unwelcome hitchhikers?

Broken rugby player

Anyone else read tis thread and started to itch :shock:

t0pc4t

J@mesC wrote:

Yeah, good link Concorde - everyone should read that before attempting to remove ticks with soldering irons, lighters, cigarettes or vaseline!

We get loads of them around here (West Berks) - a lot of the woods are full of deer and they carry huge numbers of ticks.

Easiest place to get those tick removal tools is a vets or decent pet shop. The little green hookey ones are great, come in a pack of 2 different sizes and by far the fastest, cleanest way of removing them (plenty of practise, mainly on the dogs but have also had one or two myself ;o)

I hope we don't get any in East Berks, horrible little things, might get a tick puller from pets at home.

As cooldad says you have to be careful getting them out as if you whip off the body it leaves the mouthparts behind

rudderboy

We get loads of them up here in the Eastern Cairngorms.

The little buggers are really common in bracken, where they sit on the ends of the leaves with their legs sticking out waiting for you to brush past them, then they'll grab you and then start their slow crawl until they find your soft bits....

Anyone watched "Alien" recently?

miss notax

ralph1471 wrote:

in the new forest apparently 30% of ticks carry lymes disease!

That's worrying :? That's where we do most of our riding (through the long grass etc)! Loads of deer in the New Forest, so I always knew it was a bit of a tick hotspot though!

lg18

Hi Everyone,

I am tick ecologist so this thread is really interesting to me!

Please, DON'T burn them or vaseline them etc. Pull them out with fine tweezers or a tick tool. Keep the tick for later analysis in case you are worried about Lyme disease. Keep an eye on the bite site over the following 10 days. If there's a bullseye rash or flu-like illness, see a doc asap. Should be cleared up ok with antibiotics then (with luck).

No need to be too paranoid about them, but just be very tick aware - brush them off your clothing at very regular intervals, and always check your body in the evenings after being out.

New Forest is a Lyme hotspot, but 30% infected is an exaggeration. Average in Scottish woods is 6% (range 1-14%). Cairngorms (Speyside and Deeside) (and around Drumnadrochit!) are hotspots. It's the nymphs (the medium sized ones, grey/black, about 2mm long) that cause the most cases. The really tiny pepper-dust ones are too young to have picked up the pathogen yet, so are unlikely to infect you.

More deer = more ticks. But deer don't transmit the pathogen. So more mice/voles/birds = more pathogen. Deer plus the others = lots of ticks AND lots of pathogen.

I don't like all the scare-mongering, but it's sensible to just be aware and check check check.

Lucy

miss notax

Interesting, thanks Lucy!

gb2gw

It seems last week was Tick Bite Prevention Week!

http://www.tickbitepreventionweek.org/

Some useful stuff there (although not sure about Ray Mears's tip about taking a walking stick out with you is ideal when on two wheels!)

I've had ticks (hang on, that makes me sounds like I've had fleas) about 10 years ago. Picked them up on holiday in Cornwall when I'd gone walking through long grass in a field. Had never seen them before and weren't entirely sure what they were and even the doctors surgery hadn't a clue what to do with them (ended up burning them off the back of my knee with a shaky-handed quarterising tool - Ow.)

Never had any since but always keep a couple of green tick twisters
http://www.ticktwister.co.uk/
in the house for the dog in case he picks up any. (He often does whenever we've gone over to visit family in Norfolk - the woods there seem riddled with the buggers)

and we bought a spare set for when we went to the alps last summer mountain biking as apparently they also abound in france. Never got any though.

mkf

so would midge spray (insect repelant) keep ticks off me.

lg18

Yes I think midge spray does help keep off ticks - I sometimes spray my socks/ankles.

It's worth mentioning that ticks in some part of mainland Europe, such as parts of Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, N Italy, carry a far far worse pathogen than Lyme - tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus, which can be v v serious (far worse than Lyme). It can be advisable to get vaccinated against TBE if visiting some of those areas, or at the very least, being extremely tick aware over there.

cee

yip..

had a few ticks in my time....

as said....fine sharp tweezers are the way to get them out. never had any issues with disease afterwards....

Surely a good tick check is all part of a decent day out?

Horse Flies (Cleggs) on the other hand...now they are nasty fuggers.....bites hurt for days.

Rooner wrote:

Now's the time of year to start putting insect repellent on (I wondered if I could Frontline myself?) . There's a new one come out called Smidge that Midge, from Scotland, and I presume they know a thing or two about nasty biteys

Smidge That Midge is the bomb. Got some last year....ace stuff....even better than the Avon SSoS.....doesn't smell as gurly though

hucking_fell

You should unscrew them. Anticlockwise if I remember right. It shows you which way on the packaging that comes with the two green prong thingies from the vets. Pulling them without twisting the correct way might cause the head to be left behind inside yourself.

lasty

Bit startled the other day to find one firmly embedded in mi nuts .... i kid you not :shock:

Had a few through backpacking but the secret is not to panic and take your time to remove correctly ............

freddiegrubb

:oops: google" lymes disease " & be very afraid, a friend had it- dog- long grass- walkies etc. spent 3weeks in hospital hooked up to an antibiotic drip. Can leave you with damaged heart valves & a host of other serious issues.

Johnny Napalm

I was looking forward to my ride tomorrow morning until I read this. Never knowingly had one, but I suppose I would've known by now...had plenty of Horse Fly bites and Mosquito bites though. I've never kown anyone get a tick either so must be pretty uncommon around these parts. I've never done a 'tick check' after a ride because I've never known about them really.

Maybe a stupid question but how do you know you've got one?

I'll be bloody papping myself tomorrow!

J@mesC

Johnny Napalm wrote:

Maybe a stupid question but how do you know you've got one?

I'll be bloody papping myself tomorrow!

You'll have what appears to be a small mole where you didnt' have one before - which is the tick's body sticking out of you as its head will be buried under your skin Depending on size of tick it can vary from size of a pin head (hardest to get out as nothing to get hold of) up to about the size of a pea. Check soft areas, back of knees, armpits, around your nuts :shock:

We do a lot of work with deer and often come across them - best thing to do is not panic. Half an hour spent going to the local pet shop or vets to get a tick tool is better than half an hour in a panic digging it out and leaving the mouthparts in there to go sceptic!

ThatBikeGuy

I remember having one, thankfully it decided to dig in before it reached my nuts. Now that i recall i was camping with friends in a farmers field where sheep had been and...long grass.
Gave me the creeps seeing it's legs still wriggling about while it were inside me :?

cee

Hucking Fell wrote:

You should unscrew them. Anticlockwise if I remember right. It shows you which way on the packaging that comes with the two green prong thingies from the vets. Pulling them without twisting the correct way might cause the head to be left behind inside yourself.

contradictory info out there.....some says twist, others say pull straight...not too hard...

i have never had any issues with pulling straight :shock:

theres also a thread lasoo method....

lg18

I don't think it matters whether you twist in whatever direction or pull straight. I think pulling straight, slowly but firmly, is probably safest - the head won't be left in if you have v fine tweezer or tick tool and grip it firmly by the head. Don't grab the body or it might puke itself into you, increasing risk of disease.

There is a lot of scare-mongering on the internet about Lyme. Most people that are bitten by an infected tick never get any symptoms at all and never know they've had it, i.e. are immune. The rest of people are likely to get a nice obvious rash so antibiotics can be administered soon enough. The rest of people that don't get the rash will get flu-like symptoms quite soon so can also get antibiotics. It is very unfortunate and a small minority that get the horrible long-term illness - not so say that it doesn't happen (it definitely can and does), but checking yourself frequently and be aware and knowing what to do should help prevent it getting that far.

Lucy

theshrew

If you do get one and dont notice it will fall off when its had enough anyway.

I had one years ago when i was camping. I didnt realise i had it till my dad noticed it when we were in the changing rooms afterwards.

You will only get one in long grass somewhere near cows sheep etc

paulbox

lg18 wrote:

It's worth mentioning that ticks in some part of mainland Europe, such as parts of Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, N Italy, carry a far far worse pathogen than Lyme - tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus, which can be v v serious (far worse than Lyme). It can be advisable to get vaccinated against TBE if visiting some of those areas, or at the very least, being extremely tick aware over there.

FFS, I was already itching sitting in a conference room in Vienna...

Now I'm just hoping that the cab driver doesn't go though any long grass on the way back to the airport this afternoon...

PXR5

Hucking Fell wrote:

You should unscrew them. Anticlockwise if I remember right. It shows you which way on the packaging that comes with the two green prong thingies from the vets. Pulling them without twisting the correct way might cause the head to be left behind inside yourself.

This ^

We get loads of them around here, despite putting anti tick collars on the cats etc see them almost every day...

Pulled one out of the better halfs arm the other week as it was starting to bite..

I've heard that if you cover them in vaseline or something like that they can't breath, so the let go and fall off (I'm talking about ticks here, not wives) - but the best way is to grap hold, without squashing, pull gently and unscrew them - apparently they only burrow in clockwise, so need to come out anticlockwise - what you don't want is to squash them or leave any legs or head embedded in your skin as this can get nasty - when you've got the little git out then do as you will - various methods include stamping on, flushing down the bog, or chucking on a fire, where they can make a quite satisfying popping sound....

Bonne appetite....

Wallace1492

Up here they are also in area's where deer are present, which covers most of Scotland. Going through bracken, heather and longer grass gets them, so really off road routes are the worst. They lay in wait for a warm body to pass and jump aboard.

Couple of hours of feasting then drop off. A lot of people get them but don't notice as the tick's have dropped off.

Mate is a tick magnet and had 12 after one overnighter last year. I had 4, but worst of all one decided to feast on the base of my "old fellow" I got it out rather carefully..... They do like warm, dark places....

You can just leave them and they drop off after a belly full, can be better that leaving the head buried in you.

Anonymous

PXR5 wrote:

I've heard that if you cover them in vaseline or something like that they can't breath, so the let go and fall off

Well you'd be wrong there then.
Look, people, we've had the expert opinion in this thread. Can we just leave it now? Or do we STILL need clueless air wasters adding their opinion?
(Mind you, that's par for the course on BR :roll: )

PXR5

yeehaamcgee wrote:

PXR5 wrote:

I've heard that if you cover them in vaseline or something like that they can't breath, so the let go and fall off

Well you'd be wrong there then.
Look, people, we've had the expert opinion in this thread. Can we just leave it now? Or do we STILL need clueless air wasters adding their opinion?
(Mind you, that's par for the course on BR :roll: )

Now now if you can't say something nice at least be vague...

Actually i'd missed the expert post on this, and only said i'dheard about the old vaseline thingy -obviously this is some sort of urban myth - l may not be a tick expert but like i said its about 1 a day with our cats at the moment and 1 a week with the kids....unscrew them and chuck them down the bog i say...

Anonymous

Well here's a tip for you then. Are you ready for this? I'm going to BLOW YOUR MIND. so take a seat before you read it.

Here we go



Read the thread, before barging in.

Steve_F

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Well here's a tip for you then. Are you ready for this? I'm going to BLOW YOUR MIND. so take a seat before you read it.

Here we go



Read the thread, before barging in.

That's got the same kind of structure and kind of logical insanity that Charlie Sheen's Twitter posts have......

....been taking a lot of drink & drugs lately Yeehaa????

I'm itchy everywhere after reading this thread, going to have to head to the toilets to 'check myself out', then off to a pet store to buy a supply of tic pullers.

Spent a lot of time outdoors in Scotland and can't remember ever having one, do remember the cars getting them regularly though.

Wallace1492

Steve_F wrote:

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Well here's a tip for you then. Are you ready for this? I'm going to BLOW YOUR MIND. so take a seat before you read it.

Here we go



Read the thread, before barging in.

That's got the same kind of structure and kind of logical insanity that Charlie Sheen's Twitter posts have......

....been taking a lot of drink & drugs lately Yeehaa????

I'm itchy everywhere after reading this thread, going to have to head to the toilets to 'check myself out', then off to a pet store to buy a supply of tic pullers.

Spent a lot of time outdoors in Scotland and can't remember ever having one, do remember the cars getting them regularly though.

Never had a tick on my car...... bollox, ankles, old fellow, azz yes.... not on my car though.

Steve_F

Wallace1492 wrote:

Never had a tick on my car...... bollox, ankles, old fellow, azz yes.... not on my car though.

You've never lived then. Of course I meant cats!

Anonymous

So, reading a topic before deciding to barge in and say the same thing that's been said over and over and over, and one misleading piece of advice is insane?
I think you need to get your head checked, Steve.

Steve_F

yeehaamcgee wrote:

So, reading a topic before deciding to barge in and say the same thing that's been said over and over and over, and one misleading piece of advice is insane?
I think you need to get your head checked, Steve.

Logical insanity is different from being insane.

I completely agree with you as it happens, your post just had the same structure and feel as Charlie Sheen's Twitter posts.

Was a tongue in cheek comment, no arguments that I need my head checked though!!