PSA: It's TICK season and there out in force this year (Lyme disease Warning)

Thanks for the reminder. It's an easy hazard to discount until you know someone who's been crippled by Lyme disease. I certainly take the threat a lot more seriously than I used to. 

Yep, was out in the yard yesterday and pulled two off me. There was a flush in the population of the mice who carry the tick, so this year's going to be worse than usual. 

Bad tick year here in my part of Texas. I been bit so many times it's a miracle I don't have lyme disease. Maybe I do and don't know it. Got ticks when I was a kid as well. Lyme disease has been proven to have been around forever. The thousands of years old 'Ice Man' they found in the mountains between Germany and Italy had it. Maybe we all have it but some are immune or only get a slight case. I know it devastates some people.

Two things my family has done to help prevent ticks and chiggers(red bugs). 
1. 2 tablespoons vinegar in 4-6oz water. Drink it 30 minutes before you go out. Repels both. 
2. Don't eat bananas before you hit the woods. Opposite effect than the vinegar. Attracts them. A chemical in the banana is excreted from your pores to attract biting insects and vice versa the vinegar repels. 

We could pick blackberries in a wet bathing suit and still not get redbugs. 

I told my wife's grandfather about the bananas and he quietly mused for a while, then said later, "you know I believe you about those bananas, because when I was a boy we bought bananas on the stalk from the grocery store. When we had finished them, my dad would throw the stalk in the chicken coop and after a day he would take it out and burn it. I asked him why, and he told me the mites off of the chickens would get on the stalk and he would burn it to get rid of them".

Interesting. Thanks for the vinegar idea. 

Time to give possums a big break hunters. Ticks are their favorite meal.

My mother has lyme. Bad stuff. Now I spray my boots and hunting gear with a product called permethrin. It stays on the clothing for a about a month. Haven't had one on me since. Its odorless too.

The tick are bad this year in Tennessee too!
The vinegar and also works well to get the tick off of the dogs (even with the high dollar flee and tick collars).

Don't forget to protect your dogs, too. There are several safe, effective, chewable products that kill ticks and fleas, and there is a vaccine against Lyme disease.

(Can you imagine how hard it is to find the ticks on these hairy beasts?)

..and remember, ticks need to be attached for about 24 hours before they can spread disease. That's about the time they regurgitate the host's blood back into the host. Hey, I'm an EMT and stay up on gross stuff like this.

The CDC maintains that the best way to remove a tick is this: straight pull with fine tipped tweezers. Do not twist, as this can break the head off. Also, ignore the folklore about suffocating them and waiting for it to detach on its own. 

"SpudGunner"

Don't forget to protect your dogs, too. There are several safe, effective, chewable products that kill ticks and fleas, and there is a vaccine against Lyme disease.

(Can you imagine how hard it is to find the ticks on these hairy beasts?)

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+1! 
Found a tick on one of my dogs the other day. 
Dont forget your furry family members!

"Brian.in.MI"..and remember, ticks need to be attached for about 24 hours before they can spread disease. That's about the time they regurgitate the host's blood back into the host. Hey, I'm an EMT and stay up on gross stuff like this.

The CDC maintains that the best way to remove a tick is this: straight pull with fine tipped tweezers. Do not twist, as this can break the head off. Also, ignore the folklore about suffocating them and waiting for it to detach on its own. 

https://imgur.com/scN1s

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+1!
I got my Wilderness EMT cert through NOLS in Western NC. Lone Star ticks, big buggers. Nasty. 
Wear long sleeved shirts, light colored, pants, and if you can military style boot blouses.
My father who lives in FL, recently found a tick in a very personal place . . . the little bugger didnt even buy him dinner! 
https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickbornediseases/tickID.html

Very cool! Except the part about ticks and Dad's genitalia, hahaha. Just got in from a day of chainsaw and machete work in the north woods. You can bet my shower was extra thorough after that story.. Stay safe, brutha.

One year in the 70's, I believe it was '76, the ticks were so bad in Georgia and with a Rocky Mountain spotted fever outbreak, the DNR said if you shoot a whitetail deer and it is covered with ticks, don't try to haul and process it, just leave it where it lies. I shot one that was fine, but my brother-in-law-to-be shot one that was covered from head to hoof. The hide literally looked like it was moving. With our warm temps and good rain this year I'm afraid we may have a heavy infestation. This year is the earliest I can recall seeing gnats, a particularly southern nuisance south of The Fall Line.

"BillH"The tick are bad this year in Tennessee too!
The vinegar and also works well to get the tick off of the dogs (even with the high dollar flee and tick collars).


What do you bath them in the vinegar or add it to the drinking water?

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Permethrin is a life saver. I used to by the spray cans of it but it takes forever to spay up a set of cloths. Now I buy the big bottles from Sawyers along with their shake n bake kit. The kit is a large plastic bag where you put your clothes and then mix the permethrin with water and soak everything and shake n bake. Then let dry. Good for 6 weeks usually even with washing the clothes. Works on red bugs and ticks. I aint had a tick on me in years with this stuff.

http://www.chinookmed.com/cgi-bin/item/03502/-Sawyer-Permethrin-Soak-Treatment-Kit-

https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Products-SP649-Permethrin-Repellent/dp/B001ANQVYU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493200770&sr=8-1&keywords=sawyer%2Bproducts%2Bpremium%2Binsect%2Bkit&th=1

Thanks for posting this PSA! It's very timely, valuable information.

 Willie
Just mist them or rub it on with your hands.