Tick Trick

[zander]

I went to the vet a couple of months ago and while we were looking at the dog, my wife noticed some ticks on it. She pointed them out to the vet and the vet said the best way to pull them off is to twist them counter-clockwise. I made a joke about righty-tighty, lefty-loosy and he said that was exactly right.

Last weekend I went out to Lake Springfield to work on training my bird dog and forgot to spray myself with DEET and of course I was loaded with ticks. I think over the next two days I found 7 ticks on me. I had always been bad about pulling ticks off, it seemed I always left their heads in and then it gets itchy and red. I used the tick trick the vet showed me and it worked perfect. No head left in and easy as pie. I even discovered that righty-tighty takes them just as well as lefty-loosy.

Just grab the tick with your fingers, you needn't squeeze too hard, and just twist your wrist and they come right on out. Then you can dispose of the tick anyway you see fit, flush it down the toilet, smash it between your fingernails, or put it in your annoying coworkers chair while he's on break.

As deer season approaches, there are bound to be a lot more unwelcome hitchhikers so try it the next time you get one.

[Danoinark]

Been doing that for years...works everytime.

Dano

[skeeter]

May I suggest, after contracting Lime disease about 15 years ago, that instead of using your fingers to grasp and twist the tick you use or carry a handy set of good tweezers to grab the darn things with ?

The Doc explained to me that when you grab an imbedded and engorged tick with your fingers you run the risk of squeezing the tick's abdomen thereby forcing everything in the tick's abdomen or digestive system, unwanted bacteria and viruses included, back out through the tick's mouth and into the host's bloodstream. The trick is to grab only the head and avoid the abdomen of the insect if possible.

The twisting motion while removing is a time-honored trick that always seems to work if done gently.

[Thom]

Never too old to learn. Thanks for the good info guys. Never heard of that before.

The only thing that you might have added is a tick fly pattern for a real hard day at Taney.

[zander]

I think that those bacteria can move freely anyway from tick to host, but I'm sure less is better than more. With tweezers I always managed to cut the tick in two which became a real pain then trying to get the tick's head out. I think I'll try to remember to spray myself EVERY time from now on, and if I still get them, I'll trust my caveman multipurpose tools (fingers).

[Evolution]

Got lyme disease a few years ago and have ever since then avoided going into the woods in the spring until the leaves start to fall down.

While hunting for doves on my parents farm in shorts, I happen to forget the bug spray, chiggers had their way with me (ankles). The itching for the first few days were the worst but it has gone down recently. Anybody have any remedies for these microscopic bugs besides the usually hot showers, anti-itch cream, rubbing alcohol.

[zander]

I heard that if you rub stink bait on them you won't be bothered by the itching anymore and your family won't bother you anymore either.

Seriously I don't know of any cure for chiggers other than time. Wish I did too though.

[eric1978]

I went to the vet a couple of months ago and while we were looking at the dog, my wife noticed some ticks on it. She pointed them out to the vet and the vet said the best way to pull them off is to twist them counter-clockwise. I made a joke about righty-tighty, lefty-loosy and he said that was exactly right.

Last weekend I went out to Lake Springfield to work on training my bird dog and forgot to spray myself with DEET and of course I was loaded with ticks. I think over the next two days I found 7 ticks on me. I had always been bad about pulling ticks off, it seemed I always left their heads in and then it gets itchy and red. I used the tick trick the vet showed me and it worked perfect. No head left in and easy as pie. I even discovered that righty-tighty takes them just as well as lefty-loosy.

Just grab the tick with your fingers, you needn't squeeze too hard, and just twist your wrist and they come right on out. Then you can dispose of the tick anyway you see fit, flush it down the toilet, smash it between your fingernails, or put it in your annoying coworkers chair while he's on break.

As deer season approaches, there are bound to be a lot more unwelcome hitchhikers so try it the next time you get one.

I'll bet your vet was left-handed, and that's why he turns them counter-clockwise. I'm pretty sure ticks are symmetrical, so I can't see the advantage of one direction over the other. Once I was told to put a red-hot pin on a tick's butt, and he'll come out. I had two one time...the first one sure enough backed out right away, but the second one just stayed there and cooked so I had to pull well-done tick meat out of my thigh. Yuck. I don't think the first one was buried very deep. Once they get in there, I think they're pretty much locked in.

[eric1978]

I heard that if you rub stink bait on them you won't be bothered by the itching anymore and your family won't bother you anymore either.

Seriously I don't know of any cure for chiggers other than time. Wish I did too though.

Me neither. Some idiot once told me he spreads peanut butter all over his ankles and sits there like that for a few hours and he's good as new. I've never tried that, nor will I ever. I'd rather go out to the garage and smash my finger with a hammer to get my mind off the itching. I think the only cure for chiggers is prevention.

[stone9-7=2]

Got lyme disease a few years ago and have ever since then avoided going into the woods in the spring until the leaves start to fall down.

While hunting for doves on my parents farm in shorts, I happen to forget the bug spray, chiggers had their way with me (ankles). The itching for the first few days were the worst but it has gone down recently. Anybody have any remedies for these microscopic bugs besides the usually hot showers, anti-itch cream, rubbing alcohol.

www.chiggaway.com