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Tick Swag


swizzle

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I recently found a swag item in one of my caches that I had to snag. Its a tick removal tool. They look like 2 mini prybars. I looked them up online and they run about $4 each. I'd like to find the same type of tool but cheaper does anyone have any ideas where I could get something like that? Its just 2 small pieces of plastic. Seems like you could find them a lot cheaper. Swiz

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You mean a pair of tweezers and a match? :) I hope you find some good answers to your question because I'm confused why a special product is needed. I give credit to the marketing guy behind that. "I made cheaper tweezers out of plastic. How can I charge twice as much for them and have people buy them instead of the metal ones?" Answer: "Name them Tick Removal Plyers!"

 

I didn't come into this thread with the intention to make fun of the product you found. I was actually hoping this post was about The Tick.

 

tick-graphic.jpg

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For the results of a scientific study of tick removal methods, see http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~acarolog...am/tickgone.htm

 

Geocaching last weekend in Pennsylvania, my husband picked up a dozen deer ticks. A couple of them attached themselves before we could get them off. I had a Pro-Tick Remedy in my caching bag and it worked VERY well to remove the attached ticks quickly.

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Living in NJ and geocaching in NJ makes me a professional (self professed) tick remover. The little tick pullers are available through REI 4-5 bucks, they do come in two colors.

 

All you have to do is scratch them so they stand up just a bit and pinch the skin to make them stand a bit proud, grasp them by their little noggin and pull steadily. Rub a little anti-bacterial on the site. Ticks fall in the spider family and have piercing/sucking snouts. They pierce, pump in some anticoagulant and suck to their bloated little bodies fall off. The anti coagulant makes the site itch like a good ol skeeter bite for a couple of days. It takes 24-36 hours to pump their crud into you. Its a thrill to do the body check, yuch. I love permitherin.

 

Burning, greasing, nail polishing, the little buggers tends to make 'em puke and pump a little more crud into you.

 

In NJ you can take the tick to your local health department (mosquito control) and have them tested for $25, dead or alive. Your local NJ Co-op Extension can also ID them too.

 

Thats all I got.

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Reading the thread title... I thought it was about using ticks as swag!

 

I agree, it seems a little gimmicky. Warm their behind (not too warm) with a match and they usually back right out. They don't like it too hot.

Yup, good reason why when I eventually quit, cigarettes will still be a friend.

 

One needs to be cautious when using this method, since heating the tick can cause it to regurgitate its stomach contents back into you, insuring that any infections the tick was carrying is now in you...

 

It takes a tick about 24 hours to transmit Lyme disease into you once attached, but if it has any mouth parts into you and you heat it, then you now have Lyme disease regardless of how long it has been attached....

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Geocaching last weekend in Pennsylvania, my husband picked up a dozen deer ticks. A couple of them attached themselves before we could get them off. I had a Pro-Tick Remedy in my caching bag and it worked VERY well to remove the attached ticks quickly.

A dozen deer ticks? Thatsalotta deer ticks. You sure they weren't wood ticks? About the size of a O on this page and larger. Deer ticks are about the size of a period on this page (.)!

 

Just to make sure we are talking about the same critter.

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I assume swizzle meant this one?

 

No experience. All I can say is that watching the video makes me feel itchy all over.

 

Yes, that's it! Great little tick pullers! There is a cacher in swizzle's and my area who is a vet tech and leaves them as swag. I picked up our pair a couple of years ago and have found them quite handy. I found tweezers to be a bit difficult because they tended to damage the tick in the process. This tool easily pries the whole tick free.

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Geocaching last weekend in Pennsylvania, my husband picked up a dozen deer ticks. A couple of them attached themselves before we could get them off. I had a Pro-Tick Remedy in my caching bag and it worked VERY well to remove the attached ticks quickly.

A dozen deer ticks? Thatsalotta deer ticks. You sure they weren't wood ticks? About the size of a O on this page and larger. Deer ticks are about the size of a period on this page (.)!

 

Just to make sure we are talking about the same critter.

 

A dozen deer ticks is not unusual. In fact, I see a lot more of them than wood ticks.

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You mean a pair of tweezers and a match? :) I hope you find some good answers to your question because I'm confused why a special product is needed. I give credit to the marketing guy behind that. "I made cheaper tweezers out of plastic. How can I charge twice as much for them and have people buy them instead of the metal ones?" Answer: "Name them Tick Removal Plyers!"

 

I didn't come into this thread with the intention to make fun of the product you found. I was actually hoping this post was about The Tick.

 

tick-graphic.jpg

 

Man, I loved that cartoon.

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Yup I was talking about the tick twister. I just can't see spending $4 for 2 pieces of plastic but it is a great little device. I've used it several times and a couple times I got the little buggers soon enough that it didn't itch. I quit smoking in 2001 so a lit cigarette isn't going to be the best swag item to add to caches. Besides these are the ones that are the size of the O's on this page. A lit cig that close to them is gonna burn my hide too. Just seems like you could make the same device(s) for under a $1. If I found these in the dollar store then I would definitely add them to anything bigger then a 35mm film can all spring, summer and fall. Swiz

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The size of deer ticks borders on misinformation, there is a larva, nymph and adult size. The same is true for the brown dog tick. The adults are much larger then the "period" often used to describe the size of ticks.

The disgusting part is that the tick needs a blood meal to pass from stage to stage.

For the amount of ticks on me and my dog, the woods must be a very busy place

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I didn't come into this thread with the intention to make fun of the product you found. I was actually hoping this post was about The Tick.

 

Spoon!!!

 

While we're hijacking a thread, I'll point out that I have all four of these sitting in my office:

 

NT63000LG.JPG

 

Unless they're serving up a heaping helping of justice, ticks are mighty evil!

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I spend a lot of time outside in spring, either mushroom hunting, camping, or geocaching. In the last 20 years, I can count on one hand the number of times I have had to remove a tick that was firmly attached to my skin. I usually just pull gently, but I have heated them slightly as well. One day last week, I removed 93 ticks from myself, and my clothes in a 2 hour stretch.

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Geocaching last weekend in Pennsylvania, my husband picked up a dozen deer ticks. A couple of them attached themselves before we could get them off. I had a Pro-Tick Remedy in my caching bag and it worked VERY well to remove the attached ticks quickly.

A dozen deer ticks? Thatsalotta deer ticks. You sure they weren't wood ticks? About the size of a O on this page and larger. Deer ticks are about the size of a period on this page (.)!

 

Just to make sure we are talking about the same critter.

 

The Pro-Tick Remedy tool came with a card for identifying different ticks. These were definitely mature female deer ticks. They were bigger than what you describe. You might be thinking of the nymph stage.

 

The scary thing: We only noticed the ticks when we did because we couldn't find the cache and consulted Cachemate on the PDA. That is when we read previous logs about a tick infestation in the cache area, and decided to check ourselves.

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I didn't come into this thread with the intention to make fun of the product you found. I was actually hoping this post was about The Tick.

tick-graphic.jpg

Heh. . . If you google "Tick" and "Spoon" together, you'll get everyone's favorite superhero, but you'll also get my favorite tick removal device: Ticked-Off (aka the Tick Spoon!)

tickedoff-orange.jpg

Reading the thread title... I thought it was about using ticks as swag!

 

I agree, it seems a little gimmicky. Warm their behind (not too warm) with a match and they usually back right out. They don't like it too hot.

Yup, good reason why when I eventually quit, cigarettes will still be a friend.
One needs to be cautious when using this method, since heating the tick can cause it to regurgitate its stomach contents back into you, insuring that any infections the tick was carrying is now in you...

 

It takes a tick about 24 hours to transmit Lyme disease into you once attached, but if it has any mouth parts into you and you heat it, then you now have Lyme disease regardless of how long it has been attached....

One needs to be cautious? Talk about understatement!! Burning a tick? That's really the best method to assure that a tick passes on whatever nasty disease it is carrying, be it Lyme, Rock Mt Fever, or what-have-you. Bad Idea!

 

Bad!

 

Bad!

 

Bad!

Tweezers do a horrible job in my experience and they basically require that you squeeze the tick to extract it. Yet squeezing is something you are advised not to do.

 

On the other hand, this device works very well. I don't see it mentioned elsewhere on this thread.

 

http://www.tickkey.com/why_tickkey.html

 

I bought one at a local pet store.

That works on the same principal as my tick spoon, and looks a bit more compact. It appears the spoon is less expensive, as little as $2.99 on Amazon, where the key's low price seems to be $4.95.

 

I'd recommend either, as there is no way you're going to squeeze the offending critter with one of these. Pretty foolproof, IMHO.

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Reading the thread title... I thought it was about using ticks as swag!

 

 

i thought it was a typo for "trick" swag... but your post reminds me. we found a cache full of rolypolys (?) the other day. the lid had been cracked some time ago and it is off in the woods - so it doesn't get a whole bunch of regular traffic.

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Tweezers do a horrible job in my experience and they basically require that you squeeze the tick to extract it. Yet squeezing is something you are advised not to do.

 

On the other hand, this device works very well. I don't see it mentioned elsewhere on this thread.

 

http://www.tickkey.com/why_tickkey.html

 

I bought one at a local pet store.

 

Just to clarify, I'm talking about ticks that are in deep, embedded overnight. I've removed somewhere between 20-30 of them that were in deep and I have found tweezers to be ineffective. Part of the tick is almost always left behind. As for ticks that have not yet begun their feast on your blood, but cannot be removed with your fingers, tweezers or simlar type devices are probably fine.

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I've carried a ticked off spoon in my backpack for years, and had more than enough chances to use it. One of my geopals bought a few dozen and passed them around. But I have to confess that I have never bothered to follow up on item 5 in one of the links from above.

 

Keep the tick alive for a month in case symptoms of a tick-borne disease develop. Place it in a labeled (date, patient), sealed bag or vial with a lightly moistened paper towel then store at refrigerator temperature.

 

What a great bar pick up line-hey there, want to come back to my place to see my tick collection? :blink:

Edited by wimseyguy
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I've carried a ticked off spoon in my backpack for years, and had more than enough chances to use it. One of my geopals bought a few dozen and passed them around. But I have to confess that I have never bothered to follow up on item 5 in one of the links from above.

 

Keep the tick alive for a month in case symptoms of a tick-borne disease develop. Place it in a labeled (date, patient), sealed bag or vial with a lightly moistened paper towel then store at refrigerator temperature.

 

What a great bar pick up line-hey there, want to come back to my place to see my tick collection? :)

 

is that a bag of ticks in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me? :blink:

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