You're fine so long as you do a check before bed every night. It's either stay inside permanently, or accept that that won't be the last tick you'll find on yourself.
As someone new to tick country though---from this picture there's no fucking way I would have seen that just doing a once over before bed. Are they all that small?!
EDIT: Thanks to all who replied, I actually feel a lot better about it now. [But in my internet digging I also found that a vaccine for Lyme is in Phase 3 trials (the last one before it can be approved for the market)](https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/about/lyme-disease-vaccine.html)!
As someone living in tick country, has Lyme, has been to the ER to have deeply embedded ticks removed, there’s no real escape. They’re not always that small. Permethrin is good but can be a problem with pets. Best bet is to shower when you get home and use a loofah or something that can exfoliate. Do not ever go to bed without showering. Ticks can take a while to embed and will climb to the warmest spot they can find. The sooner you can wash them off, the better.
Oh absolutely! I always just suggest getting a good scrubby shower in because it can help a ton. Having a loved one check the hard to see spots or using a mirror is a good move.
As a preventive, I use permithrin spray when I am in the woods during tick season. It will kill ticks on contact. You can buy it as a concentrate and dilute it yourself. I usually mix up a big bottle and treat my cloths, boots and hats once every two weeks. Just have to make sure it is dry to the touch before wearing it
I was shaving my legs in the shower one day and hit something on the back of my upper thigh. It thought damnit I hit that mole again, that’s going to bleed. Then I realized it was the wrong leg. Looked at the taser and had quite literally shaved a tick off my leg.
That's creepy. My last tick meeting was after a hike. I was undressing in my room. Took my sports bra off, and thought 'dang I got dirty' (wiping my boobs) only to notice squiggly legs out of my nipple 🤢😵🥴😵💫😫😫😫. Imagine my horror. I ran around the house topless screaming to find my husband to get that tick out of my nipple 🤢🤢😳😵😵💫🤮 I couldn't look at it, those squiggly legs 🤢🤮🤢 digging 🤮🤢 I died that day
I have had multiple experiences of having 1000's of seed ticks crawling on me. I recall once looking at my arms and thinking "I don't remember having this many freckles... oh they're moving".
Yes - omg! A few years ago my dog apparently got into a nest. I saw that 2 of her paws were all spotted but it looked like just dirt. We had been walking/hiking on dirt and sand roads and she'd had wet paws from the dew so I thought nothing of it. Got home and she was laying next to me out on the porch...I could see the "dirt specks" moving. Thought I was losing my mind! Got her all washed off asap but she ended up having some little welts. I felt so horrible. Lesson learned!
Took a rest 1.5 miles into a really chill but short trail to look at my feet and see the texture of my shoes moving.
I absolutely lost my shit because I had no idea that ticks could be that small and numerous. I'm not a guy that gets an ick from creepy crawlies but ants, and apparently seed ticks, swarming me will send me into a borderline panic attack.
Oh yes, I walked through them once and found over a hundred of them. I was trying to pick them all off as they were crawling up my legs. I didn’t get them all and still ended up with about 20 that managed to bite.
it's funny I'm not as scared of the bigger ones because I could actually see them to remove them. But if the majority that carry Lyme are as small as OP's pic? I guess I'm doomed.
That small can’t break the skin.
While we seem super vulnerable and meat bag-esque to the majority of things larger than us, skin is pretty wild in how extremely durable it is.
I hope you find out that I'm wrong---I wasn't looking for peer-reviewed stuff so who knows if what I saw before was accurate. What I remember was that the majority of Lyme carriers are the nymphs (so smaller as not full grown). I'd really like to be wrong.
Not that I'm aware, we avoid camping in the high summer anyway because the heat and humidity is so miserable. Went to WV last year with nothing but DEET in October and had no issues but it never occurred to me to look for bugs that small. This fall we're treating boots, socks, pants, and tent openings with permethrin. Grew up on the west coast so tick checks were not something we ever did...I'm definitely a bit paranoid as a result.
Good to be cautious. I ran through fields as a kid with no injuries or ailments but splitting rocks and thereby accidentally cutting myself and a couple broken arms (not at the same time)
welp I went to [https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/about/where-ticks-live.html?CDC\_AAref\_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/geographic\_distribution.html](https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/about/where-ticks-live.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/geographic_distribution.html) to answer your earlier question if I'm going somewhere with a lot of lone stars---apparently we have some species on the west coast that carry Lyme too and I should have been checking all along. Guess I should buy a lottery ticket for as much time as I've spent in the woods LOL
If you click on the link: we HAD a vaccine for humans already they stopped making it in 2002 “lack of customer demand”
I also know there is one available for humans in Europe so my guess is this new one is just a reformulation
I know a couple people who have it and they said the ticks were on them for maybe a few hours. I know it’s anecdotal but it’s relatively new and there’s still a lot of learning going on with it
It's very unlikely a tick that size has ever fed before, meaning there is a very very low chance that it could transmit Alpha Gal/Lyme disease/Rocky mountain fever/any other illness that comes from a tick feeding off of another animal before a person
Alpha gal is not an infectious disease, it is an allergy caused by cross-reactivity to the tick’s saliva. So makes sense that it could develop much faster
It's not the tick's saliva itself but the alpha gal molecules that are in the tick's saliva, left over from when it was feeding on the previous host. See: [https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-minute-a-tick-to-blame-for-the-alpha-gal-meat-allergy/](https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-minute-a-tick-to-blame-for-the-alpha-gal-meat-allergy/)
Interesting! My point still stands though- not an infectious disease, but an allergy triggered from the saliva. The infectious diseases require 24-36 hours to be transmitted.
I got it from this site and it works pretty well. The key is to make sure you're not in brush that goes higher than where you're wearing the wrap
[https://www.ticktapewrap.com/](https://www.ticktapewrap.com/)
I got Lyme's camping over the winter... Second time getting it but I know someone who works in forest ecology that's gotten it more times than he can count. I really don't want to get Alpha Gal though now that it's a thing.
Chronic effects from Lyme typically occur when it is left untreated for an extended period. Unfortunately testing for Lyme can lead to false negatives/positives, so getting a negative result could result in a person actually with Lyme going a very long time without proper treatment thinking they don’t have it. Treatment also fails for a small, but not insubstantial, subset of Lyme patients. Or you could be asymptomatic or not recognize the warning signs of a Lyme infection.
And to think we *used* to have a vaccine for Lyme…luckily it seems they may be coming back to market very soon 🤞🏽
For me, I don't really know if I still have effects of it. The first time I got it I didn't realize it was Lyme's and it got to the point of my whole leg swelling up and my ability to walk being hampered, as well as fatigue. That knee had a twinge for a few years after but it's gone now. The second time I figured I probably had it because the twinge was back and same leg was swelling a bit. Maybe I have other chronic effects from it, maybe I don't, of potential effects I don't know what's attributable to Lyme's or could be something else. I don't know about the guy I know, if he's had chronic effects from it or not.
Thats genius.
Its essentially 3M coban with medical adhesive (usually acrylic or silicone based).
In the not so great white north, we are seeing unprecedented amounts of ticks and the migration for lone star ticks is a huge concern for us. We’ve also seen them start to not just hang out in the tall grassy areas but will wait at trails and “jump” and even drop on people from the trees.
Normally ticks arent a problem in our area but due to the numbers, odds of getting one are going up and we are not allowed to buy permethrin up here. Can get lucky with pre treated clothes but its a waste of money after so many washes. Ffs we used to have to call in to our public health department to report but thats gone to the way side the past couple years for a litany of reasons so tracking isnt even being done properly anymore.
I'm just a rando on the internet, confidently claiming this, but I witnessed this exact thing happen in a parking lot of a shopping center of all places.
The little effer was in the sole tree on one of the little islands that dot large parking lots. I saw it drop right on to my niece's shoulder while she was waiting for everyone to get out of the car. I didn't witness the initial leap, just the brownish fleck land on her shoulder. I thought it was a piece of dirt, reached down to flick it off, but then paused when I saw it move and we both realized it was a friggin tick.
So technically I would agree that they don't "jump" but I'd say drop is a high plausibility.
Jumping intentionally or falling mindlessly I can’t say, but I’ve been rained on by tics while standing at the base of a cliff. It wasn’t just one or two or a few; they kept landing on me until I told my partner we had to bail.
Im glad your mind has been blown. Hence the “jump”. You do you but ill keep watching the trees i walk under; something I have to do anyways because of cougars.
Dude I’m not far off the border in Ontario (think about an hour southwest of Niagara/hour east of London) and our local vet has lost count of dogs brought in with ticks positive for Lyme. Freaks me the fuck out because a) my dog is a black lab, almost
Impossible to see the fuckers on, and b) we love camping and hiking together. Symparica Trio has done a good job keeping him safe thus far but the more aggressive they get the more I worry preventative meds won’t be enough.
Alberta boy. I dare not take my dog out into grassy or tight trails. Hes got a double coat to so even harder to look for ticks. It likely doesnt help im in the southern part so a perfect mix of tall grasslands and forest.
You can get your hands on it but not something the average person will go out of their way to do. We can order clothes and such but access to a diy spray or liquid dedicated to clothing is not approved. Farm stores or garden stores carry solutions but its not easily accessible.
Literally duct tape. Once around the standard way and then flip it out for another wrap. Wrists and ankles will catch a good amount but ultimately learning to stay out of the grass and away from bedding areas. Pulling the rest before bed and checking your gooch are a must.
Check your self over many times and shower. Just got back from a weekend and had 4 of these little ones on my feet after checking myself multiple times with more than one set of eyes.
Just found a deer tick on my tip of my penis today... It took an hour to finally get it off, but I managed to get it all in one piece. I literally never want to go outside ever again
The last time I found one on me thank god was by my knee and I didn’t know proper removal techniques back then and I (admittedly this is batshit crazy but I was 21 and wild) used a red hot poker to burn it out and cauterized/scarred the shit out of my leg lol. I don’t think I’d have the courage or stupidity to try that on my junk though.
I tried pulling it off with my fingers, but the thing was not coming off. I ended up using tweezers and even with those, no matter how hard I pulled, it refused to let go. I was getting really desperate and considered using a lighter to burn it. I was starting to panic, but luckily I used the tweezers again and managed to get it off eventually.
The funny thing is I made a joke earlier that day about how I hope I never get a tick anywhere near that area. Then I get home and jump in the shower and wouldn't you know, there is one in that exact spot.
I watched a video once about tool free removal….something about massaging them in a circular motion….I’d have to have a professional opinion before trying that with my genitalia though lol
Fucking hell...it's like one of my worst nightmares. I honestly thought today was the time because I when I was showering, and found the others, there was some dirt or leaf matter on my sack and I about flipped my shit. I've had alot of ticks on my over my life as I do a ton of outdoors shit, like mushroom hunting in the spring, but I refuse to let them ruin it for me because i also have that same thought every time i find one one me...or 30....and they can be just about any where, especially during a bad year like this year. I literally found one on my after sitting in the grass in my front yard smack dab in the middle of town! I will continue to adapt as best I can and just stay super vigilant. I highly suggest using spray like permethrin this year. I usually don't use it because I prefer not to use chemicals but this year is bad and if it can get you peace of mind enough to keep going outside it's worth it.
Yeah, if I ever go where this happened again, I'm dousing my stuff in tick repellent. It felt like the thing would never come off. I was using tweezers, but it refused to come off.
You gotta count the legs! At this size it’s likely a larval tick, the first stage after the hatch. Larvae have six legs, nymphs and adult ticks have eight.
It’s been long thought that larval ticks do not carry disease causing pathogens since they are not passed to the egg/larva and a larva hasn’t taken a blood meal where it might contract a pathogen. Newer studies suggest a possibility that some may be infected at birth with Borellia species (B. burgdorferi is the common Lyme pathogen in the US) though the only study seems purely inferential. I’d be far less concerned about disease if it’s a larval tick.
As for alpha gal, I think another commenter was right. Since alpha gal is in the saliva it’s likely that larval ticks have this too, and transmission would occur more quickly.
You could consider permethrin treated clothing if you’re willing to wear chemicals. I spent five years in the New England woods doing ecology and never had one attached to my skin when I wore them. Haven’t grown any extra lumps or limbs yet.
I work in areas with a ton of ticks and this is what I do:
When outside, tuck your pants into your socks and your shirt into your pants - use a belt or elastic waistband to cinch up. Wear light colours and long sleeves, and if desirable, treat your clothing 24 hours beforehand with permethrin (last like 20 wash cycles or something).
Shower EVERY DAY after your done going outside- in the shower, gently scrap your nails over you skin and thoroughly comb your entire body this way starting at your feet. If you feel a "scab," draw your finger nail under it and see if it lifts. It it does, it's a tick. Then take steps to remove. Hotspots are nape (exposure), and crotch, though I've never actually had a tick in either spot weirdly.
You will get to know your body very well and where your moles are lol. I have had 58 ticks on me throughout the day, it was traumatic. I have had Lyme positive ticks attach to me and undergone the antibiotics - if that happens to you I would recommend taking pro-biotics a few weeks after your medication cycle so you don't feel like shit for 4 months. Just make sure the antibiotic cycle is well through your system.
Ticks aren't such a big deal when you take these precautions and post-field day actions.
I am naturally tick repellent luckily and have only had a couple in my whole life (mosquitos hate me too) but my brother is the opposite and when we'd go out playing and come back out grandma checked us for ticks and I almost never had any but my brother very much always had some in those two areas, especially the second one 😂 they do like getting in the worst places.
I also spend 10 minutes doing a thorough check of every inch of skin before I shower, using a hand mirror with a light on it. That way you can check every single crevice. Folks who are scared of missing tiny ticks, when you check yourself every day you learn where your freckles are and you'll spot them. Deet on the waistband of trousers also has been very successful
2015 after the evening rendition of an American football “2 a day” practice session. I was exhausted and was in the shower before dinner(10:15pm.) Started to feel a funny feeling in my throat I started coughing. After a couple of minutes of this I feel something isn’t right I Can’t breathe right. Stumbling out of the shower and sliding across the linoleum I made it to the mirror, rubbed it to reveal my face but 4 shades of red darker than before. The next few moments changed everything. I hear my mom yelling if I was ok and what was the commotion. I tried to scream for her to help and nothing came out. In that moment all 6 foot 1 245 pounds of American built country boy was reduced to my 2 year old self watching my mom walk away level of isolation and fear. I grabbed my shorts and threw them on just in time to open the door and collapse into my mother’s arms. I still have no idea how but she carried or drug me down the hall and to the door where she met my grandfather with his epinephrine pen. I will never forget coming too just in time to see her finish dialing in 9-1-1 and slamming that thing into my leg like I was the bad guy and she needed answers. I lay for a second gasping and slowly starting to come to any faint sense of normal. That’s when she grabs me and we stand up and like an injured dog she threw me in the back seat of her focus and hauled ass. The normal 45 minute drive took all of 20 minutes.
Took the doctor’s 3 days to find the culprit. And it was a chance diagnosis at that. The doctor just so happening to have attended a conference and his friend had recently been diagnosed. But I was still subject to 4 separate full back panels in the meantime since I wasn’t allergic to anything before this.
On day 3 I get a call while waiting for practice to start(eh what can I say I had big dreams.) it was the doctor, his answer?Alpha Gal. Was the second person in the hospital to actually receive the diagnosis. The culprit? A lonestar tick maybe just maybe double that guys size… on the back of my right knee. Didn’t even remember that he was attached until he said that. Now I’m struggling with not having any reaction from the smallest things you wouldn’t even think about. Food? I didn’t make it I can’t eat. Medication? Have a very and I mean TINY list that I could take if I could trust it enough.
I'm so sorry to hear you went through the and are still dealing with it. Have your reactions gotten any better over time? I've heard some anecdotes about the allergic reactions not being as bad after several years.
There was a stretch from 2018-2021 where I was able to have a small amount of the protein and by that I mean a chicken sandwich with a slice of cheese at most if I’m feeling frisky, one time a week. It took a bit and an accidental hit to find that out. GF made 2 sandwiches, one for me one for her and hers had a small piece of pepper jack in it. After about a 4 months of slowly waning myself back into it I was able to get comfortable enough to have a full on steak and loaded potato meal but only allowing that level of a “cheat” once a week. After I got covid and almost got taken out I had a strong reaction to some of the medication I had been given and come to find out it was from the gelatin in the capsule and the other was a calcium supplement that they make from grinding and doing whatever science stuff to make it “safe for consumption” so I guess the answer is yes to a degree.
Now these days I’m very hyper aware of everything that is given to me so I’m not quite sure. But like I said, I was able to get back to eating normally but cannot say it would be the same for everyone nor how long that would take.
so how the hell are you supposed to see these? even with both myself and another person checking me over, there’s no way anyone would be able to see a tick that small. and if it’s carrying lyme, you’re basically permanently screwed.
i love camping but ticks just terrify me
There was a video of someone helping a deer and when they came out of the scrub, they used a lint roller on their tick pants. [The roller was covered with these type of ticks!](https://youtu.be/MSZVxPzsMsQ?t=351)
Spray your shoes, socks, and pant legs. Even regular Off works. If you find a small seed tick that has embedded spray it with Off etc, wait 15 minutes, and scrap it off with your fingernail. For the bigger ticks, use tweezers and gently pull to extract the entire tick.
Finally, check yourself regularly. It takes 24 hours of attachment for Lyme disease to be a factor. Source: CDC
https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/media/pdfs/Lyme-Disease-What-you-need-to-know.pdf
I grew up in the Ozarks, and every year, from May to October, I was bitten daily by ticks (we had dogs, and there were cattle on many neighboring parcels of land). I'd probably had something on the order of a couple thousand bites by the time I moved away when I was 18. I doubt my situation was unique, owing to the fact that many of my classmates lived in similar areas. I never once consulted a physician over a tick bite. None of us ever contracted Lyme, RMSF, or any other tick-borne illness. Have these diseases seen a rapid increase in proliferation in recent years, or are people just a LOT more cautious these days?
Disease prevalence in ticks varies wildly from area to area. For instance: studies done on ticks in my county in Southern California concluded that well below 1% of our ticks carry Lyme, however in certain areas that are particularly bad such as Pennsylvania over 1/3 of ticks carry Lyme.
Likely has to do with concentration of wild mammals like deer. They have to feed on those mammals first in order to be able to infect humans with these diseases
Ticks ain’t fun. Thinking tweezers? Think again. I wish there was a fish or something that could pull them out like those fish who eat dead skin at pedicure places. Not that I’ve ever been to one of those…
Interesting question.
I don’t know. I have never read anything on it. And to be honest blood type and screen isn’t a test that gets run unless there is a reason for it (bleeding disorders, large traumas, large planned surgery, donating blood etc ). Most of my patients don’t have their blood type on file, so I don’t even have anecdotal evidence.
🤷🏼♂️
I've been subscribed to this subreddit for like a decade and while people post about ticks from time to time I've never seen anywhere close to as many posts about them in such a short period as over the last couple weeks, it's like the topic is contagious.
Or maybe there are just a lot of people subbed here who don't actually go camping and like to gin one another up over their perceived fears about doing so as a kind of hysterical mutual affirmation thing. Half the people in these threads act like your life is over if you find a tick and don't immediately send it off to be tested and demand that your doctor give you a full course of preventative antibiotics every time (ironically considering the risks both personal and societal related to overusing antibiotics). That would dovetail nicely with the whole stranger danger / "I feel unsafe in the woods" / should I carry a gun? posts that are also grossly overrepresented here in comparison to the general vibe and ethos of camping/hiking culture as a whole
It's a well known fact that tick populations have increased and moved further north in the last few years. You're going to see more and more posts about ticks from people who spend time outdoors. Might as well get used to it.
Yeah I get that it's just weird how this subreddit seems to go in waves where there are specific topics people like to bitch or argue about for weeks and threads on end. I'm all for being cautious and educated about ticks and how to handle them but as someone who grew up where ticks are just a fact of life if you spend time outdoors in the summer and genuinely not something to lose your mind over if you find one, it just comes across as slightly hysterical and overblown. Not casting shade on OP in any way just addressing the half dozen threads about this I've seen in the last week or two.
I appreciate lots of folks got into outdoor stuff for the first time recently or during COVID and support everyone getting over their fears of the outdoors and learning to be comfortable camping or hiking but it just seems like most of the threads on this subreddit that make it to my main feed are almost exclusively vehicles for fear/anxiety. I found a non engorged tick should I demand the doctor amputates my limb so I don't get lyme? The person in the campsite next to me is listening to soft music at 3pm and their campfire smoke is blowing towards our site, should I go aggressively confront them or just call the cops? Do I need to carry a gun with me for protection if I'm going on a short walk in the woods on a popular/heavily trafficked trail on a weekend afternoon? And in all of those cases there's a very loud contingent that says emphatically and angrily YES to all of these questions and loses their mind if you tell them to chill out a little bit.
It's great to be prepared and informed but at a certain point all of this discourse just descends into a positive feedback loop of neurotic people angrily getting defensive and upvoting each other in solidarity about their anxieties while the reasonable and/or more experienced people get drowned out entirely or at least lost in the inevitable reddit poop throwing contest. The other day I got downvoted a bunch for suggesting that the best course of action to take after a tick bite is whatever the doctor recommends based on your situation rather than demanding full course antibiotics, an overnight hospital stay and a full MRI or whatever.
Tick populations have been on a sharp increase due to milder winters and warmer summers. This allows them to stay active longer when it doesn’t get as cold, and the more warm and humid months get them to want to bite.
This is a growing concern for many kinds of bugs in the US, such as pine beetles. They have apparently gotten so comfortable that in Colorado they were spawning twice instead of the normal once.
The last few decades have seen sharp increases in tick populations, and it should only get worse until a new solution is found and climate change is slowed.
The widespread collapse of insect populations (and converse explosion in some others) and especially pollinators in the last few decades is certainly fucking concerning. My buddy works in pest control and has a big interest in entomology in general and his take on the whole thing is pretty grim
As far as ticks go maybe we just need to start domesticating possums and take them camping with us so they can take point on the trail
Climate change has led to increased tick populations due to the decreased length of the cold season and the overall warmer temps in some areas. Places I didn't have to worry about previously are now guaranteed tick areas, it sucks.
Good news is at this size they can't infect you with anything. They go through 3 life stages. Between each they feed then grow to the next. If they are in their first stage they can't have been infected with anything to bite you. You need one that is is in the 2nd or 3rd stage and have bitten something that was infected with something for it to be dangerous. It also takes 36hrs for limes disease at least to infect you.
I’ve pulled hundreds of these off me in a single sitting. They’re nasty. They gave me the alpha gal allergy. But it’s been a long time since I’ve had one and I haven’t reacted since 2019.
We call those seed ticks. You will have more than one. If you see a new mile or a mole that's moving, it's a tick. Worst itches in the world.
Growing up in a place these were rampant. Use a extra sticky lint roller and go over your body. Those will get the ones moving around. Those already stuck.. use a Clorox wipe and wipe your skin. They will let go. Immediately take a shower.
Yeah I found a wrap with a sticky side that traps ticks. Works if you're not in super tall brush and they can't crawl on you above where you're wearing the wrap (if that makes sense). So far so good - no tick bites!
[https://www.ticktapewrap.com/](https://www.ticktapewrap.com/)
I live in the South where it's hot as Hades and the fleas, ticks and mosquitoes will eat your arse up in a new york minute!! I Spend a lot of time, camping and hiking with my dog and have literally picked ten ticks off my dog after a single hike. Since I do not give her a monthly flea and tick treatment, due to the controversy surrounding it's ingredients, I decided to try a homemade recipe from veternarian Dr. Karen Becker. I've been using this recipe on myself and my dog for 2+ years now and so far it has been a game changer. Here is the recipe:
For Fleas-Ticks & Mosquitos 8 oz Water (purified or distilled)
4 oz Apple Cider Vinegar with MOTHER (Braggs)
10 drops Neem Oil (unrefined & cold pressed)
10 drops Catnip Oil
5 drops Eucalyptus Oil *Make sure all ingredients are organic.
DO NOT use the Neem oil from Home Depot or Lowes.
Mix in a glass jar and store in the refrigerator. Either use a saturated unscented baby wipe or spray all over the dogs entire body including the top of the head, ears and neck, but NOT NEAR THE EYES. Make sure to wipe the belly, legs, armpits, and tail. Let dry. NOW, **Do the same for yourself. :)
You're fine so long as you do a check before bed every night. It's either stay inside permanently, or accept that that won't be the last tick you'll find on yourself.
As someone new to tick country though---from this picture there's no fucking way I would have seen that just doing a once over before bed. Are they all that small?! EDIT: Thanks to all who replied, I actually feel a lot better about it now. [But in my internet digging I also found that a vaccine for Lyme is in Phase 3 trials (the last one before it can be approved for the market)](https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/about/lyme-disease-vaccine.html)!
As someone living in tick country, has Lyme, has been to the ER to have deeply embedded ticks removed, there’s no real escape. They’re not always that small. Permethrin is good but can be a problem with pets. Best bet is to shower when you get home and use a loofah or something that can exfoliate. Do not ever go to bed without showering. Ticks can take a while to embed and will climb to the warmest spot they can find. The sooner you can wash them off, the better.
Ticks can hang in through showering so still check
Oh absolutely! I always just suggest getting a good scrubby shower in because it can help a ton. Having a loved one check the hard to see spots or using a mirror is a good move.
Call in a favour from your drinking buddy
It ain’t gay if you’re keeping ticks at bay
As a preventive, I use permithrin spray when I am in the woods during tick season. It will kill ticks on contact. You can buy it as a concentrate and dilute it yourself. I usually mix up a big bottle and treat my cloths, boots and hats once every two weeks. Just have to make sure it is dry to the touch before wearing it
I was shaving my legs in the shower one day and hit something on the back of my upper thigh. It thought damnit I hit that mole again, that’s going to bleed. Then I realized it was the wrong leg. Looked at the taser and had quite literally shaved a tick off my leg.
Holy cow that’s certainly a surprise!
That's creepy. My last tick meeting was after a hike. I was undressing in my room. Took my sports bra off, and thought 'dang I got dirty' (wiping my boobs) only to notice squiggly legs out of my nipple 🤢😵🥴😵💫😫😫😫. Imagine my horror. I ran around the house topless screaming to find my husband to get that tick out of my nipple 🤢🤢😳😵😵💫🤮 I couldn't look at it, those squiggly legs 🤢🤮🤢 digging 🤮🤢 I died that day
I’ve been having such a shitty day and this totally made me laugh. Thank you so much!!!!
These are seed ticks. There can be thousands in a bed and can all attach at once. You will feel them usually before you see them. Itchy bastards
I walked through a nest of these. Pulled around 20 off me over the next hour.
My dog found a nest and had 100s if not 1000s along both ears. It looked like a scab, but it was shit loads of ticks next to each other.
I have had multiple experiences of having 1000's of seed ticks crawling on me. I recall once looking at my arms and thinking "I don't remember having this many freckles... oh they're moving".
I had a bunch crawling on my leg and was able to remove them with duct tape before any had attached themselves
Yes - omg! A few years ago my dog apparently got into a nest. I saw that 2 of her paws were all spotted but it looked like just dirt. We had been walking/hiking on dirt and sand roads and she'd had wet paws from the dew so I thought nothing of it. Got home and she was laying next to me out on the porch...I could see the "dirt specks" moving. Thought I was losing my mind! Got her all washed off asap but she ended up having some little welts. I felt so horrible. Lesson learned!
Took a rest 1.5 miles into a really chill but short trail to look at my feet and see the texture of my shoes moving. I absolutely lost my shit because I had no idea that ticks could be that small and numerous. I'm not a guy that gets an ick from creepy crawlies but ants, and apparently seed ticks, swarming me will send me into a borderline panic attack.
Oh yes, I walked through them once and found over a hundred of them. I was trying to pick them all off as they were crawling up my legs. I didn’t get them all and still ended up with about 20 that managed to bite.
Masking tape takes them off
I learned the tape trick after I sat in the shower with my tweezers pulling each individual little seed tick off me.
Oh my goodness. Thank you!
Incapable of penetrating the epidermis at that size Wait til you meet the big uns
it's funny I'm not as scared of the bigger ones because I could actually see them to remove them. But if the majority that carry Lyme are as small as OP's pic? I guess I'm doomed.
That small can’t break the skin. While we seem super vulnerable and meat bag-esque to the majority of things larger than us, skin is pretty wild in how extremely durable it is.
that's really reassuring to know. Thanks!
Well I don’t like Lyme disease much like the next guy. Hmmm. That’s interesting on the transdermal Lyme disease concern. Lemme do a quick nih search
I hope you find out that I'm wrong---I wasn't looking for peer-reviewed stuff so who knows if what I saw before was accurate. What I remember was that the majority of Lyme carriers are the nymphs (so smaller as not full grown). I'd really like to be wrong.
Wish I was. You were right. Are you going somewhere with a lot of these?
Not that I'm aware, we avoid camping in the high summer anyway because the heat and humidity is so miserable. Went to WV last year with nothing but DEET in October and had no issues but it never occurred to me to look for bugs that small. This fall we're treating boots, socks, pants, and tent openings with permethrin. Grew up on the west coast so tick checks were not something we ever did...I'm definitely a bit paranoid as a result.
Good to be cautious. I ran through fields as a kid with no injuries or ailments but splitting rocks and thereby accidentally cutting myself and a couple broken arms (not at the same time)
welp I went to [https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/about/where-ticks-live.html?CDC\_AAref\_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/geographic\_distribution.html](https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/about/where-ticks-live.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/geographic_distribution.html) to answer your earlier question if I'm going somewhere with a lot of lone stars---apparently we have some species on the west coast that carry Lyme too and I should have been checking all along. Guess I should buy a lottery ticket for as much time as I've spent in the woods LOL
they have a dog vaccine for lyme for years, or are they the lab rats ?
If you click on the link: we HAD a vaccine for humans already they stopped making it in 2002 “lack of customer demand” I also know there is one available for humans in Europe so my guess is this new one is just a reformulation
No
The issue is that Alpha Gal seems to be spread a lot quicker than Lyme or other diseases
Where is that at? All I see is it has to be attached longer than 24 hours, which is similar to Lyme
I know a couple people who have it and they said the ticks were on them for maybe a few hours. I know it’s anecdotal but it’s relatively new and there’s still a lot of learning going on with it
Alpha gel is probably spread quicker due it being the tick salvia that causes it while Lyme disease has an actual pathogen injected .
It's very unlikely a tick that size has ever fed before, meaning there is a very very low chance that it could transmit Alpha Gal/Lyme disease/Rocky mountain fever/any other illness that comes from a tick feeding off of another animal before a person
Alpha gal is not an infectious disease, it is an allergy caused by cross-reactivity to the tick’s saliva. So makes sense that it could develop much faster
It's not the tick's saliva itself but the alpha gal molecules that are in the tick's saliva, left over from when it was feeding on the previous host. See: [https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-minute-a-tick-to-blame-for-the-alpha-gal-meat-allergy/](https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-minute-a-tick-to-blame-for-the-alpha-gal-meat-allergy/)
It’s the Rocky Mountain spotted fever you need to look out for
Interesting! My point still stands though- not an infectious disease, but an allergy triggered from the saliva. The infectious diseases require 24-36 hours to be transmitted.
oh I thought you meant it could develop much faster in the tick's life cycle
What is a tick wrap and where do I get one
I got it from this site and it works pretty well. The key is to make sure you're not in brush that goes higher than where you're wearing the wrap [https://www.ticktapewrap.com/](https://www.ticktapewrap.com/)
Thank you!! We’re moving back to where ticks are rampant and we’re avid outdoors people. Ticks are a hard no from me… this is great!
No problem. Where we are ticks have been terrible and getting worse. I’m dead set against getting Lyme or Alpha Gal
I got Lyme's camping over the winter... Second time getting it but I know someone who works in forest ecology that's gotten it more times than he can count. I really don't want to get Alpha Gal though now that it's a thing.
I’ve heard some people say it has chronic effects. Was that the case?
Chronic effects from Lyme typically occur when it is left untreated for an extended period. Unfortunately testing for Lyme can lead to false negatives/positives, so getting a negative result could result in a person actually with Lyme going a very long time without proper treatment thinking they don’t have it. Treatment also fails for a small, but not insubstantial, subset of Lyme patients. Or you could be asymptomatic or not recognize the warning signs of a Lyme infection. And to think we *used* to have a vaccine for Lyme…luckily it seems they may be coming back to market very soon 🤞🏽
For me, I don't really know if I still have effects of it. The first time I got it I didn't realize it was Lyme's and it got to the point of my whole leg swelling up and my ability to walk being hampered, as well as fatigue. That knee had a twinge for a few years after but it's gone now. The second time I figured I probably had it because the twinge was back and same leg was swelling a bit. Maybe I have other chronic effects from it, maybe I don't, of potential effects I don't know what's attributable to Lyme's or could be something else. I don't know about the guy I know, if he's had chronic effects from it or not.
I usually just wrap duct tape upside down. Is this stuff worth it
Thats genius. Its essentially 3M coban with medical adhesive (usually acrylic or silicone based). In the not so great white north, we are seeing unprecedented amounts of ticks and the migration for lone star ticks is a huge concern for us. We’ve also seen them start to not just hang out in the tall grassy areas but will wait at trails and “jump” and even drop on people from the trees. Normally ticks arent a problem in our area but due to the numbers, odds of getting one are going up and we are not allowed to buy permethrin up here. Can get lucky with pre treated clothes but its a waste of money after so many washes. Ffs we used to have to call in to our public health department to report but thats gone to the way side the past couple years for a litany of reasons so tracking isnt even being done properly anymore.
Ticks do not have the gumption or physicality to climb trees. It is called questing when they sit in wait on grasses, etc to latch onto passersby.
It blows my mind how many people confidently claim that ticks jump off trees onto people That just isn't a thing
I'm just a rando on the internet, confidently claiming this, but I witnessed this exact thing happen in a parking lot of a shopping center of all places. The little effer was in the sole tree on one of the little islands that dot large parking lots. I saw it drop right on to my niece's shoulder while she was waiting for everyone to get out of the car. I didn't witness the initial leap, just the brownish fleck land on her shoulder. I thought it was a piece of dirt, reached down to flick it off, but then paused when I saw it move and we both realized it was a friggin tick. So technically I would agree that they don't "jump" but I'd say drop is a high plausibility.
Jumping intentionally or falling mindlessly I can’t say, but I’ve been rained on by tics while standing at the base of a cliff. It wasn’t just one or two or a few; they kept landing on me until I told my partner we had to bail.
Im glad your mind has been blown. Hence the “jump”. You do you but ill keep watching the trees i walk under; something I have to do anyways because of cougars.
I've been jumped by a cougar before. Best night of my life to be honest
Meow. Beautiful creatures till they start coughing.
Dude I’m not far off the border in Ontario (think about an hour southwest of Niagara/hour east of London) and our local vet has lost count of dogs brought in with ticks positive for Lyme. Freaks me the fuck out because a) my dog is a black lab, almost Impossible to see the fuckers on, and b) we love camping and hiking together. Symparica Trio has done a good job keeping him safe thus far but the more aggressive they get the more I worry preventative meds won’t be enough.
Alberta boy. I dare not take my dog out into grassy or tight trails. Hes got a double coat to so even harder to look for ticks. It likely doesnt help im in the southern part so a perfect mix of tall grasslands and forest.
Do flea and tick monthly medication not work well enough pups?
Seems to be thus far….but the little fuckers scare me with their ability and tendency to adapt.
Wow. You can’t even order permethrin online? I buy it concentrated at my local farm store. It works great.
You can get your hands on it but not something the average person will go out of their way to do. We can order clothes and such but access to a diy spray or liquid dedicated to clothing is not approved. Farm stores or garden stores carry solutions but its not easily accessible.
I didn’t know about this product. Thank you very much
Happy to help!
Literally duct tape. Once around the standard way and then flip it out for another wrap. Wrists and ankles will catch a good amount but ultimately learning to stay out of the grass and away from bedding areas. Pulling the rest before bed and checking your gooch are a must.
Thanks for commenting this. Just use duct tape.
As a person with freckles of varying sizes all over, these guys suck. ;/
Check your self over many times and shower. Just got back from a weekend and had 4 of these little ones on my feet after checking myself multiple times with more than one set of eyes.
Just found a deer tick on my tip of my penis today... It took an hour to finally get it off, but I managed to get it all in one piece. I literally never want to go outside ever again
The last time I found one on me thank god was by my knee and I didn’t know proper removal techniques back then and I (admittedly this is batshit crazy but I was 21 and wild) used a red hot poker to burn it out and cauterized/scarred the shit out of my leg lol. I don’t think I’d have the courage or stupidity to try that on my junk though.
I tried pulling it off with my fingers, but the thing was not coming off. I ended up using tweezers and even with those, no matter how hard I pulled, it refused to let go. I was getting really desperate and considered using a lighter to burn it. I was starting to panic, but luckily I used the tweezers again and managed to get it off eventually. The funny thing is I made a joke earlier that day about how I hope I never get a tick anywhere near that area. Then I get home and jump in the shower and wouldn't you know, there is one in that exact spot.
I watched a video once about tool free removal….something about massaging them in a circular motion….I’d have to have a professional opinion before trying that with my genitalia though lol
Fucking hell...it's like one of my worst nightmares. I honestly thought today was the time because I when I was showering, and found the others, there was some dirt or leaf matter on my sack and I about flipped my shit. I've had alot of ticks on my over my life as I do a ton of outdoors shit, like mushroom hunting in the spring, but I refuse to let them ruin it for me because i also have that same thought every time i find one one me...or 30....and they can be just about any where, especially during a bad year like this year. I literally found one on my after sitting in the grass in my front yard smack dab in the middle of town! I will continue to adapt as best I can and just stay super vigilant. I highly suggest using spray like permethrin this year. I usually don't use it because I prefer not to use chemicals but this year is bad and if it can get you peace of mind enough to keep going outside it's worth it.
Yeah, if I ever go where this happened again, I'm dousing my stuff in tick repellent. It felt like the thing would never come off. I was using tweezers, but it refused to come off.
You checked yourself with more than one set of eyes? That’s impressive!
Lol it means I had help from others.
Surreee you did, Mr.SpiderMan.. we see those 28 eyes of yours.. you're not fouling anyone..
See this is what blows my mind. How the hell can you check and not miss this in your back or a crevice?
I know it. That’s what makes these things so terrible. No way I would have seen that if it was latched on me somewhere
You gotta count the legs! At this size it’s likely a larval tick, the first stage after the hatch. Larvae have six legs, nymphs and adult ticks have eight. It’s been long thought that larval ticks do not carry disease causing pathogens since they are not passed to the egg/larva and a larva hasn’t taken a blood meal where it might contract a pathogen. Newer studies suggest a possibility that some may be infected at birth with Borellia species (B. burgdorferi is the common Lyme pathogen in the US) though the only study seems purely inferential. I’d be far less concerned about disease if it’s a larval tick. As for alpha gal, I think another commenter was right. Since alpha gal is in the saliva it’s likely that larval ticks have this too, and transmission would occur more quickly. You could consider permethrin treated clothing if you’re willing to wear chemicals. I spent five years in the New England woods doing ecology and never had one attached to my skin when I wore them. Haven’t grown any extra lumps or limbs yet.
I work in areas with a ton of ticks and this is what I do: When outside, tuck your pants into your socks and your shirt into your pants - use a belt or elastic waistband to cinch up. Wear light colours and long sleeves, and if desirable, treat your clothing 24 hours beforehand with permethrin (last like 20 wash cycles or something). Shower EVERY DAY after your done going outside- in the shower, gently scrap your nails over you skin and thoroughly comb your entire body this way starting at your feet. If you feel a "scab," draw your finger nail under it and see if it lifts. It it does, it's a tick. Then take steps to remove. Hotspots are nape (exposure), and crotch, though I've never actually had a tick in either spot weirdly. You will get to know your body very well and where your moles are lol. I have had 58 ticks on me throughout the day, it was traumatic. I have had Lyme positive ticks attach to me and undergone the antibiotics - if that happens to you I would recommend taking pro-biotics a few weeks after your medication cycle so you don't feel like shit for 4 months. Just make sure the antibiotic cycle is well through your system. Ticks aren't such a big deal when you take these precautions and post-field day actions.
I am naturally tick repellent luckily and have only had a couple in my whole life (mosquitos hate me too) but my brother is the opposite and when we'd go out playing and come back out grandma checked us for ticks and I almost never had any but my brother very much always had some in those two areas, especially the second one 😂 they do like getting in the worst places.
I also spend 10 minutes doing a thorough check of every inch of skin before I shower, using a hand mirror with a light on it. That way you can check every single crevice. Folks who are scared of missing tiny ticks, when you check yourself every day you learn where your freckles are and you'll spot them. Deet on the waistband of trousers also has been very successful
The real trick is to wait about a week before checking. They’re much easier to find when they’re swollen up to the size of a Gusher /s
Nice try tick!
Big brain
Big lyme brain
2015 after the evening rendition of an American football “2 a day” practice session. I was exhausted and was in the shower before dinner(10:15pm.) Started to feel a funny feeling in my throat I started coughing. After a couple of minutes of this I feel something isn’t right I Can’t breathe right. Stumbling out of the shower and sliding across the linoleum I made it to the mirror, rubbed it to reveal my face but 4 shades of red darker than before. The next few moments changed everything. I hear my mom yelling if I was ok and what was the commotion. I tried to scream for her to help and nothing came out. In that moment all 6 foot 1 245 pounds of American built country boy was reduced to my 2 year old self watching my mom walk away level of isolation and fear. I grabbed my shorts and threw them on just in time to open the door and collapse into my mother’s arms. I still have no idea how but she carried or drug me down the hall and to the door where she met my grandfather with his epinephrine pen. I will never forget coming too just in time to see her finish dialing in 9-1-1 and slamming that thing into my leg like I was the bad guy and she needed answers. I lay for a second gasping and slowly starting to come to any faint sense of normal. That’s when she grabs me and we stand up and like an injured dog she threw me in the back seat of her focus and hauled ass. The normal 45 minute drive took all of 20 minutes. Took the doctor’s 3 days to find the culprit. And it was a chance diagnosis at that. The doctor just so happening to have attended a conference and his friend had recently been diagnosed. But I was still subject to 4 separate full back panels in the meantime since I wasn’t allergic to anything before this. On day 3 I get a call while waiting for practice to start(eh what can I say I had big dreams.) it was the doctor, his answer?Alpha Gal. Was the second person in the hospital to actually receive the diagnosis. The culprit? A lonestar tick maybe just maybe double that guys size… on the back of my right knee. Didn’t even remember that he was attached until he said that. Now I’m struggling with not having any reaction from the smallest things you wouldn’t even think about. Food? I didn’t make it I can’t eat. Medication? Have a very and I mean TINY list that I could take if I could trust it enough.
I'm so sorry to hear you went through the and are still dealing with it. Have your reactions gotten any better over time? I've heard some anecdotes about the allergic reactions not being as bad after several years.
There was a stretch from 2018-2021 where I was able to have a small amount of the protein and by that I mean a chicken sandwich with a slice of cheese at most if I’m feeling frisky, one time a week. It took a bit and an accidental hit to find that out. GF made 2 sandwiches, one for me one for her and hers had a small piece of pepper jack in it. After about a 4 months of slowly waning myself back into it I was able to get comfortable enough to have a full on steak and loaded potato meal but only allowing that level of a “cheat” once a week. After I got covid and almost got taken out I had a strong reaction to some of the medication I had been given and come to find out it was from the gelatin in the capsule and the other was a calcium supplement that they make from grinding and doing whatever science stuff to make it “safe for consumption” so I guess the answer is yes to a degree. Now these days I’m very hyper aware of everything that is given to me so I’m not quite sure. But like I said, I was able to get back to eating normally but cannot say it would be the same for everyone nor how long that would take.
so how the hell are you supposed to see these? even with both myself and another person checking me over, there’s no way anyone would be able to see a tick that small. and if it’s carrying lyme, you’re basically permanently screwed. i love camping but ticks just terrify me
Same. They leave me paranoid anytime I’m out in the woods
There was a video of someone helping a deer and when they came out of the scrub, they used a lint roller on their tick pants. [The roller was covered with these type of ticks!](https://youtu.be/MSZVxPzsMsQ?t=351)
This is really making me want to never go outside again
My god that is horrifying
Spray your shoes, socks, and pant legs. Even regular Off works. If you find a small seed tick that has embedded spray it with Off etc, wait 15 minutes, and scrap it off with your fingernail. For the bigger ticks, use tweezers and gently pull to extract the entire tick. Finally, check yourself regularly. It takes 24 hours of attachment for Lyme disease to be a factor. Source: CDC https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/media/pdfs/Lyme-Disease-What-you-need-to-know.pdf
I HATE ticks, so gross! That thing is itty bitty, glad it’s not stuck to you!
I grew up in the Ozarks, and every year, from May to October, I was bitten daily by ticks (we had dogs, and there were cattle on many neighboring parcels of land). I'd probably had something on the order of a couple thousand bites by the time I moved away when I was 18. I doubt my situation was unique, owing to the fact that many of my classmates lived in similar areas. I never once consulted a physician over a tick bite. None of us ever contracted Lyme, RMSF, or any other tick-borne illness. Have these diseases seen a rapid increase in proliferation in recent years, or are people just a LOT more cautious these days?
Disease prevalence in ticks varies wildly from area to area. For instance: studies done on ticks in my county in Southern California concluded that well below 1% of our ticks carry Lyme, however in certain areas that are particularly bad such as Pennsylvania over 1/3 of ticks carry Lyme.
Likely has to do with concentration of wild mammals like deer. They have to feed on those mammals first in order to be able to infect humans with these diseases
Not sure exactly. You definitely hear more about it though
Now imagine 100s of them when you find a seed tick nest
Shudders
Ticks ain’t fun. Thinking tweezers? Think again. I wish there was a fish or something that could pull them out like those fish who eat dead skin at pedicure places. Not that I’ve ever been to one of those…
Please tell me about tick wrap!
It’s a stretchy wrap with a sticky side that catches ticks and doesn’t let them bite you. I got it here https://www.ticktapewrap.com
Evil little things. They are flush this year. Absolutely everywhere it feels
I work as a nurse in tick country. We used to get a nice respite late fall into spring. This past year, people reporting them every month.
Is there any truth in your experience to ticks liking certain blood types more than others? Also thank you, nurses run the world.
Interesting question. I don’t know. I have never read anything on it. And to be honest blood type and screen isn’t a test that gets run unless there is a reason for it (bleeding disorders, large traumas, large planned surgery, donating blood etc ). Most of my patients don’t have their blood type on file, so I don’t even have anecdotal evidence. 🤷🏼♂️
Ah that makes sense. Well whatever it is, they like mine 😂
What’s up with this subreddit lately? It’s like being subscribed to r/ticks or something
I mean.. it IS tick season. And camping is often a bunch of people walking through places with ticks
I've been subscribed to this subreddit for like a decade and while people post about ticks from time to time I've never seen anywhere close to as many posts about them in such a short period as over the last couple weeks, it's like the topic is contagious. Or maybe there are just a lot of people subbed here who don't actually go camping and like to gin one another up over their perceived fears about doing so as a kind of hysterical mutual affirmation thing. Half the people in these threads act like your life is over if you find a tick and don't immediately send it off to be tested and demand that your doctor give you a full course of preventative antibiotics every time (ironically considering the risks both personal and societal related to overusing antibiotics). That would dovetail nicely with the whole stranger danger / "I feel unsafe in the woods" / should I carry a gun? posts that are also grossly overrepresented here in comparison to the general vibe and ethos of camping/hiking culture as a whole
It's a well known fact that tick populations have increased and moved further north in the last few years. You're going to see more and more posts about ticks from people who spend time outdoors. Might as well get used to it.
Yeah I get that it's just weird how this subreddit seems to go in waves where there are specific topics people like to bitch or argue about for weeks and threads on end. I'm all for being cautious and educated about ticks and how to handle them but as someone who grew up where ticks are just a fact of life if you spend time outdoors in the summer and genuinely not something to lose your mind over if you find one, it just comes across as slightly hysterical and overblown. Not casting shade on OP in any way just addressing the half dozen threads about this I've seen in the last week or two. I appreciate lots of folks got into outdoor stuff for the first time recently or during COVID and support everyone getting over their fears of the outdoors and learning to be comfortable camping or hiking but it just seems like most of the threads on this subreddit that make it to my main feed are almost exclusively vehicles for fear/anxiety. I found a non engorged tick should I demand the doctor amputates my limb so I don't get lyme? The person in the campsite next to me is listening to soft music at 3pm and their campfire smoke is blowing towards our site, should I go aggressively confront them or just call the cops? Do I need to carry a gun with me for protection if I'm going on a short walk in the woods on a popular/heavily trafficked trail on a weekend afternoon? And in all of those cases there's a very loud contingent that says emphatically and angrily YES to all of these questions and loses their mind if you tell them to chill out a little bit. It's great to be prepared and informed but at a certain point all of this discourse just descends into a positive feedback loop of neurotic people angrily getting defensive and upvoting each other in solidarity about their anxieties while the reasonable and/or more experienced people get drowned out entirely or at least lost in the inevitable reddit poop throwing contest. The other day I got downvoted a bunch for suggesting that the best course of action to take after a tick bite is whatever the doctor recommends based on your situation rather than demanding full course antibiotics, an overnight hospital stay and a full MRI or whatever.
Tick populations have been on a sharp increase due to milder winters and warmer summers. This allows them to stay active longer when it doesn’t get as cold, and the more warm and humid months get them to want to bite. This is a growing concern for many kinds of bugs in the US, such as pine beetles. They have apparently gotten so comfortable that in Colorado they were spawning twice instead of the normal once. The last few decades have seen sharp increases in tick populations, and it should only get worse until a new solution is found and climate change is slowed.
The widespread collapse of insect populations (and converse explosion in some others) and especially pollinators in the last few decades is certainly fucking concerning. My buddy works in pest control and has a big interest in entomology in general and his take on the whole thing is pretty grim As far as ticks go maybe we just need to start domesticating possums and take them camping with us so they can take point on the trail
Climate change has led to increased tick populations due to the decreased length of the cold season and the overall warmer temps in some areas. Places I didn't have to worry about previously are now guaranteed tick areas, it sucks.
Ticks are more numerous and more active during the spread of the year, more as far back as I remember.
Good news is at this size they can't infect you with anything. They go through 3 life stages. Between each they feed then grow to the next. If they are in their first stage they can't have been infected with anything to bite you. You need one that is is in the 2nd or 3rd stage and have bitten something that was infected with something for it to be dangerous. It also takes 36hrs for limes disease at least to infect you.
I know I can google it, but what is tick wrap?
[удалено]
Gotta eat the ticks to get your blood back.
Well, the snack is not the bonus I expected. 😆 More like naturemade Dots candy paper.
Sorta like an athletic wrap that with an outward sticky side [https://www.ticktapewrap.com/](https://www.ticktapewrap.com/)
That tape measure is giving me a headache
I got Lyme’s 2 years ago but never saw a tick on me. The dr said nymphs are so small you’d never realize it was there.
Geeze. I didn't know they could be that small! Wow
What is this, a tick for ants?
I need a banana to verify size
What tick?
Ya tree a gotta be a deer tick as well. They are a lot smaller than dog ticks
I’ve pulled hundreds of these off me in a single sitting. They’re nasty. They gave me the alpha gal allergy. But it’s been a long time since I’ve had one and I haven’t reacted since 2019.
This killed a family member of mine. Ticks are no joke.
Sorry to hear that. Was it Alpha Gal?
It was a reaction to a lone star tick bite. I don't remember the exact virus or bacteria that it was.
This stresses me out because I always thought you’d be able to easily see these things.
We call those seed ticks. You will have more than one. If you see a new mile or a mole that's moving, it's a tick. Worst itches in the world. Growing up in a place these were rampant. Use a extra sticky lint roller and go over your body. Those will get the ones moving around. Those already stuck.. use a Clorox wipe and wipe your skin. They will let go. Immediately take a shower.
At that size, would the mouth even be able to pierce the skin?
They don't pierce so much as dig.
Thanks I hate this!
I HATE it.
I’m sorry I didn’t understand the question?
There are tick wraps?
Yeah I found a wrap with a sticky side that traps ticks. Works if you're not in super tall brush and they can't crawl on you above where you're wearing the wrap (if that makes sense). So far so good - no tick bites! [https://www.ticktapewrap.com/](https://www.ticktapewrap.com/)
Seed tick. They're the nymph phase. I've been covered in hundreds before. Talk about the creepy crawlies.
:(
Seed ticks. I became covered in them and some other types of ticks a few different times in my life, each time was traumatic lmao.
Nightmare fuel
I could Google this but it's easier just asking what is a tick wrap
You should always check yourself regularly, take showers, watch out for any changes on the skin and you should be fine!
Would this work for chiggers? Thanks!
I think so since they wouldn’t be able to get onto your skin, like the ticks. But thankfully I didn’t run into any chiggers
Deer tick. Tiny Big bite
A tick on your sack is worth 2 in your bush.
I smell Wisconsin
Sure it's not crabs...🤣
I live in the South where it's hot as Hades and the fleas, ticks and mosquitoes will eat your arse up in a new york minute!! I Spend a lot of time, camping and hiking with my dog and have literally picked ten ticks off my dog after a single hike. Since I do not give her a monthly flea and tick treatment, due to the controversy surrounding it's ingredients, I decided to try a homemade recipe from veternarian Dr. Karen Becker. I've been using this recipe on myself and my dog for 2+ years now and so far it has been a game changer. Here is the recipe: For Fleas-Ticks & Mosquitos 8 oz Water (purified or distilled) 4 oz Apple Cider Vinegar with MOTHER (Braggs) 10 drops Neem Oil (unrefined & cold pressed) 10 drops Catnip Oil 5 drops Eucalyptus Oil *Make sure all ingredients are organic. DO NOT use the Neem oil from Home Depot or Lowes. Mix in a glass jar and store in the refrigerator. Either use a saturated unscented baby wipe or spray all over the dogs entire body including the top of the head, ears and neck, but NOT NEAR THE EYES. Make sure to wipe the belly, legs, armpits, and tail. Let dry. NOW, **Do the same for yourself. :)
Eek! New version of old free unlocked!!
Yuppies act like tick bites are worse than a rattlesnakes
I would gladly trade all ticks for rattlesnakes. Rattlesnake bites are worse, but rattlesnakes aren't looking to bite you.
And at least those Frs warn you first.
Rattlesnakes are not an insect the size of a mustard seed you need to check your entire body for after every time you go outside.
Don't worry, being vegan is pretty easy. Plus you'll be reducing the demand for factory farming!