Repell ticks

Q

Quisto56

Joined
Sep 26, 2003
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15
I need some help with the tick problem here What is a ecinomical way to keep ticks off Im sure the indians had to have something that worked The woods here are literally crawling with them Was out yesterday and when I got in I had 25 of the little B^#$#%#& stuck on . Any Ideas would be appreciated

Quisto56
 
Yeah, they are getting worse every year it seems. Some of them are so small that they can't be readily seen with the naked eye and lyme disease is no fun, so be careful.

I don't think the Indian peoples had the tick problem that we do. Fire wasn't controlled like it is today so the areas burned regularly, which helped to keep the insect populations in check. I know one thing that they did was coat their bodies in bear grease, which is still available today. That is, if you're so inclined. :rolleyes:

As far as a natural tick repellent, garlic has a natural sulphur in it which repels fleas, ticks, mosquitos, etc. Make up a garlic solution and spray yourself with it. Also, you can eat lots of garlic. It's good for you in a lot of ways and the body releases it through it's pores, which will help some too.
 
The only things that I know to work are DEET and permethrin (same stuff in the dog/cat flea/tick repellent usually).

Now I know people don't like to use chemicals all the time. However, if there is a disease threat I think one should.

The permethrin really isn't that expensive, if you buy the cans of it you can treat a few pairs of pants with it and it will last 6 weeks (more maybe). It works and will keep those little bloodsuckers off you. If you treat only the cloths you're going to wear into the woods a can should get you through the summer.

Longbow mentioned fire. If it's your property I would look into a controlled burn. (Fire, Fire!!!) (sorry, I digress :-)

I'm not convinced of any natural repellants. I have read studies that said B12 taken in HUGE amounts would keep the bloodsuckers away. However, it was HUGE amounts and you smelled like a corpse, not always a good option and I'm not sure I would tell anyone to take that much B12. Or to eat that much sulfur. Garlic isn't going to hurt you, will make you stink though and I'm not sure the ticks are going to care enough to stay away.

It's the CO2 that you exhale that draws them. Hard to stop breathing or to hide that which makes it hard to keep them off a mammal.

Oh, and it might not make you feel any better but the little ones can't give you lyme disease since they must have fed at least once to give it to you and they aren't little anymore after the first feeding. Not that that makes them easier to deal with!

Hope that helps some.
 
The best stuff that I've tried is Deep Woods OFF. Spray it on your shoes, socks and legs (then rub it in) to keep ticks and chiggers from crawling up. If there are a lot of skeeters I'll spray it everywhere else on my clothes and rub into face and neck.
 
put in my vote for deet. i'd stay away from the 100% stuff though as my friends dad got pretty sick from it in the military :barf:
 
I have worked as a forester in the SE for many years spending over 50% of my time in the woods and haven't used insect repellant since the early 90's. I have used permanone while turkey hunting and have been pleased.

The best way to keep the bugs off in my opinion, don't shower for a day or longer if you are going to the woods. At least don't shower the day of. Removing your natural oils and having residue soap perfume is asking for it. Carry a head net for when they are really bad. I use a head net in the summer for no-see-ums and deer flies more than anything. And finally, in most of the SE, there is a woody bush (small tree) that goes by the common name of wax myrtle and southern bayberry (Myrica cerifera). It is an excellent natural repellant. Just pull off a hand full of leaves and crush them between your hands then rub over exposed skin including your face.

Wax myrtle is also an excellent landscape shrubby, particularly if you have animals as it is also a natural flea repellant. Be careful though, it is extremely flammable, so leave a defensible space.
 
OK, I got off on a tangent about repelling bugs in general.

Ticks, I used to get them almost everyday, particullary if there were a lot of deer in that area. From talking to other natural resource professionals and all the literature I read, Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted fever are supposedly very prevalent and it is simply a question of your immune system protecting you. Probably a true statement.
 
deet is excellent, just use it lightly and not on bare skin to heavy. Spray it around your boots and I spray it on my hat. Been hiking a lot this year and havn't had one stuck to me yet.
 
DEET works... I like Watkin's cream better than Off, but I've heard that it didn't work well for some people. Dunno why... Works better than Off for me though.

Ticks really are a pain in the a$$... Around here, they're so incredibly numerous that I just have to carry tweezers all the time with me. Some are almost as big as small grapes. These ones hurt quite a bit, though, and you feel them walking on your skin.

Wearing long pants tucked in the boots works quite well. Also, as the ticks crawl on the bushes, just bruch yourself off when you get out of them, and check yourself regularly.

To remove them, I've poured a few drops of 5% iodine tincture on and around them with good results... They don't like iodine at all ;) The tweezers are effective, too, and probably safer for Lyme disease. What you don't want is the tick to get out by itself, as it pukes some of your blood back into the wound in the process, and thus injects it's bugs. With tweezers, just pull straight and slowly. Don't twist at all, or you'll leave the head in your skin, which can get infected. Always disinfect the little wound left (iodine again).

Cheers,

David
 
IMO, DEET is the best repellant for ticks going at the moment.
Despite some of the rumours about the downside of DEET, it is far less risky than untreated tick bites.
Treat the tops of socks and boots, collars and cuffs of shirts, and waistbands of trousers. Ticks like moist warm areas of the body, so regularly inspect groin and armpits, and treat with repellant to the level of tick "threat" in your area.

I respectfully disagree with removing ticks with tweezers. Again, my opinion, but I have found a far more effective way is to put a pat of toothpaste, vaseline, sunblock or similar on the tick and it will reverse itself out of its bite location. Once it has "disengaged", it can easily be despatched with tweezers or SAK pliers.

Iodine dabbed on the bite site with a Q tip, and renewed 2-3 times hourly wil prevent infection.

Ticks are nasty little buggers, I often wonder what we did wrong way back in the day to deserve them (and mosquitoes):rolleyes:
 
I've had good luck with Permethrin (the stuff from Wally World, don't recall the brand) sprayed on my trousers and socks. I went from my first day in the tall grass, picking a coffee cup of ticks off me (fun to do while driving) to no ticks for two weeks.

Permethrin is applied to the clothes, not to the skin, and is an insecticide, not just a repellant.

If you are in heavy tick-picking mode (my daughter's place is swarming with them - in desparate need of a napalming), it's nice to keep a small screw top "tick jar" with some kerosene or diesel in it. While it's more satisfying to crush the suckers between your thumbnails, dropping them in the kerosene is easier.
 
DEET is also my first line of defense, and seems to work well.

Another tactic is to always hike with a friend, and have him go first through the brush! :D

Finally, www.cabellas.com sells what looks like tightly woven long underwear that it claims is bug-proof. I wear a set when I'm mountain biking in infested areas, and it seems to work well.
 
As a kid I hunted all over SE Texas in the Big Thicket area for squirrel and Deer and pig with my father. I learned this trick from him and it has worked for me for 40 some years. Go to your local pharmacy and get a bottle of sulfur powder. Always wear lace up boots, long pants and shirt and keep your sleeves rolled down. When dressing, after you put on your socks, roll down the top and dust your skin and sock with sulfur powder, then the inside of your boot especially around the top. It is best to tuck your pants leg into your boot and then dust that area as well. Dust the inside of your pants around the belt area, around the collar area and the bottom of your sleeves. The sulfur powder is non toxic, oderless and works great. Just wash it off when you get home. Hope this helps.
Oldsalt
 
I haven't had any luck using DEET as a tick repellant. I gues I'll have to try it again. We have major tick problems in our area. I don't even like to walk through one of the pastures to check the cattle because of the ticks. The only product I've had success with is Sawyer Clothing Tick Repellant. This is a permethrin product I bought in Nevada. It is a pain to use because it is used only on my pants and it has to be sprayed on and then allowed to dry. The problem is I get so dirty working the cows plus I'm in poison oak fixing fence that I have to wash my pants every day. Then I don't remember which pants I treated. The stuff does work pretty well though.

A couple miles from here the ticks are so bad that when the Mexicans come back from fixing fence they go straight to the garbage barrel and burn their clothes.

Ticks suck! In more ways than one.
 
yes ticks suck. I'm gonna try oldsalt's sulfur powder trick next tick season! I've STILL got two itches from months ago where I had some cattle ticks sucking away at me. bastard bloody things!
 
Think about the entry points. Most of the ticks you get on you will be crawling up from ground level. I've watched the little nasties crawl up my boot and try to invade at the top and turn away when they hit the sulfur power. Sometimes they jump on at calf or knee level and move up to the waist so you have to cover there. Then the insides of each sleeve and the collar and you pretty much have it covered. Works for Chiggers, fleas and other crawling nasties as well. I put it in a salt shaker with a sealable lid and take it with me camping. BTW, sulfur powder will also work as disinfectant on wounds if you run out of neosporin.
Oldsalt.
 
I won't go into what is right and what is wrong on this thread. It would take forever and I don't want to offend anyone, and its a friday!.:D

If you want REAL reputable information do the research:
www.cdc.gov

do a search for ticks:
Such as
Black legged ticks in Illinois, etc.

You can get maps of the latest vector species in your area, ID guides, etc.

Rocky Mountain, STARI, Lymes disease, Ehrlichiosis (which doctors ALWAYS MIS-DIAGNOSE.)

know what is in your area.

example
ticktable.jpg


If you want real tick protection? Use permanone and be aware of what species are in your area, and what they transmit. Some species carry one thing, some carry others.

If you are going to take them off, use tweezers, grip as close to the skin as possible. Their saliva mixes with your body fluids to make a glue. Sometimes you can rib them out and leave the head in, so be careful.


PS: I'm an entomologist, this is one thing I know a ton about.
 
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