› Forums › Geocaching in Wisconsin › General › Tick question
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Grandma & Grandpa.
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06/20/2011 at 12:01 am #1732086
My family and I just returned from a caching adventure and my oldest son found a tick crawling on him. We were able to remove it and dispose of it in the garbage outside the house. Should we be worried about this? Sorry if this is a frequently repeated question, I am a hovering father (not helicopter quite). Thanks.
06/20/2011 at 12:13 am #1949156If it was only crawling on him I wouldn’t be too concerned. The trouble comes when they’re dug in and they break during the removal. The other thing to be watchful for are deer ticks (the smaller of the two common varieties) that have borrowed in because they can carry Lyme Disease.
06/20/2011 at 12:20 am #1949157I agree with CJ. The littler ones are the more creepy. After a few adventures, they get to be like skeeters.
A good checkover after the fun should be sufficient.
Following the signals from space.
06/20/2011 at 1:34 am #1949158The boys usually get the better tick check after an adventure, but so far this year I’ve only found 1 on Liam. My count is up to about a dozen, including 1 little deer tick that broke off in my neck. I’m fine so far so not too worried.
If you do end up with an embedded tick and you are worried about it, just call your doctor and lie about how long it’s been in to get doxycycline. Tell them at least 2 days.
06/20/2011 at 1:38 am #1949159The advice that my niece (the nurse) tells me is, “If you find a tick when you get home, put it on a small piece of scotch tape, and put the tape (and tick) on your wall calender. If you get symptoms later, you have the tick for identification, as well as the date you found it.”
But I agree with the “imbedded only” tick contact. If you kill a skeeter before it bites you, you don’t itch much!
By the way, disposing of a live tick outside your home doesn’t necessarily solve the problem. A match in an ash tray or on a plate insures that the tick doesn’t return. If your averse to killing it, drive a few miles from home and drop it off.
‘And you may have a tick or 2 in your vehicle that fell off on the drive home. I’ve found them in the car days after caching!Just sayin’… 🙂
06/20/2011 at 1:41 am #1949160Sometimes you even get to play with them.
06/20/2011 at 1:59 am #1949161@CodeJunkie wrote:
Sometimes you even get to play with them.
Shouldn’t play with things that consider you food! 😆 8) 😈
06/20/2011 at 2:01 am #1949162Thanks CJ and WA for the immediate feedback. We’ll keep a close eye on him but so far so good. I told him your line about after a few adventures and mosquitos and he liked that. Thanks.
06/20/2011 at 4:44 am #1949163So what’s the best way to remove a tick?
06/20/2011 at 10:53 am #1949164@hack1of2 wrote:
So what’s the best way to remove a tick?
Pull it straight out….don’t twist it or wind it like a clock and don’t use petroleum jelly or a hot match to kill and remove a tick. These methods don’t get the tick off your skin, and can cause the insect to burrow deeper and release more saliva (which increases the chances of disease transmission). If the head breaks off in the skin, yes that is gross but very often you’ll do more damage (infection) trying to dig it out than by letting it work it’s way out on it’s own.
06/20/2011 at 12:57 pm #1949165I have had many, many experiences with ticks. The method that was recommended to me once and is now my preferred method to remove a tick is to take a credit card (or some kind of stiff plastic card) and slide it over the tick repeatedly. It will irritate the tick and it will pull it’s own head out. It then make sure the tick is dead, one less bloodsucker out there!
Not all who wander are lost. -J.R.R. Tolkien
06/20/2011 at 1:08 pm #1949166@beccaday wrote:
It will irritate the tick and it will pull it’s own head out. It then make sure the tick is dead, one less bloodsucker out there!
Irritating a tick is one possible way to make it regurgitate into your bloodstream. You should remove the tick as gently as you can so that you do not cause it to regurgitate.
There are so many wives tales about the best way to remove ticks and so few of them are a good idea but yet they keep getting passed on as fact. Tick removal is not something to fool with; get the facts and be safe.
06/20/2011 at 3:33 pm #1949167@JimandLinda wrote:
The advice that my niece (the nurse) tells me is, “If you find a tick when you get home, put it on a small piece of scotch tape, and put the tape (and tick) on your wall calender. If you get symptoms later, you have the tick for identification, as well as the date you found it.”
But I agree with the “imbedded only” tick contact. If you kill a skeeter before it bites you, you don’t itch much!
By the way, disposing of a live tick outside your home doesn’t necessarily solve the problem. A match in an ash tray or on a plate insures that the tick doesn’t return. If your averse to killing it, drive a few miles from home and drop it off.
‘And you may have a tick or 2 in your vehicle that fell off on the drive home. I’ve found them in the car days after caching!Just sayin’… 🙂
Just remember to keep Jim’s home coordinates in your GPS, so that you will have them handy when you need to drop off your live ticks….
06/20/2011 at 4:11 pm #1949168I’ve had a heck of a year and a half with ticks starting last summer! I was told by my dermatologist to use peroxide to make them back out when embedded. I keep peroxide and a tweezers handy for all camping, airsoft, and caching adventures.
I’ve definitely found them on gear and in the car days later. We now leave everything in the garage, including clothes before “detox.” Make sure to use bug spray, especially at the openings of your clothes.
Keep an eye on any areas where they embed and watch for a red ring and/or irritation at that spot. If that occurs head to the doctor.
I also learned the hard way to wash my hands thoroughly before doing a tick check as its one heck of a way to spread poison ivy. 🙁
I had one latch onto my earlobe like an earring last summer. 😯
06/20/2011 at 4:12 pm #1949169Just toss it at our mail box on North Main in Rosendale. For that matter, any mail box will do! 8)
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