Ticks

[+Mr. Map & Night Person]

We're new to geocaching. We only have 6 finds so far, but in just 6 finds,

Mr. Map has already gotten 2 ticks. What do you recommend using/doing?

[+Riddlers]

garlic tablets work good to keep ticks off.

[+quills]

wear long pants light colored like khaki hiking boots and preferably a long sleeved khaki shirt and use plenty of bug spray. I find that deep woods off works pretty good but you have to really apply it and take it with you in your pack. I was bit by a tick last year luckily no lyme disease.

[+Fritz_Monroe]

I pulled a tick off Fritz Jr. just yesterday. Was climbing up his back. I pulled one off me back in February. We had a warm snap and they apparently came out.

 

Light colored clothes make them easier to see. There are some repellants that seem to work. I've never hear the garlic thing, but I've heard stranger things than this.

 

F_M

[+Brianslost]

Best defense is to check yourself thoroughly when you get home and get in the habit of taking a quick look every time you can. I've brought home the ticks in my clothes or in my car and they show up when I know I haven't been outside in a week.

[Major Catastrophe]

IMO there's just no substitute for DEET. Use it often, use it liberally, but DON'T get it on plastics -- such as your GPSr -- or you'll risk ruining same. Make sure you get some around your ankles and wrists (and I just assume that if you're concerned about ticks you will wear long pants and long sleeves.) Light-colored clothing is also supposedly less attractive to ticks but I reckon they'll go for a warm body no matter the color...

[+Riddlers]

the garlic tablets were something an old Montana hunter told me about. He said that it made your sweat taste bad and the ticks wouldn't bit, just jump off to find a better taste.

[+HoundGrrls]

Have any dog people out there have sucess with Brewers Yeast in the dog chow? Two friend's of mine now have lymn disease doggies despite using topical stuff. Scary.

 

Any tick suggestions with dogs?

[+Right Wing Wacko]

We're new to geocaching.  We only have 6 finds so far, but in just 6 finds,

Mr. Map has already gotten 2 ticks.  What do you recommend using/doing?

Live in an area where Ticks are not a problem. In my 45+ years, I've never seen one!

Edited April 5, 2004 by Right Wing Wacko

[+New England n00b]

I hear Botox works well... oh wait... you mean the insect ticks, don't you?

[+briansnat]

I take garlic tabs and ticks and mosquitos usually leave me alone, but they swarm all over my wife, who doesn't. I have had one attached, so it isn't foolproof, but I've walked through a field and had none on me, while the person I was with had a dozen or more on their clothing.

 

For maximum protection against ticks, use a DEET based repellent on your skin (face, arms, neck, legs) and a permethren based repellent on your clothing. If you don't mind the geek look, tuck your pants into your socks and wear light colored clothing so you can spot them before they crawl inside.

 

Also, check your body throughly when you get home.

Edited April 5, 2004 by briansnat

[+The Frantic Cachers]

Permitherin on the family's clothing works everytime.

[CacheNCarryMA]

Permethrin! Permethrin! Permethrin!

 

I was caching in the woods and looked down at the cuff of my permethrin treated pants. A tick started to crawl up my shin. It didn't even make it to my knee before its legs curled in and it fell to the ground!

[+Cherokeecacher]

My favorite was discussedhere

[+Mr. Map & Night Person]

Thank you everyone for your responses to our tick problem.

I will get some garlic tablets and a few of the Sawyer Products mentioned.

[+Markwell]

For maximum protection against ticks, use a DEET based repellent on your skin (face, arms, neck, legs) and a premethren based repellent on your clothing. If you don't mind the geek look, tuck your pants into your socks and wear light colored clothing so you can spot them before they crawl inside.

 

Also, check your body throughly when you get home.

I would have added to the thread, but Brian said it all perfectly.

[Bobthearch]

Move to the mountains or the desert?

 

If that's not possible, use a Deet-based repellant as others have suggested. There are non-deet, 'wholistic', or all-natural repellants, but they simply don't work. Definitely dowse your pantlegs, especially around the ankles.

 

Some other tips:

Ticks are attracted to carbon dioxide, so don't breathe as much.

Ticks are rather slow-moving, so don't stop for long breaks.

Ticks are attracted to light colors, so wear dark.

Ticks are attracted to warmth, so don't get overheated.

Ticks naturally move upward once they're on you, so tuck your pants into your socks to keep them from going up your legs.

 

Seed ticks (young ticks) are tiny and hang on by the thousands if you hit a leaf with a good batch of them. The best way to pull them off is with duct tape. You might consider keeping a roll handy, if you don't already.

 

Best Luck,

Bob

Edited April 5, 2004 by Bobthearch

[+The Leprechauns]

Ticks are everywhere this year. I see log after log mentioning them.

[DavidSweet]

Hi Everyone, I'm new here.

 

Regarding DEET, please follow the advice of the American Academy of Pediatrics when applying DEET to your children AAP. My son's doctor instructed us to not use 100% DEET products on him. It has been our experience that no matter what, ticks will get on you. They may not attach, but due to their negative geotrophism, they will climb up you and end up in your house. I've gotten ticks in bed that we've brought it. The best policy is a full body examination. I am also partial to a hot shower with Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap, it seems to stun them.

 

Despite nobody asking, but more advice from my son's pediatrician, there's a product out there called "Ivy Off" that will prevent Poison Ivy rashes if you apply it before going out. You can ask your pharmacist to order it for you. My son's deady alergic to Poison Ivy, so I though I'd pass that along.

 

Cheers

[+shawhh]

permethrin on your clothes, deet on your skin. both are safe when used as directed and a lot safer than rocky mountain spotted fever or lyme disease from a sick tick. -harry

[+carleenp]

Ticks are everywhere this year. I see log after log mentioning them.

x2.

 

Anyway Deet and Permethrin treated clothes are great. I just bought some convertable pants today and am treating them with permethrin as I write this!

[+Melrose Plant]

Yes, the ticks seem really bad this year. We've never had a problem until this year, and they seem to be everywhere. Somebody asked about the dogs, and I seem to have had success with a product called Frontline. It comes in a small plastic phial, and you just put in on the dog's back in one spot, making sure they don't mess with it. Somehow, it spreads to the entire coat and renders any tick that bites the dog quite dead. Kind of scary sounding, but it seems to work. This product must be applied monthly and is available at your veteranarian, and, I'm sure, online.

 

I think the best way to go is to check yourself and your children carefully every day. Ticks are very slow creatures, and it takes them 36-48 hours from the time they attach until they hit pay blood (not including the soft-bodied ticks that attack dogs, which seem to engorge rather quickly). If you check every day, you will catch them before they become engorged and before they are able to transmit any diseases they may be carrying.

[+LukeH]

100% DEET. Nothing as effective, and completely harmless to adult humans. Unless you get it in your mouth or eyes, of course. DEET jams up the carbon dioxide detectors of insects, which is their primary method of finding living flesh from which to suck blood. In addition to exhalation, you exude carbon dioxide in small quantities from your skin.

 

But it WILL melt plastic stuff rather effectively.

[+TotemLake]

We're new to geocaching.  We only have 6 finds so far, but in just 6 finds,

Mr. Map has already gotten 2 ticks.  What do you recommend using/doing?

Live in an area where Ticks are not a problem. In my 45+ years, I've never seen one!

Lord Hill has them. I know this for a fact from last year's hike. I ended up in some tall grass near a small lake on the powerline easement, and saw one questing at the tip of a strand that just happened to sway in my line of sight over the path. I was amazed to see it. All of a sudden paranoia took over to a small degree and I beat the the grass with my hiking stick well ahead of my approach until I got out of there. A quick shakedown and then look over my hiking buddy Snickers! to be sure we didn't have any attached. I then pulled out my 100% deet and rubbed on both of us.