, specialist in New York has been testing and has not found reason, but has been doing very expensive treatments to get his brain inflammation down and detox his body. My daughter recently had the naturalpathic doc test grandson on the asyra, showed he had lymes in the brain. The specialist office was glad and is going to go after it.

Doc said, get immune system in top shape to reduce chance of infection taking hold.

 

[Birdbrain]

Also, my son has guineas, they eat tons of ticks.....essential oils work well for pets and people without being toxic. My son in Northern Michigan near Lake Superior found multiple imbedded deer ticks in two of his sweet little girls.. They felt panicky, natural Doc sent them a natural remedy to help prevent any bacteria from taking hold, 3 years later till no effects.

 

[VirginiaIron]

This year we have probably had more problems with the nymph and or seed tick on the tender back side of the knee and ankle. Looked like the tiniest dark spot which reminded me of fine beach sand. Unknowingly scratch it off then it Itched like crazy until I drew blood or sprayed some DEET on it.

http://underourskin.com/

 

[Ashful]

After six years of never getting a tick on my own property, I’ve found two in one summer.

Yesterday, while pulling on my pants, I felt a sore bump on my hip. Thought it felt like a pimple, but looked and it was an embedded tick. Must have been there about 24 hours, based on my activities of the prior day. I pulled him out and crushed him with some heavy steel tweezers.

Advice? See a doc now, or wait a few weeks and get tested?