Lyme disease ,tick control

Thanks D-C , there is still much to be learned about Lyme. First they said 48 hours then 36 hours and now 24 hours ! PA now has a statewide information source [they are #1 for ticks and Lyme] and more info for public.
 
My older brother in PA got Lyme disease this year. Antibiotics controlled it.

I'm in TN and ticks are really bad in the woods this year, especially if you are near water and wading tall grass or disturbing low hanging branches. They just wait for a meal to cruise by and jump on you. My first exposure to ticks was in Wyoming (big ones on sage brush) and at that time the concern was Rocky Mt Spotted Fever (RMSF). I never really got infected but my brother in law has had RMSF. I have the red meat allergy which they don't know much about yet. I had a lot of experience with ticks in Texas and Arkansas. Got literally hundreds on me once in Arkansas messing around a stream in a state park. They were what people refer to as seed ticks and are tiny and very hard to see. I keep looking for the better repellent stuff at walmart but as of yet I have only found the Repel brand. Bought a couple cans of the stuff. I really hate to have to order via Amazon something like this.
 
They seem to be getting worse every year here in Kansas, thought about trying a tactic we did as young Soldiers at Ft. Bragg where we ate a paper match head, it was something in the sulpher that once perspired through the skin pores that deterred them from getting on us and some success with chiggers as well. An older cousin caught the Rocky Mtn Spotted Fever one year when hunting in Wyoming with my father, almost killed him and took many weeks in the hospital to rid it out of his system. I just get tired of them as just as the morel mushrooms are popping so is the density of ticks.
 
The population of chipmunks here in he Catskills is much higher this year !
Did a check for the original Lyme I had in 2013 , found evidence of the lime there but no new stuff Don't stop now !
 
We have four tick species which can transmit a variety of disease to humans here in SC (American Dog tick, Lone Star tick, Blacklegged or "Deer" tick, and the Brown Dog tick.). It's a way of life down here. When I kill a deer, they are usually so covered with ticks that their hide looks alive with movement. Permethrin works really well for me. I also wear tall snake boots and tuck my pants in. That helps a ton. I can put my hand covered in Permethrin on a dead deer's hide and watch the ticks literally move away from it. Good stuff. At least for now.

Edited to add: Rodents transmit more ticks and tick-borne illness than any other mammals from what I understand. Thankfully we have a ton of cats and snakes in my parts that keep them in check.
 
Visited a friend the other day. A turkey flock has moved in .He's a natural medicine type so that's perfect !!
 
I got a jug of permethrine in last year and never used it, as I got the incorrect type I believe. But I moved and the ticks aren't so bad in this region. Man they were bad were I was ! And the buggers can really move. Wait until you are driving and feel one crawling up the back of your neck. Almost put it in the ditch for a second or two on that day.
 
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There are now two cases of tick borne virus that are fatal . one is the Bourbon virus , the other in NY State the Powassan virus . Both are transmitted in a few minutes unlike Lyme .
 
McFeeli said:
I've gotten pretty lucky so far, every tick I've found on me never had enough time to dig in.

My dog, on the hand, I've had to pull quite a few out over the years until I found a good tick and flee collar. I use Seresto(I think that's how it's spelled) and it works really well. I've found at least 20 ticks on him this year alone, but they never bit into the skin. They were just crawling on his face and his legs and I was able to pick em' off and crush them underneath a bic lighter.
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+1 on the Seresto Collar. I buy them for both my dogs and haven't had any flea or tick problems in the 4 years we've used them, and it was bad prior to that, every summer. They're a little pricey but worth every penny and last 8 months, which here is everything except the winter. The collars go on in April and get removed when it's cold out daily. You can get them online too, and the European ones are just as good (Foresto) - they're all made by Bayer Corp. , just labeled with the names for different areas.
 
Does not help hiking but around your home chickens clean out the ticks exceptionally well if you let them free range around your yard, never even found a chicken with a tick on it, I assume they clean them off and around the head where they cant reach themselves the other chooks will peck'em off.
 
Yes
Insipid Moniker said:
I own a dog grooming shop and I can tell you that ticks are very, very bad this year. We've already seen more this year than we did all of last year. Be careful out there.
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Yes, today my daughter said she washed the little house dog because it was covered with hundreds of little seed ticks. She used flea and tick shampoo and said they were just thick on her belly. I hope they all died.
 
Wow. When you get into a bunch of seed ticks, you can get a lot on you. Hope the shampoo killed them.

Finally found some permethrine at Walmart. The stuff is a little pricey, but worth it if it works.

Thinking seriously of going back to my allergist and have him authorize some blood tests to see if I still have the tick related red meat allergy. It has been a couple years. As I said before, they don't know a lot about it.
 
Saw some info about Powassan virus . 10 % fatal , 50 % permanent symptoms .Not nice at all.
 
A neighbor down the road from me had a horse die last week due to West Nile Virus.

Last winter was very mild with hardly any freezes and this has been a very wet summer, the combination produces a lot more mosquitoes.
 
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