TICKS

[zuma]

Argggggg. I shower after every caching trip, which usually keeps care of the tick issue. However, I missed one, and found an imbedded deer tick on my back. Just a small red area now, with no bullseye so far.

Will someone PM WI Robin and tell her she needs to improve her tick checks on me? Thanks.

z

[SammyClaws]

Picking up a bunch of ticks this weekend, stopped us from going after a second letterbox hybrid. Nothing more annoying that driving from cache to cache and stopping in between to catch a tick crawling across you.

One thing we did start doing, when we get home, we throw all our clothes in the dryer and let it spin for a while. I dont know if its the heat or just all the tumbling, but it does get them out of your clothes.

[Todd300]

I live alone, so tick checks on my back is a problem. But I do remove my clothes, use a handheld mirror and check myself on a wall mirror. Even if I don’t see any, I take a hot shower. Many times, I’ve seen ticks go down the drain – lol.

[zoesbrother]

Went out for a bike ride earlier and just had a tick crawl down my face so I caught it and have since drowned it in water.

[Trekkin and Birdin]

You don’t even want to know how many ticks we’ve pulled the last few outings. Clothes go immediately in the wash, but the scary part? There was one missed crawling on the grandson. He wasn’t with us, so it must have crawled off shoe or something. And like Ralph, one we missed dug right in on Trekkin’s back.

We may slow down even more until this bumper crop dies back. Just say no to lyme. Trekkin’s motto.

[zoesbrother]

This is the first year I’ve seen ticks like this. Then again maybe it’s because I’m in the middle of tick land now.

[JimandLinda]

Just a reminder…

If you pull out an imbedded tick, put it on a piece of scotch tape, then tape it to the calander on the date that you removed it. If you get symptoms later, you have the tick, as well as the time span between contracting it and the onset of the symptoms.
My niece in Oklahoma is a nurse and knows about the geocaching/ tick factors. She supplied us with this info, and it makes good sense.

[ruff54]

@zoesbrother wrote:

This is the first year I’ve seen ticks like this. Then again maybe it’s because I’m in the middle of tick land now.

As a proud graduate of UW-Stout, I would say I’ve been to places with MANY more ticks than Menomonie. I would say….spend less time at The Buck and you’ll have less ticks. 😆

[zoesbrother]

@ruff54 wrote:

@zoesbrother wrote:

This is the first year I’ve seen ticks like this. Then again maybe it’s because I’m in the middle of tick land now.

As a proud graduate of UW-Stout, I would say I’ve been to places with MANY more ticks than Menomonie. I would say….spend less time at The Buck and you’ll have less ticks. 😆

Actually I’ve never visited the Buck but I know what your talking about.

[furfool]

@G*Force wrote:

Can someone tell me, has the tick population really increased that much recently or are geocaches simply tick magnets setting us up as unsuspecting fools as blood banks for the little buggers?

I have yet to find a tick this year, and the last couple of years I have only found a handful. Many of my non-caching friends commented about how bad the tick population seems to have gotten over the last 3-4 years.

Back in June and July of ’85, I worked at a Youth Conservation Camp (YCC) up in Manitowish Waters on Statehouse lake. We had this one kid in my cabin that was somewhat of the bully type. One day I was part of a crew planting red pines in a clear cut area. One kid had a small mayonaise jar the he used for picking fish bait. The ticks were just insane in the area. Every half hour we had to do tick checks. As we pulled them off, we would put them into the jar. By the end of the day we easily had a couple of hundred of the little critters as our crew was about 30 strong. That night, after the “bully” fell asleep, the jar was opened up and dumped in his bed. It took about 15-20 minutes before he woke up screaming like a little girl. At the time it was so hilarious. Now days I still find it funny, but I wouldn’t do that to anybody now. Talking about a few ticks making one flip out.

[elfdoctors]

After having been outside a fair amount recently, I don’t think this will be as bad as the spring we had two years ago. I’ve only found one deer tick so far.

However, before long tick populations will certainly rise. While there are irruption years with huge populations, most springs will have high tick counts (somewhat the way that it seems that every year someone comments about how many dandelions are blooming in mid-May).

BTW, I don’t think saving ticks is worthwhile. There used to be a test to check to see if a tick was infected with Lyme. However, even if the tick was infected, an individual bite would only has a 3% chance of transmitting Lyme. Insurance also tends to not want to pay for the test.

[Lostby7]

@elfdoctors wrote:

Insurance also tends to not want to pay for the test.

….true that…and the test aint cheap.

[glorkar]

Was out on Terrell Island near Oshkosh this morning and when I got home I found one crawling on me. Could someone direct me to a good linky that shows the difference between a wood tick and a deer tick? Or at least a good description?

[sandlanders]

@glorkar wrote:

Could someone direct me to a good linky that shows the difference between a wood tick and a deer tick? Or at least a good description?

I could just quote the sheet I received earlier today when I visited the local urgent care center for a tick removal, or you could go to this site I discovered when Googling photos of ticks: http://www.oes.org/html/how_2_identify_different_ticks.html It’s a site on sheepdogs, but the info and photos are pretty good. This site shows the two kinds together with a size scale: http://www.westchestergov.com/HEALTH/IdentifyDeerTickA.htm

And about that tick removal…

Never felt it crawling, just felt a small bump high on my arm, flicked with a fingernail and found something small and black with legs. Dead. Had my husband check, and there was still something dark in the red spot. Couldn’t easily get it out, so off to the urgent care. Doc took two seconds with fine-point tweezers to pull out what was probably the head. Said it was the second tick bite he saw today. Got two doxycycline tablets there. Sheet tells what to watch for now and when to get more help. Doc said getting the antibiotic within 24 hours should keep Lyme’s from forming, if it was present.

We’ve had plenty of wood (dog) ticks over the years, but we usually feel them crawling. And if they’re imbedded, we can usually get them out easily. Probably picked this one up while caching either Thursday or Friday, or maybe from working in the yard yesterday (not too likely), but nothing was noticed on the post-caching tick checks. Think this one stayed in the clothing, and hopped on to me sometime this morning when I was gathering and sorting the laundry. It wasn’t engorged, but it was small and dark, so we (and the doc) think it was most likely a deer tick. Never had one before; never want to see one again.

[Barry Butrymowicz]

Went caching with Bartrod today and each of us pulled one deer tic off of us at a cache near wittenburg think we pulled a couple of wood ticks too during the day

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