Wow, what a bad year for ticks in my area. I just had one dug out this morning and had them crawling on me last week. On antibiotics for two weeks. I would of rather had a harsh winter than ticks all summer.
They just started a group in our village for all the people with Lyme disease.
Really stinks!!!
Its been dry here in SW Connecticut..well at least it was. Anyway, hasn't been too bad here...not sure if it will change with the rain we've gotten in the past 10 days.
They've been awful down here, too, Forrest.
My crew chief had 12 on him after one of the warm sunny days in late March.
Nasty!
Rick
Ticks...... Suck
No easier way to put it:
TICKS SUCK!
However, we have to live with them. I crack up at the web sites suggesting one should stay away from tall grass or brush.
Some words of advice I have found worthwhile:
Not all ticks carry disease. Not all bites from infected ticks will make you ill, but, it only takes one!
Ticks are lazy. They tend to find a nice spot, then dig in, then start to feed. Usually (key word, usually) it can take 12 to 24 hours before they start to feed. Lots of time to remove them.
Check for ticks EVERY time you come in from the field. Check EVERYWHERE! Think of Arlo Guthrie's draft physical - "and they left no parts untouched"
Then, check again in the morning for the tick that you missed last night.
Remember, the nymphs are not much bigger than the period at the end of this sentence. Think of a small poppy seed.
Think of a tick as a turkey baster full of nasty stuff, with legs. Do not squeeze the body while removing a tick, or you might inject yourself with the nasty stuff. Grasp the head with fine tweezers and rock it back and forth, while pulling up gently. That should do it.
If you have flue like symptoms, and it is not flue season, see your Doctor!
KS
Ticks...... Suck
Catch about 5 big fat sow ticks, (Or pick 'em off the dog) and place them in a SEALED jar, with a few leafs in it. Let them sit. When the sow dies, well, she will be FULL of eggs. When they hatch, well you then have HUNDREDS of itty bitty seed ticks. Now, when the next realtor complains about your bill, you can show it to her. IF she does not pay the bill, you can leave the lid off the jar, in her office!! Just explain that you deal with those little rascals, all the time, and she should be able to clean them up pretty fast!
🙂 he he he
N
Ticks...... Suck
When I worked at the County, the crew chief refused to leave the pavement for fear of getting a tick. All the years I spent in the woods in that area I barely found ticks on me. It almost seemed like the ones who worried about it were the ones who would get bitten.
Glad I now live where ther's no ticks or snakes.
Ticks...... Suck
I can finally say this, that was the only tick bite (that I know of) I had in 25 years of surveying and hunting. Pretty amazing.
They do really suck, but what sucks worse is having to deal with them on my kids, my mouser and me for the next 6 months.
They are bad here too. We just treated all our pets. I had 5 on me in less than an hour on one job site. It's going to be a bad summer.
Washington doesn't have many ticks, but we do have some. Although we have not had a warm winter/spring here, we had no big cold spell, and I expect a bad year for rats and mice, which would correlate with bad ticks.
Bad Practical Joke
A party chief who worked at the same company that I did many years ago used to tell new hires that if they got a tick, they would have to burn it with a match or cigarette to get it off. Everyone here probably knows what happens when you get a burning match or cigarette that close to your skin. Needless to say that most new hires found out after they tried to get that first tick off.
Here's my invention that works pretty well on ticks. Ticks don't jump or fall from trees, they cling to tall grass and sometimes on the ground under fallen leaves. I take duct tape and wrap it around my ankles one turn, then reverse the rotation leaving the adhesive part exposed. I do this to both ankles and also just above the knees. When ticks attempt to crawl across the tape, they stick to it! It is not 100% effective but I think it works better than DEET®. You may have to change the tape periodically because small debris will also stick to it and will lessen the effect. At the end of the day you can count the ticks on the tape to prove it works!
Just my 2¢.
My time in Wa. taught me watch out for bees. I think you guys will have a bad year with them. Now in Kansas ticks are a big concern, and venomous snakes to a lesser degree.
Hope class is going well. Hopefully in a couple weeks you can add another Licensed Graduate to your wall. I'll send email when I know. This time I was better prepared for the State Specific, also only having 2 hr test seemed much less stressful. Feel very confident this time.
