Tick, Tick, Tick . . .

[Loves Vintage]

Ticks!

So, they are saying this is going to be a bad tick season. I believe "them". I've already dealt with 4 ticks this year. I picked up a tick key http://www.tickkey.com/ at the feed store. I highly recommend!!!

Does anyone treat their yard, or do anything to try to control ticks? We will have a garden this year, and we have a little one, so I don't think we can treat chemically.

 

[justginger]

Ick, I hate the little buggers. That's one thing we don't really have in Australian suburbs and I don't miss - growing up in the woods of Missouri, they were an unpreventable part of summer. I always tried the 'alternative' methods of getting them off, but they never worked. I inevitably had to give up and rip them off with tweezers. Those tick keys look good.

I did an independent research project during college on ehrlichiosis, a tick-borne disease (in the vein of Lyme and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever). They're just not good, some people seem to never be able to shake the fatigue and suffer for years afterwards. It's best to avoid lots of brush, cover up (tuck your socks into your jeans), and do detailed body checks when you get home. You can treat your pets with preventative meds as well, which eliminates the chances of them dragging ticks into the house.

I'm getting crawly skin just thinking about them!

 

[lulu]

We were in Florida until a week ago, and they were really bad. We had to quit walking the dog in the woods even though he loves it.
Not as big a problem here in Michigan. I've seen the keys-are they easier than using tweezers?

 

[monarch64]

For human tick bite prevention, treat clothing with permethrin sprays or buy clothing already treated with it. Permethrin is harmful to cats and fish so keep that in mind. Wash your treated clothing separately from non-treated.

Ex Officio is one brand that offers a good selection of treated clothing. Baby Legs, those cute little baby leg warmer/covers, also makes a permethrin-treated version.

 

[Loves Vintage]

We were in Florida until a week ago, and they were really bad. We had to quit walking the dog in the woods even though he loves it.
Not as big a problem here in Michigan. I've seen the keys-are they easier than using tweezers?

For me, yes, it is easier. It promises to get the entire tick, and so far, it has! I think tweezers, which I will admit to never having used on my own for a tick (used to just call for help!), do not necessarily always get the entire tick? I don't know why, but I just have a lot more confidence in this key, so much so that I am now the designated tick remover.

On a sidenote, where in FL? Don't say if you've prefer not to, but we've spent some time in Marathon, and so many people there are from Michigan!

 

[Loves Vintage]

For human tick bite prevention, treat clothing with permethrin sprays or buy clothing already treated with it. Permethrin is harmful to cats and fish so keep that in mind. Wash your treated clothing separately from non-treated.

Ex Officio is one brand that offers a good selection of treated clothing. Baby Legs, those cute little baby leg warmer/covers, also makes a permethrin-treated version.

Interesting. I will look into it. I never knew Baby Legs made something like that. I bet they're super-cute!

 

[Loves Vintage]

Ick, I hate the little buggers. That's one thing we don't really have in Australian suburbs and I don't miss - growing up in the woods of Missouri, they were an unpreventable part of summer. I always tried the 'alternative' methods of getting them off, but they never worked. I inevitably had to give up and rip them off with tweezers. Those tick keys look good.

I did an independent research project during college on ehrlichiosis, a tick-borne disease (in the vein of Lyme and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever). They're just not good, some people seem to never be able to shake the fatigue and suffer for years afterwards. It's best to avoid lots of brush, cover up (tuck your socks into your jeans), and do detailed body checks when you get home. You can treat your pets with preventative meds as well, which eliminates the chances of them dragging ticks into the house.

I'm getting crawly skin just thinking about them!

I'll have to look into this too, as they dog has been bringing most of them in. This has never been an issue in prior seasons (maybe one tick a year, if any), so I don't know how they work. Ticks won't try to attach to them if they've been treated? Or, the ticks die if they do attach?

 

[lulu]

Vintage-we're about an hour north of Orlando-lots of Michiganders there too.

Sometimes you don't get the whole tick with tweezers so I'm ordering a key on Amazon. It's always amazing how hard it is to kill them. You can't just smash them with a shoe. I drown them in rubbing alcohol.

 

[monarch64]

If you lose your tick key or find yourself without one, another effective way to get a tick off you is to glob some petroleum jelly on top of it. It cuts off the tick's oxygen supply (smothers it) and it will back out within minutes. Just make sure to kill it afterwards! My dad used to burn them with a cigarette lighter; I prefer to flush them down the toilet. (I grew up on a small farm surrounded by woods--lots of run-ins with ticks when I was a kid since we spent so little time indoors, and yes, they are predicted to be really bad this year.)

 

[radiantquest]

My parents said that the ticks are bad this year. They have 11 outside cats they said that the cats are getting a few a day. In the northeast they are saying that we will have a very buggy summer. We already had the stink bug infestation here and now ticks. We are being told that it is because none of the critters froze this winter because it didn't get cold enough and stay that way. I don't know what the story is elsewhere.

I have a friend that puts a tad of garlic in her dogs food. It can be dangerous for pets, but as long as you just use a little it doesn't hurt them. She said that her dog never gets fleas or ticks.

Also, I have been told to get food grade diatomaceous. Its fit for human and animal consumption and is the best flea and tick prevention for your pet and is very inexpensive.

 

[JewelFreak]

Frontline Plus does a great job. I've used it for 20 yrs on my dogs & never had a problem, either w/their health or ticks & fleas. Some of you may not like chemicals, but remember, even holistic stuff is chemical, just not patentable -- it comes out of factories & is man-made to a degree just like the other stuff. SO much better than bombing the house! Than scratching & worrying about Lyme. Those awful days still give me nightmares!

LV, it works by killing the tick or flea when it bites -- dies within half an hour or something similar. They need to be on the host for a couple of hours for the Lyme bacterium to pass into its bloodstream.

--- Laurie

 

[justginger]

I use Advantix on our dogs - prevents just about every bite, including flies (which can be brutal in the Oz summer). There are even dangerous paralysis ticks here that it repels. I don't like artificial chemical treatments more than anyone else, so our dogs go untreated during the spring, autumn, and winter.

And garlic is also a good additive, gives their coats a nice sheen and boosts their immune system. We add in small amounts to their food from time to time.

 

[lulu]

I just want to say that we use Frontline on the dog, but if you have kitties too you must be careful that none of it gets on them. Years ago DH accidentally put the dog stuff on the cats and within an hour all three were having seizures. Luckily, they survived after emergency vet care.

 

[lizzyann]

We actually just found a tick on my son a couple of weeks ago. It was on his scalp. I have no idea how long it was attached to him which scared me more. My husband removed it fully with tweezers and we sent it in to UMass Amherst where they offer tick testing and it came back to be a deer tick but tested negative for Lyme and two other diseases. Hallelujah! We live on a wooded lot in Massachusetts. Us and our neighbors all researched spraying our property and ended up finding this company http://capecodtick.com/home We feel comfortable with our choice as many ticks have been showing up. They come to spray tomorrow at our house and a couple of neighbors' houses. I'm actually excited to have it done. Some companies only spray the perimeter of your property but they have to come back 3-4 times to keep up with the ticks entering the area. The company we are using comes once and does your entire property not only the perimeter. It is safe for children after 2-3 hours once the product has dried.

 

[Deactivated member 42515]

The ticks attack my dogs and I hate it! I feel so bad for them. I tried to spray the yard but it was gonna harm the girls too since they eat the grass. What I have been doing that has worked very well is if a tick has already embedded itself into my girls, I get some rubbing alcohol, soak a cottonball and hold it against the tick for about 5 minutes. This paralyzes the tick and it releases and you can just pull them out head and all.

I had 1 each on the girls last year even with preventative measures. I heard its gonna be realllly bad this year. I am NOT looking forward to it.

 

[monarch64]

Buy up all the tick keys you can, ladies. We just tried to place an order for more and our distributor is sold out!

 

[packrat]

Ew I totally am crawling and have the heebie jeebies now. I hate ticks. Our part of town is far enough away from the river, we've not seen one here since we moved in 10 1/2 years ago. But I grew up in the country so had many years to deal w/them. Nasty. Hate them things. We light a match and set them on fire in an ashtray or on the cement outside. If they're the big ones that get on animals we'd step on them and squish them. Well..not me..I generally was the one that would find them (things I hate I have an eye out for all the time, like spiders and wasps, I can spot them anywhere), so once I alerted mom or dad I'd hop up and down and make ihhh uggg ewww noises and freak out.