Ticks

[moribundman]

Putting oil or alcohol on a tick is not a good idea. An angry tick will bite down harder. And when they die, they won't let go either. I grew up in an area where we couldn't avoid ticks. Maybe that's why I used to have joint pains for years. Officially it was attributed to a likely case of virus arthritis. Great.
I'd pull the tick out with forceps or tweezers, but if the tick won't let go I'd simply cut it out with a scalpel. A tick should not be forcefully squeezed, because it will inject more bacteria. If any parts of the head of the tick remain in the skin, you have to scrape them out. The bite needs of course to be disinfected.
Always keep a removed tick for a month, just in case you get a bullseye rash. It will make it easier to identify what exactly the tick transmitted.

 

[moribundman]

quote:

---

Btw- what preservative medium to you store them in??

---

You should preserve ticks in saline solution. Alcohol will destroy them, and if the tick is allowed to dry out, it can't be tested with conventional methods.

By the way, there's no need to panick after getting bitten by a tick. A tick has to be attached for at least a day in order to transmit enough borellia bacteria to possibly cause a Lyme disease infection.

 

[Gary Allan]

quote:

---

Always keep a removed tick for a month, just in case you get a bullseye rash. It will make it easier to identify what exactly the tick transmitted.

---

Good precaution! But I think 'Vetteman would end up having a collection that would be more along the line of Darwin's, given the number of bites he receives (visions of a continuous rotating stock of specimens .all dated and indexed for geographical incident site and body area bitten)

Btw- what preservative medium to you store them in??

 

[pepper32]

Grasp the tick with tweezers, with turning it counterclockwise pull. Out comes head and all.

 

[MarkC]

Ticks really suck.
Seriously, olive oil works pretty well. Grease 'em up and yank 'em off, then put alcohol or witch hazel or neosporin or whatever all ove the bitten area. Not that it will help, but it'll make you feel better.

 

[pscholte]

I understand some hemis now have ticks...really, I saw it on another thread on BITOG.

 

[olddognewtrks]

Does that mean that a hemi with a tick sucks?

 

[MarkC]

We need things that don't suck....

 

[rjundi]

 

[KW]

I'm right on the edge of the delta and have not had any problem with ticks or fleas this year. Thank goodness!

 

[Shannow]

Do ticks over there cause paralysis in dogs or is it just an Oz bush thing ?

I'm trying to remember whether the alkaloids in the water from soaked dried beans was effective on ticks, fleas, or both...maybe fleas I think.

 

[rjundi]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Shannow:
Do ticks over there cause paralysis in dogs or is it just an Oz bush thing ?

I'm trying to remember whether the alkaloids in the water from soaked dried beans was effective on ticks, fleas, or both...maybe fleas I think.

---

We get Lyme disease in New England from the smaller deer tick. It is called this because of a discovery of it in Lyme, CT. It causes joint swelling and pain. My wife and dog both have been treated. We have a field full of them behind our home, thankfully season is over.

 

[Justin]