Yuk! Those Pesky Ticks

[+golffox]

I love geocaching, but the past 5 times I've gone out I've found little brown ticks with red spots crawling on my clothes. I know several people who have Lyme disease, and it's no picnic. Does anyone know of a good tick repellent for clothes...or any tips and tricks to keep from getting bitten by these pesky critters?? Thanks!

 

[+Nozzletime]

This is what I use

 

http://www.rei.com/product/734901

 

There are also other permethrin products

 

http://www.rei.com/search?query=sawyer&amp...&button.y=0

[Mr.Yuck]

I love geocaching, but the past 5 times I've gone out I've found little brown ticks with red spots crawling on my clothes. I know several people who have Lyme disease, and it's no picnic. Does anyone know of a good tick repellent for clothes...or any tips and tricks to keep from getting bitten by these pesky critters?? Thanks!

 

 

Never tried it, but many sing the praises of a permathrim repellent. HOWEVER, your avatar reminds me that some have said it's highly toxic to Kitty Cats. You'd better check into that. Not sure if it's just a "rumor" or what.

[+Arrow42]

I would recommend using Google. I found this list of usefull tips at About.com...:

1. 
   

1. Use a product with 20% DEET or higher on both skin and clothing. Carefully apply the repellent by hand to your face, neck, and ears – you don't want DEET in your eyes or mouth! Adults should apply DEET products to young children. You may need to reapply DEET products after several hours.
   
2. Apply permethrin to clothing, hiking boots, tents, and camp chairs. Permethrin products should never be used on skin. It remains effective on clothing through several washings. Permethrin is sold under the names Permanone and Duranon.
   
3. Wear light-colored clothing. You'll have a better chance of seeing a dark tick crawling on you before it makes its way to your skin.
   
4. Wear long pants with sneakers or hiking boots. Tuck your pant legs into your socks, and keep your shirt tucked into your waistband. In areas where ticks are abundant, you might even want to wrap some duct tape around your ankles, over the top of your socks. You'll look ridiculous, but it works.
   
5. Outfit yourself in bug repellent apparel. Want a sporty, outdoor look with built-in tick protection? Ex-Officio sells a line of clothing that is pretreated with permethrin. The treatment lasts through up to 70 washings.
   
6. Stay on the trail. Ticks hang out in high vegetation, waiting for a passing host. When your leg brushes through the vegetation, the tick transfers to your body. Walk on designated trails, and avoid blazing your own through meadows or other high vegetation areas. You'll avoid ticks and leave a minimal impact on the wild places we love.
   
7. Avoid tick-infested places. In some places, ticks may be too abundant to avoid, even with the best repellents and long pants. If you venture a few feet into a wooded area or field and find your legs covered with ticks, turn around.
   
8. Be vigilant – do a daily tick check. Strip down and search all those places that ticks love to hide: in your hair, under your arms, between your legs, behind the knees, and even in your belly button.
   
9. Put your clothes in the dryer, and tumble them on high heat. Research shows many ticks can make it through the washing machine, even when you wash in hot water. Most ticks will die during a cycle in the hot, dry air of your clothes dryer, though.
   
10. Check your pets and your kids before letting them loose in the house. Ticks can easily drop off on carpets or furniture, where they will wait for a bloodmeal to come along. Give Fido's fur a check, and make Junior remove clothing and do a tick check.
    

[+Arrow42]

On a side note....

 

Permethrin is a dangerous nurotoxin and should be treated as such. Do not spray it on your skin, do not inhale any of the vapors and do not over-apply to your clothing. Just apply to openings... around the collars, sleeves, button holes, etc. It's used in flea collars, for dogs so it's "consumer level toxic", but it should still be treated with care.

 

According to wikipedia it is toxic to cats. Another site agrees: http://cats.about.com/cs/healthissues/a/permethrin.htm. Neither cite scientific study, but it's worth making sure the cat isn't in the room when your spraying the stuff.

[+42at42]

I use deet from my knees down if I am only worried about ticks. Worked this year for me.

[+flask]

i don't wear poisons because, well, i'd rather take my chances with the ticks.

 

i pick a bazillion of 'em off of me in the course of a year, but sometimes i miss one.

 

last time i misses one it embedded itself very thoroughly and then for some reason died.

 

so i had this big angry purple welt of infected tick bite. probably not infected with lyme, but infected just the same.

 

and my doctor was full up so i had to go to the walk-in clinic.

 

i happen to live in an area with an actual breakout of H1N1, so that waiting room was a horror show.

 

the triage nurse suggested i just get a friend to dig the tick out.

 

yeah, i said, but i'll still need the doxy.

 

oh, right, she says.

 

so. back to the waiting room.

 

the whole thing only took six hours.

 

 

i'm STILL not going to put poisons on my skin.

[+Col. Flagg]

Just remember it takes 24 after the tick bites you for it to transmit Lyme's Disease to you, so as long as you are vigilant about it you'll be fine.

 

 

i happen to live in an area with an actual breakout of H1N1,

 

I had it, so did my three year old, the entire family that babysits my kid had it, it was no big deal, not like how the media is making it.

[+sTeamTraen]

Just remember it takes 24 after the tick bites you for it to transmit Lyme's Disease to you, so as long as you are vigilant about it you'll be fine.

True. However, depending on where you are, ticks carry other diseases. In Europe east of the Rhine, for example, tick-borne encephalitis is endemic. This is a virus with no known cure (as opposed to Lyme disease, which is caused by a bacterium which can be fixed by antibiotics) and it can be transmitted more or less immediately. On the plus side, and unlike Lyme, there's a vaccine. I got myself vaccinated because i'm in those woods a lot, and also because my son "probably" had tick-borne encephalitis (the doctors can't be sure) and lost 60% of the hearing in one ear.

 

PS: Pedantry moment: it's Lyme disease, named for the town of Lymt, Connecticut, and not Lyme's disease - there was no Dr Lyme involved.

[+Dnalsi]

We live in a hot spot for Lyme disease.

Wife has had it 4 x. Hospitalized twice.

I've had it once and ended up in the hospital.

It affects people differently.

Not something to ignore.

 

During tick season I try to wear light colored clothing so I can better see them.

Tuck pants into socks.

Tuck shirt into pants.

Spray shoes, socks, lower pants and web belt liberally with 25% deet.

(I don't like it on my skin)

 

Check for ticks before getting into your vehicle.

Once home, outer clothes come off outside then go straight into the washing machine.

 

You'll find less ticks if you can avoid walking through tall thick dead grass.

(Mice are an intermediate host for the tick, and mice love thick dead grass)

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

All good advice.

 

Let us keep in mind though, it supposedly is the deer tick that transmits Lyme Disease. Not the common wood tick.

 

The deer tick is very, very small and can be easily missed with cursory body inspection, something to keep in mind.

 

The wood tick on the other hand (figuratively), is close to 10X the size of a deer tick. Creepy yes, infection causing, yes (by mishandling the extraction). but they are not the critter that one should "worry" about concerning Lyme disease.

 

Just so you know. The one to be wary of is not much larger than the head of a pin (if that big)!

[+Arrow42]

i'm STILL not going to put poisons on my skin.

 

I take it you don't use soap, then?

[+geodarts]

Ticks. I once pulled 59 off me while finding a cache. And every once in a while my wife has found one inside the house, which I always blame on the dog. Usually a good search at the end of a hike will find them, but sometimes they sneak through and bite. So far I have relied on the Western Fence Lizard which keeps Lyme Disease from being more of a problem where I live.

[+Col. Flagg]

All good advice.

 

Let us keep in mind though, it supposedly is the deer tick that transmits Lyme Disease. Not the common wood tick.

 

The deer tick is very, very small and can be easily missed with cursory body inspection, something to keep in mind.

 

The wood tick on the other hand (figuratively), is close to 10X the size of a deer tick. Creepy yes, infection causing, yes (by mishandling the extraction). but they are not the critter that one should "worry" about concerning Lyme disease.

 

Just so you know. The one to be wary of is not much larger than the head of a pin (if that big)!

 

I use to work for a vet and one of our drug reps I think from Bayer, brought in a tick that she had found on her son, the only reason that she had found the tick was because there was a red bump on him, the tick was the size of the dot on the i. I had no idea that they could be that small. Her son turn out to be fine, but she had no idea how long the tick was there.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

 

I use to work for a vet and one of our drug reps I think from Bayer, brought in a tick that she had found on her son, the only reason that she had found the tick was because there was a red bump on him, the tick was the size of the dot on the i. I had no idea that they could be that small. Her son turn out to be fine, but she had no idea how long the tick was there.

 

That's the beastie to be aware of!

[+Team Cotati]

Just remember it takes 24 after the tick bites you for it to transmit Lyme's Disease to you, so as long as you are vigilant about it you'll be fine.

 

 

i happen to live in an area with an actual breakout of H1N1,

 

I had it, so did my three year old, the entire family that babysits my kid had it, it was no big deal, not like how the media is making it.

 

The World beyond your back door:

 

"Each week CDC analyzes information about influenza disease activity in the United States and publishes findings of key flu indicators in a report called FluView.* During the week of October 25-31, 2009, a review of the key indictors found that influenza activity remained high in the United States. Below is a summary of the most recent key indicators:

 

*

 

Visits to doctors for influenza-like illness (ILI) nationally decreased very slightly this week over last week after four consecutive weeks of sharp increases. While ILI declined slightly, visits to doctors for influenza-like illness remain at much higher levels than what is expected for this time of the year and parts of the country continue to see sharp increases in activity. It’s possible that nationwide ILI could rise again. ILI continues to be higher than what is seen during the peak of most regular flu seasons.

* Total influenza hospitalization rates for laboratory-confirmed flu are climbing and are higher than expected for this time of year. Hospitalization rates continue to be highest is younger populations with the highest hospitalization rate reported in children 0-4 years old.

* The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) based on the 122 Cities Report continues to increase and has been higher for five week now than what is expected at this time of year. In addition, 18 flu-related pediatric deaths were reported this week; 15 of these deaths were confirmed 2009 H1N1, and three were influenza A viruses, but were not subtyped. Since April 2009, CDC has received reports of 129 laboratory-confirmed pediatric 2009 H1N1 deaths and another 15 pediatric deaths that were laboratory confirmed as influenza, but where the flu virus subtype was not determined.

* Forty-eight states are reporting widespread influenza activity at this time; a decline of one state over last week. They are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. This many reports of widespread activity at this time of year are unprecedented during seasonal flu.

* Almost all of the influenza viruses identified so far continue to be 2009 H1N1 influenza A viruses. These viruses remain similar to the virus chosen for the 2009 H1N1 vaccine, and remain susceptible to the antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir with rare exception."

[+Sagefox]

The deer tick is very, very small and can be easily missed with cursory body inspection, something to keep in mind.

 

The deer tick has three cycles where it needs a host. The first is very small as you point out but in subsequent cycles it is larger.

 

We lived in deer tick country (Mendocino County, CA) and had ticks on us often. Most could be seen on our clothes and be brushed off by checking often while walking in grassy areas.

 

Of the several tick bites in our family only one was by a tiny-cycle tick. It was very tough to see.

[+Coyote's Girl]

I was bitten by a large number of ticks a few years back. One of the bites, on the back of my neck, was itchy. The next day, I was running a fever but not a terribly bad one. I asked my husband to have a look at it, and there was a red bumpy rash spreading from the bite. So I called off work and went to see my doctor instead. Rocky mountain spotted fever No fun, right? I cannot remember what she gave me, but she said I was lucky to have seen her so soon. So I use either "Cutter" or "Off" whichever I can find, so long as it says "Deep Woods" in the title. The more DEET the happier I feel. I do have a friend who is alergic to DEET, though. I'm not sure what she uses.

[+eagsc7]

The BEST thing that I've used for removing those that are NOT already embedded(usually still walking @ on your pants) is a LINT Roller! I wlked thru a couple 'nests' of them a few months back, and grabbed the lint roller once I got back to the car. It would have taken an HOUR to remove them otherwise.

 

Also, on the Soap subject, being in Boy Scouts I've tested and proved that IF you use Irish Spring soap(liquid or bar), you will not have near as many(if any) bugs (incl ticks) on you.

 

The Steaks

[+golffox]

Thank you all so much for all the info....the Geocaching Community is wonderful!!