unwelcome hitchhikers?

Anonymous

The logic seems sound to me.

lvquestpaddler

Lucy's a fellow paddler(UKRGB!) and good to have an expert on the subject, sea kayakers detest them too(more than midges even...)
One thing you do notice is that they have a real knack of not only going for moist damp thin skinned places but they seem to end up in places where you can't self check reliably. I had one on my lower back on the hip(ok, handle...) which was so small it was easily missed. Another on the groin which looked just like a pulled hair spot(?)
My other half has to look everywhere(up the crack too...poor lass) they really do get everywhere. They also dig right in when they suspect they are under attack. :shock:
Never had any jaws etc left in using the tick twisters they're really effective.
I had our dog at the vets yesterday and gave her a grilling over pet treatments for ticks. Our dog runs around in the woodland garden, comes in and jumps up on the fabric couch. If a tick is on her and doesn't like the taste of her doused in Frontline, could it drop off and wait on the couch for one of us?Seems this is possible so will need to be wary of this...
If you've any concerns though don't murder the tick, take it to your GP they should be able to get it tested- but this in itself is a lottery our rural GP's are very tick aware, but what if you pick up a few while holidaying here then go back to your innercity life(you do still get them in city parks though!!) your GP might not even be looking for Lymes symptoms as they don't get them often enough... :twisted:

Anonymous

lvquestpaddler wrote:

My other half has to look everywhere(up the crack too...poor lass) they really do get everywhere.

Oh dear god :shock:

miss notax

yeehaamcgee wrote:

lvquestpaddler wrote:

My other half has to look everywhere(up the crack too...poor lass) they really do get everywhere.

Oh dear god :shock:

There's no bloody way i'm doing that - if Notax as a tick on his @rse it can damned well stay there :shock:

Anonymous

I don't think he's talking about her arse crack.

paulbox

yeehaamcgee wrote:

I don't think he's talking about her ars* crack.

I wasn't sure...

Anonymous

How would you get the tick remover up there, and still see what you're doing though? Or do you just stick your, er, man sausage up there with some tick-bait, wait for it to bite, then extract it like that?
Because, if you do, hats off to you for your dedication to camaraderie.

Wallace1492

Just bought tick tweezers at lunchtime.... better to be tooled up...

lg18

lvquestpaddler wrote:

If a tick is on her and doesn't like the taste of her doused in Frontline, could it drop off and wait on the couch for one of us?Seems this is possible so will need to be wary of this...

Hi lvquestpaddler!!! Hmmm.... you'd hope the Frontline would either stop a tick going on your dog, or kill it if the tick does go on, but the other option would certainly be that the tick drops off in your house and, if still well enough, will try for another host.... Definitely something to beware of! Everything you say is spot on.

Also it's important to pull the tick off (with or without twisting -makes no difference) AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. The Borrelia (Lyme diseases causing pathogen) lives in the tick's gut and when the tick start to feed (by spitting then sucking, spitting then sucking - urgh!), the Borrelia bacteria migrate up to the tick's salivary glands where they reproduce really rapidly. Some authorities say "if you pull it off before 24hrs you'll be ok, if after 24 hrs you might get infected", but obviously there is no real definite cut-off point like 24hrs in reality. It's just that the longer it feeds, the more likely you are to get infected, so don't wait for a GP appointment to get the tick removed - remove it yourself asap!

Lyme disease cases are going through the roof in the UK at the moment and the best thing to avoid it is awareness of ticks and how to deal with them, and what signs to look out for (like bulls-eye rash/flu) so discussing it on forums like this is brilliant.

Lucy

lg18

yeehaamcgee wrote:

How would you get the tick remover up there, and still see what you're doing though? Or do you just stick your, er, man sausage up there with some tick-bait, wait for it to bite, then extract it like that?

Ha haaa, Yes, that is exactly what the medical professionals recommend!
That image is going to be hard to shift...

mikee1979

Could tip for getting rid of those horrid little blighters is to just roll them around anti clockwise. They drop off after a little while, still alive an intact so they don't leave their jaws in you.
I get them off my dog this way and it works a treat.

hoathy

This thread reminded me of a horrifying childhood experience.

I went camping with my parents in the new forest, and a sheep tick got in my eye ball. My brother noticed it and I had to go to hospital to have it burnt out with liquid nitrogen. I was sick in three seperate parts of the hospital. Not exactly sure why, but you know, I was a child so its allowed. I'm glad I don't remember how a tick looked in my eye.

kaytronika

*runs out of thread screaming*

creomortis

I really really wish i hadnt come into this thread

PXR5

@lg18

Lucy you're obviously the expert on this, but any idea where this apparent urban myth of pulling them out anticlockwise comes from, as i'm not the only one who has mentioned it in this thread and uses it on a regular basis..

Its about 1 a week at least on the cats, often despite treatment, perhaps the anticlockwise thing just makes you a bit more careful with the whole exercise, just pulling them straight out too fast might make you just rip the little sod in two, leaving the jaws under the skin which is just what you want to avoid....