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With spring comes ticks… It seems to be worse and worse every year. On an average hike I can pick at least 3-4 ticks off me and if I have the dog with me double that off him. Ticks carry lyme disease and rocky mountain spotted fever. The risk of contacting lyme disease increases after 24-72 hours after the tick attaches. It can take 1-4 months for lyme symptoms to show up, symptoms are flu like. If you find an attached tick watch the site after removal for a few weeks for a rash, if a rash appears see your doctor. At least with pets you have the availability of Revolution, Advantage, Advantix, and the like. For us two legged folks we are not so lucky… We don’t have any magic topical drops to repel ticks. In this post I will go over some ways to help keep you tick free.
The most important thing is keeping the ticks off you to start with.
Here are some simple things you can do to keep ticks from biting:
- Wear long pants, long sleeve shirt, socks, and a hat when you can. Also it helps to keep your shirt tucked in to your pants.
- Stay on groomed trails, avoid bushwhacking.
- Spray exposed skin and areas like bottom of pants with a replant containing deet. The more deet % the better.
Always check yourself very carefully when coming in from an adventure in the woods or other tick hot spots. Ticks like to make a home in warm moist areas on your body like armpits, back of the knees, and the groin area. Check everywhere and check well, just taking a shower when you get home is not enough.
If you find a tick on you don’t panic if you take the right steps to remove it you will be on your way worry free. You can find a tool in just about every shape and color for tick removal
How to remove an embedded tick:
- If you have a tool follow the instructions that came with the tool.
- If not you can use tweezers the finer the point the better.
- Grasp the tick as close to the skin as you can.
- Pull the tick out by slowly pulling straight up. Do not twist or rock the tick out.
- Flush the tick down the toilet or place the tick in a cup of rubbing alcohol to kill it.
- Clean the area the tick was attached with rubbing alcohol.
- Never try to remove a tick with a hot match, peanut butter, or petroleum jelly. It just won’t work…
If you take some simple steps to protect yourself ticks are nothing to worry about…
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We saw a ton of these this weekend while hiking in the Cleveland National Forest just south of Julian, CA. My fellow hiker and I walked about 20 feet on the trail and brushed against one bush. We had 7 on our clothes between us in the first minute.
We were pretty vigilant with “Tick Checks” for the rest of the day and found a total of about 30 on us at various times. They seemed to be active most in the cooler morning hours, but that was when we were doing the most bushwhacking.
Nice article!
I personally don’t trust some of the advice about tick bites, particularly that bit about bites not being dangerous until the tick has been dug in for 12 to 24 hours (or whatever number they give). I’ve known several people who found the bullseye bruise on themselves without having left a tick on that long. Best to take of it as soon as you feel one crawling. Also disagree with the thing about killing them with rubbing alcohol, ticks are pretty tough and may climb right out of that. Smashing is about the only guaranteed way to kill them off. Although I’ve had some luck dropping them in a glass of cooking oil, very few of them get out of that.
Notice:The risk of contacting lyme disease increases after 24-72 hours after the tick attaches. They could still be dangerous before 24 hours but your risk is greatly increased after 24… as far as the rubbing alcohol vs. vegetable oil, to each their own.
I have heard some people are applying Frontline Plus, or equivalent. If it is safe for our 4-legged friends, is it possible that it can be used on Humans too?
I would not trust it, in fact I think they warn you on the package that if you get it on your skin to wash thoroughly with soap and water…
[...] the area you will be hiking. Are there dangerous snakes? Maybe Bears or Mountain Lions.Learn about ticks and lyme disease.Bring plenty of fresh drinking water for your dog. Drinking out of streams or lakes has the risk of [...]
March 14th, 2011. Bucks county, PA. Just got the first tick off my Husky today. It had been on him about 4-5 days given how gorged it was. The dog picked it off his leg by himself.