Ticks!

[+admo1972]

Besides the obvious (long pants, long shirt), are there bug spray repellents that work well on repelling ticks as well? Last night the wife found SIX ticks on me. I've got them in a tupperware with some rubbing alcohol right now, and I want to try an prevent another tick infestation the next time I go out. All were deer-ticks, by the way.

 

I once did have a tick bite that resulted in the expanding ring. Went on antibiotics and all should be good with that. Now I need to pay attention to any symptoms and see if I gotta go back on anti-biotics again. What a pain. All six ticks from just a 2 cache outing a few days ago...

[+Walt Jabsco]

Here you go:

 

http://www.dph.state.ct.us/BCH/infectiousd...kborne/tick.htm

[+admo1972]

Thanks. DEET it is.

[+ke6n]

Huh?

[+TrailGators]

Besides the obvious (long pants, long shirt), are there bug spray repellents that work well on repelling ticks as well? Last night the wife found SIX ticks on me. I've got them in a tupperware with some rubbing alcohol right now, and I want to try an prevent another tick infestation the next time I go out. All were deer-ticks, by the way.

 

I once did have a tick bite that resulted in the expanding ring. Went on antibiotics and all should be good with that. Now I need to pay attention to any symptoms and see if I gotta go back on anti-biotics again. What a pain. All six ticks from just a 2 cache outing a few days ago...

When I used to go fly fishing we avoided wearing whites or brights. The phosphors used in detergents make white brighter but they also make you glow to a tick. We did an experiment one time and laid a white sheet and a dark sheet on the ground and went fishing. When we came back the white sheet had 30-40 ticks on it and the dark sheet only had 2-3. Edited June 3, 2007 by TrailGators

[+rdaines]

I've investigated this quite a bit and DEET is only marginally effective against ticks. If you're going to the trouble of wearing long pants and long-sleeved shirts then take the extra step and use a permethrin-based "repellent" like the Sawyer (Cabela's) or Repel (Wal-Mart). This stuff kills ticks fast but you don't spray it on your skin, you treat your clothes prior to needing it (product lasts 4 to 6 weeks even with washing). Once dry you can wear the clothes. I like with any chemical there may be so consequences to long term exposure but a few hour a few times a month doesn't worry me. Lyme disease is far worse.

I did a hiking test in the woods and brush checking on my caches, I came out with zero ticks, another cache checked on the same caches without the spray and removed 12 ticks later that day. Pretty clear cut results.

If you're not afraid of chemicals then these are the repellents for you.

[+briansnat]

Thanks. DEET it is.

 

DEET helps somewhat, but it is not completely effective against ticks. I had one crawling up my DEET soaked leg recently.

 

The best method is to treat your clothing with a permethrin based repellent like Duranon, Sawyer Clothing or Permanone and spray your skin with a DEET based repellent.

 

Also wear light colored clothing so you can see them on you and tuck your pants into your socks if you don't mind the high geek look factor.

[+paleolith]

DEET helps somewhat, but it is not completely effective against ticks.

I agree. A few weeks ago I hiked part way up a trail with lots of dry grass, and lots of ticks on the grass. I gave up because I had no repellent with any effect on ticks. I was stopping every 50' to knock off a dozen or so.

 

I went back a week later with a spray bottle of 25% DEET. With lots of spraying, I reduced it to a couple of ticks every couple of hundred feet. Still a lot of ticks, but I was able to do the hike. I was worried about spraying that much DEET on nylon pants, but suffered no damage.

 

I definitely intend to invest in some permethrin-based product to prepare for the next such adventure. One advantage of permethrin is that even if the ticks crawl over it, they will probably die before they bite. I recently found a tick crawling on me three days after I'd last been in the wilds ... I don't know for sure how it hung around and got back on me, but if I'd had Permanone on my clothes, it would probably have died.

 

Someone mentioned Repel. Note that Repel is a brand name most of whose products are DEET based -- good brand, mostly unscented, low cost. To get the permethrin you have to look for the specific Repel product labeled Permanone.

 

Permethrin should work on all ticks. The effectiveness of DEET probably varies a lot depending on the species, and there are many species of ticks.

 

One other thing: ticks crawl up. If you wear convertible pants, they are likely to crawl up to the zipper flap and get trapped. They might find their way through the opening at the end of the zipper and thus inside. Or they might remain stuck there until you get in a car, and "up" changes and they crawl out. It's a good idea to check the flap for the convertible zipper regularly, and all flaps at the end of the hike.

 

Edward

[+TrailGators]

One other thing: ticks crawl up. If you wear convertible pants, they are likely to crawl up to the zipper flap and get trapped.

I was caching with a gal one time that was wearing those kind of pants. We had stopped to check ourselves for ticks, which we do often (waiting is a mistake), and I told her that the flap on her pants was a tick trap. She looked at me in semi-disbelief and lifted the flap up and there were ~15-20 ticks under the flap. She totally freaked out. I thought she was going to jump out of her pants! Her husband flicked them off one by one. Anyhow, those are great pants to wear if you are headed into a tick infested area.

[+Team_LPD]

This is not geocaching based.....well, maybe it is since I did some geocaching during the week.......but its definitely tick related. I posted this on another board (gun related), so here is a copy;

 

I got one on my gonads last year!!!

 

I was at a week long NRA LEO Tactical Shooting Instructor Course down in York, PA. On about Thursday, after a long hot day I was about to get in the shower when I noticed a speck on my next (gonads story comes later) and wadda ya know.....a tick!!

 

When I was in the USMC back in the late 70's early 80's we used to get ticks frequently whenever we went to the field, so it was no biggie. Slow and steady and I got it out. Gave myself a good once over (or so I thought) and I appeared to be tick free.

 

Friday was the last day and after a long drive home I'm about ready to get in the shower. I had called my wife on Thursday to tell her about the tick and she said I better check myself again.

 

So........I stand in front of the mirror, looking things over.......decide to check under the boys...........dadgum!!!! A tick!!!! Yelled for the wife who said don't move. Where did she think I was going to go, naked as a jaybird with a tick on my gonads???

 

She grabbed a set of tweezers and after some gentle.........GENTLE manipulating.........I was tick free.

 

Yes, I hate ticks too!!!

[+jabberwock82]

I got one on my gonads last year!!!

That's happened to me too, with deer ticks, although more often on the "frank" rather than the "beans". It's like they'd crawl up to my beltline, couldn't get any further, and then attach to the biggest thing they could find .

 

Since there are a lot of people here from deer tick areas, I have to ask: given their small size, how the heck do you find deer ticks before they've sucked enough blood to turn dark, and how the heck do you remove them by the "standard approved" method of grabbing them with tweezers near the mouth?

 

Years ago, when my eyesight was good, I could find quite a few when they first crawled on me, but they were so small and translucent that I'd always miss one or two (I've always suspected they were living in my shoes). Then a few days later, I'd be in the bathroom, and "Hello!" My first instinct is to brush it off, but even if I didn't, I don't know any other way I'd get it off. To do it properly, I'd have to get someone with a high powered magnifying glass and very tiny tweezers to do it. And I invariably find them at work.

 

And good luck looking for a bulls-eye pattern in that area!

 

I think I'm going to have to get some of that permethrin stuff.

[+Robespierre]

Ticks!, Recommendations on avoiding them?

 

winter caching.

[+CurmudgeonlyGal]

Besides the obvious (long pants, long shirt), are there bug spray repellents that work well on repelling ticks as well? Last night the wife found SIX ticks on me. I've got them in a tupperware with some rubbing alcohol right now, and I want to try an prevent another tick infestation the next time I go out. All were deer-ticks, by the way.

 

I once did have a tick bite that resulted in the expanding ring. Went on antibiotics and all should be good with that. Now I need to pay attention to any symptoms and see if I gotta go back on anti-biotics again. What a pain. All six ticks from just a 2 cache outing a few days ago...

 

One of my kids and I counted ticks for a few months a couple of years back and had a 'tick counter' going on the profile page... these were ticks we found on our bodies... not necessarily 'attached', but not necessarily 'unattached' either (i.e. on and/or bloodsucking was the criteria).

 

We finally stopped after we both hit 100 a piece.

 

I found that I had MORE trouble when I wore long pants and sprayed myself down... not because of the spraying, but because of the pants.

 

As has been mentioned, they climb, and once they are inside the pants, it takes a LOT longer to find them because you can't see them on your body... or on the inside of your pant leg as they're heading up to the waistband to find that nice meaty area of your midsection.

 

Or right around your underwear line.

 

Or ...

 

I also found they will climb down as I've found them above the waistline when my shirt was tucked in, which means they got in from above and headed downward. Nice.

 

I've also had the tick-borne related illness. That was a treat of a very special kind.

 

All in all, a very pleasant experience.

 

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, it was worse for me when I did wear pants. For the most part, shorts, and sandals was my preferred lower-half MO, and while the ticks still landed on the legs, it was much easier for me to see them earlier in the process, and brush them off.

 

To keep the contact limited on the upper-half, my hair was ALWAYS up (not much of a problem for most guys) and I ALWAYS wore a hat. Getting them in my (long, dark) hair was perceived as much worse than picking them off of my legs or mid-section. I probably wouldn't be able to see/find them until they were big and all bloaty to the point of 'raisining'.

 

*shudder*

 

Interestingly enough, now that I'm in a very low-tick-occurrence area, I was caching on the dry side a couple of months ago... and found one a few hours into the trip back home climbing up my neck at the base of my hairline.

 

Crap!

 

It hadn't even occurred to me that it would be an issue... just because they're not as prevalent here on the wet-side (which doesn't mean they don't happen!). Hat and shorts for me next time!

 

Good luck.

 

Check yourself often. Get real-good at picking them off properly!

 

 

michelle

[+paleolith]

One of my kids and I counted ticks for a few months a couple of years back and had a 'tick counter' going on the profile page

A few months ago I was hiking with a few friends. One of them, a retired guy, gives introductions to outdoor actitivies to kids. When we ran into a nest of ticks and started flicking them off, he pulled out some tape and a plastic bag, and proceeded to collect as many as he could. Seems that demonstrating the dangers is part of the orientation, and the kids consider the tick show to be the high point.

 

Couple of years ago I came back from a long hike, took a bath, and starting having a stomach ache. Couldn't figure it out, just an ache deep in the middle of my belly. Tried the usual things -- eat something, drink something, rest a while. It was about an hour before I looked closely enough at my belly button to see that a tick had crawled in and attached itself right at the bottom! Didn't have a hook or tweezers, and getting it out of that spot was a real mess. Outies, you never had it better. Makes sense when I think about what the navel is, that the nerve connections would be abnormal there and that the sensation would be totally different from a tick bite anywhere else -- it really was not localized.

 

Edward