Ticks
 

has anyone noticed ticks being very bad this year? I have flushed so many of them in the last month (I feel that is the only way to make sure they are gone). Fortunately I have not had any attached, just feel them crawling and nab them. DH too.

I even had one crawling on my leg after I came in from outside, showered, and put on all new clothes. Now where did it come from? Hate to think they are living in my rug. I have no pets that might bring them in.

We had one other year like this in the last 20 years. I am wondering if the mild winter has anything to do with it. One of my hunter friends said moose permits are down this year because so many of the moose are stressed already by being covered in ticks.

ugh.. i HATE them... we live out int he country and every year- if i see one- to me its bad.. We have to put granules all over surrounding the house or they are horrible.. but the down side, it kills all bugs- our lighting bugs too. sad i know, but i hate ticks crawling on me worse..

Flushing doesnt kill them, just relocates them.. they need to be smashed or burned.. Gross I know.. i keep old tweezers handy, works great for removing and killing..

I live in Southern Saskatchewan Canada and wow you aren't kidding, there are thousands upon thousands this year. They are even in summer follow fields, which is crazy....We have a dog and we shaved her right down so we can easily see them on her...Of course she has been treated for ticks/fleas ect., but wow is all I can say. I hope they will soon be gone or less of them, don't know how long they hang around...and yes they are saying there is many more this year because of the mild winter we had.....

I have tried smashing them but it seems they are so hard. Sometimes I even cut them in half with my sewing scissors but both halves seem to be still alive. I don't believe they can get out of my septic system but who knows, maybe I will have a colony of super water-proof ticks in there. Ugh!!

Several weeks ago after showering, my husband found a tick on his upper, inner thigh. He had been out spring turkey hunting in central NY, fully clothed in hunting pants and long underwear. He should have been well protected with the clothing but the tick still got through.

Maybe I should wrestle hubby to the ground and put a dose of Advantix between his shoulders!!!!!

I heard ticks would be bad this year because most of us did not have a real cold winter.

We know a man in AR that is fighting Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever from a tick bite. He found the tick and got it off before it had attached, but it had apparently bitten him. He is very sick as it is a very painful disease that must be treated quickly. Take care everyone. I read that only 1 in 1000 ticks carry the disease.

I can see it now ... cutting ticks with scissors and ticks multiplying everywhere, eventually taking over the world ...
Ticks are not my favorite insect, don't see any purpose for them.

In our area it is Lyme disease, also very bad. Two family members have it.

If you can pull the head off the tick - regardless of how you do it - it kills them; just need the head off! I have picked off 2 tiniest little ticks ever seen - htey look like if you scratch off a scab and it has the black spot very small in size and believe it or not - it is a baby tick; not even the size of a pin head... not good... I constantly check myself after having been outside, but yes, i've had them on me after a shower - fresh clothes, and the works too - so ????? this is a super bad year - we all need to take special care...

I found a tick on my dog's ear Sunday when I bathed him. Funny thing is, we had just got home from the vet - the vet tech missed it, the vet missed it, I missed it when I cleaned his ears. After I removed him I used the HD blow dryer to get a good close look at the rest of his skin and I didn't find any others.

We treat our yard for fleas/ticks every year because I don't want the dogs bringing that stuff in. We were late in treating this year (obviously). We got that chore done Sunday evening.

BTW - an easy way to both remove and KILL ticks. Use a cotton ball to soak up rubbing alcohol. Hold the cotton ball over the tick (make sure you cover the head). After about 30 seconds if he doesn't pull his head out on his own, it will be easy to tweeze him off. After that, drop him in alcohol (enough to cover him completely).

never thought of alcohol... ill have to keep a seal tight jar of alcohol to drop them in..
DIE LIL BUGGERS DIE !! (*followed by evil laugh)

Another very easy way to get them off, is to put a blob of liquid soap onto the tick and cover with a cotton ball. The tick will supposedly withdraw and be attached to the cotton ball. I've never had to try this but have friends who swear it works.

I keep a pair of tweezers and cigarette lighter handy (in my pocket while outeside). Pick up the tick with the tweezers and burn with lighter until the tick pops.

I found the best way to get rid of ticks is to let the chickens and guinnes eat them. Help a lot to control the ticks!

I am sorry to hear of this problem. I have never seen a tick but then again perhaps I did and didn't know what it was. I so appreciate reading about ticks so that I can be informed and aware of what danger lurks around me. Thanks to all of you who added a thread. Very interesting!

quiltingcrazy

Yes, they are very bad this year. It's only May and I've lost count of the number I've pulled of my, DH, the dogs and the cats. Hate those critters!

Suzy

I heard the same thing... both on the TV news & from my vet. I'd called her because even tho we put Frontline on Leo, he was still getting ticks daily (& I live in fear of him getting Lyme disease since it's so prevalent around here) & she said this was supposed to be a horrible year for any & all creepy crawlies, especially ticks & sqeeters... yikes!

Ew-w-w-w-w. It's time for us all to get guineas, the premier tick gobblers[ATTACH=CONFIG]337731[/ATTACH]. I wish I could but the neighbors would lynch me.

No matter how big, or small, I always got them off or out and then put a pin or needle through them and burnt them. then you know they are dead for sure.

Some of them I think you have to drive a silver stake through them.

We have a lot of them around here also.
They are bad this year as we did not have a cold enough winter to kill them off.
When we kill them we put them on a dish and then take a match or lighter and toast them until they pop.
If you have a tick that has attached itself we have found that if you apply some hydrogen peroxide with a cloth over the tick for a few minutes it causes them to try to back out and then they have been easier to pull off and then toast.

Half the fun of being married is checking each other for ticks every night.

From December to April I had 4 Lime Disease ticks (Deer ticks) attached to me and 2 Wood ticks. I had to go on antibiotics for the Lime Disease bites. Those ticks are so small.... Like the size of a very small freckle and are round. They drop off the deer and fall to the ground where the mice pick them up and bring them home to their nests. Wood ticks have an oval body and carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Virginia has already been declared LD epidemic state by the CDC because of the very mild Winter and the number of cases. As I am typing this on my iPad, I just saw a wood tick crawling on my iPad. Yuk! Now I'm crawling all over.

I'm sorry, but I can think of way better things to do being married. Just IMHO, but as long as your having fun LOL

Just found another one today, crawling on my side under my shirt as I was at the computer. He also got a ride to the water park.

No problem with ticks, but we have 4 dogs and they have major flea problems. I use Frontline on them, but last month tried Comfortis capsules. That didn't work very well, either. I am now bathing them about every 3 days in flea shampoo. It's gonna be a long summer!

I had heard that the ticks would be really bad this year because of the mild winter ... but I don't think they are so bad. I've found a few on my dog but nothing like other years.

The way I dispose of ticks is to put them on a small piece of scotch tape then fold it over on top of the tick ... no way it can get away from that ... then just toss in the garbage.

Northern NY is full of them and yes some of our hunters say it is because of the mild winter. I have cats
but I go outside into the grass and etc. after which I had one in the back of my knee. I read the other
day in a magazine the best way to get them removed from you or your pets is to soak a cotton ball in
some dish detergent and hold it onto the tick. They will let loose and come off easily.

Good luck. Lets pray for a good ole fashion winter next year to get rid of all the bugs we don't like.

MimiBug123: We have a farm with many many ticks and fleas from all the wild animals. Two years ago my dogs were on Frontline Plus and were loaded with fleas. I had friends that had the same problem. I remembered that when we moved here 24 yrs. ago we had our dogs on an oral pill called "Program" and none of our dogs (5) had any fleas nor did any of our barn cats or house cats (and they weren't on anything). Program is a product that won't kill the flea that gets on the animal, but, will sterilize it so that in a very short time all the animals on the property will not have fleas. However, the only thing is that you have to watch them for ticks because it doesn't do anything for them. When the Boston Terriers were on the Frontiline Plus and still got the fleas my female Boston got flea allergy dermatitis and we had a heck of a time getting the rid of the fleas on the dogs, the cats, and the house. We have fish aquariums so bombing the house was out of the question. I nearly went crazy with the bathing, flea combing the dogs everytime they went out and oh my, the vacuuming of 3 floors everyday until we got it under control. If you are interested in getting the Program Pills, you can get them online at EBay or at Jeffers Pet Supply.com. Jeffers also has an oral product called "Capstar" that kills the fleas almost immediately. You can also get the Capstar from most vets. Good luck, I know what a pain you are going through. Jinnie

Did hubby drop his drawers to pee in the woods? Alert tick must have seen a rare opportunity.

I just saw this recently somewhere it said dish soap..So far knock on wood, we havent had any ticks. But I will most certainly be on the look out. Daisy is on Flea/Tick stuff. And I will start spraying her with essential oil mix before she goes outside too.

The ticks are very bad here in Upstate NY also, but they were bad last fall, so can't just blame the mild winter. I understand the populations are cyclical like with a lot of other icky things in nature.

New Knee
 

If the tick attaches itself to you, rub soap on a cotton ball and rub on the tick and it will come off on the cotton ball. This is particulary a good way to get it off if you can't reach the place with tweezers.

Good luck to all of ya'll on the eastern seaboard with the tick problem!! So far I haven't seen any here in sunny, hot Texas!!! We probably have too many other critters that feast on the ticks to have a problem with them! ha! I will have to check on that for you and see if I can send whatever it is your way!!! Provided it doesn't sting, stick or bite me!!!

I live in Upstate NY and the ticks are BAD. Bad enough, that the verterinarian has a map on the wall in her office with confirmed cases of Lyme Disease this year---15 so far. I had one on my right breast...lookin in the mirror I said---I never notice a mole there before---eeeeekkkk. Must have been a gift from the dog! Pulled it and went to the Dr; was not a deer tic but had to take medication that made me SOOOO sick.

We were just told the other day out little dog has Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever; massive drugs for the dog. I look online to learn more. Basically it said the only state in the Continent of United States where this fever doesn't exist is in Maine. It's here now. Ticks are bad this year, and the Vet said the ticks that carry RMSF are not seen with the naked eye.

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) is an important zoonotic disease that may cause clinical signs in both dogs and humans. It is caused by the organism Rickettsia rickettsii, a small gram-negative obligate intracellular parasite from the family Rickettsiaceae. RMSF was first recognized in humans in the western United States during the 1930’s but, despite its name, RMSF is prevalent throughout the contiguous United States with the exception of the state of Maine. Although it has been long identified as a human pathogen, RMSF was not recognized in dogs until the 1970’s.

I keep a jar with some flea & Tick powder in it. If I find a tick I put it into the jar put the lid on and shake it, it kills the tick. I can't squash them their to hard.

This is not good this year.....I've seen quit a few and summer isn't even begun.....I was bitten by a tick and had lyme disease three years ago and had to go on repeated doses of antibiotics. Again last summer I was bitten by a tick got the rash and had to go on antibiotics again. So everyone check carefully. Lyme disease is no fun. Bea