Method for avoiding ticks in survival shelter?

what about doing a "controlled burn" in and a few feet around where you are going to sleep/build a shelter. burn off all the grass, leaves, etc all the way down to the bare earth. this idea was taken from an episod survivorman.
 
If you are talking about a true survival situation then burning the ground cover could be a legitimate method of preparing your bed. However it could never be viewed a necessity for camping. Remember Leave No Trace. And don't forget ticks often drop on their host from over hanging vegetation.
 
Burncycle said:
(Re: flea and tick collars)

Your mileage may vary, but from the limited accounts I've read about, this is a big no-no (chemical burn looking results).
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I wasn't considering wearing one, but just putting in the shelter with me. I'll go with the permethrin!

I got to looking around and permethrin-treated mosquito nets are used by the World Health Organization. That seems to be an easy solution. Netting is light and relatively cheap and you could treat some clothes and the netting at the same time. I have some Bug Off hiking pants I was going to try this summer. My wife has used a Bug Off bandana with good results for mosquitos.
 
In college me and my two roomates all had dogs, and the house would periodically get infested with fleas. We were advised to spread around a base substance (lime, or borax). This would irritate the fleas, and they'd simply leave. It worked really well. We spread borax all over the inside of the house, and lime (avail at HD) in the yard. Then we'd vacuum up the borax. The next week the neighbors on both sides had a pest guy come out and spray for fleas. Aparantly ours had simply moved next door. After that we spread lime in the yard periodically, and never had fleas again.

I wonder if this would work for ticks. Ashes are a base. Once they cool you could spread them over your shelter and on the ground near your site. Might help. Might not. Can't hurt though.
 
I know a guy you used the dog collars with good effect. He was anal about having his pants tucked into his boots and the collar was worn over the boot so it never contacted skin. Claimed it stopped ticks & sand fleas while he was walking. Sleeping is another story.
 
Hey Guys..

Reilly..

Jst wanted to say THanks for starting this thread...

It was the last thing I read before going to bed last night, and was Itchy All Frigging night!!

:)

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
Another source for info on Permethrin without such a strong bias. I should also point out that permethrin is also prescribed by doctors as a medication to kill the lice that cause scabbies and crabs. Permethrin as near as I can tell is pretty harmless to humans, even children. It is not absorbed well through the skin.

Just my $.02,
KR

Permethrin info

Medline info

[EDIT] Oh yeah. I should mention that Permethrin is the only thing that is effective against ticks that I am aware of. Even DEET doesn't work against ticks.
 
We have big-time tick and chigger problems here. I use the Sawyer clothes dip on my clothes, DEET on my skin and this combo works really well. I have used Duranon spray on Permethrine tick repellent to good effect as well. I also sleep in a bivy, but I must admit I don't like zipping it shut, even then it does limit access.

Wearing light colored clothing lets you see the ticks, it does nothing to repel them.

I have a bar of soap that contains permethrine. This is used for lice treatment. It also works against chiggers. If I'm in an area that has chiggers I wash in this when I get home and it seems to do the trick.

Be careful with gear and equipment that was used in infested areas as it will contain a large population of chiggers as well. I have poured boiling water over lots of bush clothes after taking out groups and it seems to kill them right off. Mac
 
The only natural thing - and this is only if your body chemistry will cooperate - is garlic. Not the goofy garbage that Larry King hawks on AM Radio, either. Real Garlic, it has to stink. Your breath will stink minutes after taking a pill. If it doesn't, it's B.S. garlique pills the aforementioned old turd hawks.

I say only if your body chemistry cooperates just in case it doesn't work for someone - I have never seen this not work - ticks will walk right off of your arm if you place one there. Some people will tell you this is B.S., get a bottle of stankass-funkfestival gel cap garlic pills that stink to be all damned from GNC, if you open the cap and it smells like it will knock a buzzard off a sh*t truck at 200 YDS., you got the right stuff! :D
 
Don,

How long does that take to take effect? I have heard of using garlic against mosquitos, some people swear by it.

Will ordinary garlic cloves work for that? I'm intrested in hearing more about this becuase I have serious tick problems. Recently I found out that my anafalactic shock problem may not be tick related but that is a big maybe as there is no test for tick allergy. I know for certain it isn't related to chiggers as I was recenty ripped up by them with no allergic reaction.
Mac

edited to add: I found some links to the garlic/tick connection. Apparently there is alot of support for this as a method to repel ticks. Other sites mentioned the sulfur as well.

http://www.mercola.com/2000/aug/27/garlic_tick_repellent.htm

http://www.mosquitobarrier.com/

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3324431,00.html

Essential oils for tick repellent
http://www.care2.com/channels/solutions/self/23
 
A great natural replellent in the south and mid-atlantic states is Southern Bayberry (Myrica cerifera, although I think the botanists changed the species caroliniensis recently).

As a forester who spent 50% of my time in the field, in north Florida and South Georgia, I NEVER used insect replellent. I would crush and rub the leaves of southern bayberry over my exposed skin. It would give about 20 minutes of relief, longer if I stayed still. If the skeeters or deer flies were thick and I was working a young stand in particular, I would put on a head net. Not showering the morning I went to the field made a considerable difference too.

FYI, southern bayberry's oilly leaf is flammable when green.
 
Negotiate with them...tell them that you'll share your food with them if they stay on their side of the shelter.

Mr. Rearic, I wonder if just rubbing your exposed skin with wild garlic would work. We've got a ton of wild garlic and wild onion here, strong enough to smell from a good distance away, and I haven't run across any ticks in that neck of the woods, yet.
 
pict said:
Don,

How long does that take to take effect?
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Anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes.

I have heard of using garlic against mosquitos, some people swear by it.
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Oddly enough, that didn't work for me. I can watch ticks walk right off of my arm but still get nailed by mosquitoes.

Will ordinary garlic cloves work for that?
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I think so because, well, because it's garlic! And fresh garlic at that. The only problem is, if you use the garlic gel caps, that's like eating a lot of garlic, it's concentrated. I don't know if you would want to eat that much garlic, to get the same effect.

I'm intrested in hearing more about this becuase I have serious tick problems. Recently I found out that my anafalactic shock problem may not be tick related but that is a big maybe as there is no test for tick allergy. I know for certain it isn't related to chiggers as I was recenty ripped up by them with no allergic reaction.

Mac
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I know someone else who had multiple tick bites, dozens of them, in one day and he was sick for days. I think what you might be experiencing is a reaction to the anticoagulants that ticks have to keep your blood thin and flowing.

edited to add: I found some links to the garlic/tick connection. Apparently there is alot of support for this as a method to repel ticks. Other sites mentioned the sulfur as well.
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It really does work. I think it might not work for some people because of personal body chemistry and then they say it won't work for anyone, which is stupid. I also think other people try garlic powder or some of the designer garlique health supplements which are basically garbage - if your garlic gel caps don't stink, they're not real garlic and they're not going to work.

I take one in the morning and one at night when camping, hiking or fishing and they work great for me.

I know a lot of people have tried the non-stinking garlic pills, they didn't work and then they say that *garlic* doesn't work as a tick-repellent.

task force k said:
Mr. Rearic, I wonder if just rubbing your exposed skin with wild garlic would work. We've got a ton of wild garlic and wild onion here, strong enough to smell from a good distance away, and I haven't run across any ticks in that neck of the woods, yet.
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I don't think the onions are going to do anything and as far as rubbing the garlic on your skin, if you're going to stink, take it from the inside in pill form and let it bleed out through your pores, your body will rub it out better than you ever could. Besides, you don't want to have to rub your O-ring with garlic, do you? :barf:
 
...get a bottle of stankass-funkfestival gel cap garlic pills that stink to be all damned from GNC, if you open the cap and it smells like it will knock a buzzard off a sh*t truck at 200 YDS., you got the right stuff...
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lol!

Also vitamin B-2 (riboflavin) taken a day or two before heading out, for a long-lasting mosquito repellant in your own sweat:
http://www.tomzap.com/mosquito.html
 
ticks are such bastards. I've been pulling a bunch off my dog after a fishing trip to an old farm pond. I think she hit a family of em or something. I have had some success with deet but thats all i know about.
 
I've used garlic and vit b over here in the UK and it seemed to work in that I didn't get bitten or had to pull anything off.

over here we have 'marmite' or 'vegemite' which are yeast based spreads derived from brewery waste - the local 'bushcrafters' (politically correct survivalists) swear by it but I havent been out to test it yet.

tea tree oil also works as a repellant but not for long - helps with the bites as well.
 
I don't have cable or sat TV but the last time I stayed in a hotel, about two years ago, I remember seeing an episode of Mythbusters where they went to great lengths to figure out the whole "falling bullets killing people" thing. They did a really good job. What they have not done a very good job on escapes me at the moment but I remember a couple of people on some forum talking about something they flubbed or whatever.

I think if they had a minimum of 12 people and they actually used the garlic gel caps that are not the designer brand garbage, I think they would have amazing results in tick country. At least on the east coast, I've never even been on the west coast so I have no idea about that area. The same episode I watched had something about Vodka testing and also on people catching poison ivy.
 
Has anyone ever tried strapping a dog tick collar to their back pack or person?? It probably isnt the best method but i think it might help.
 
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