ticks
 

Okay, to make this travel related - as you are outside this spring and summer, make sure to do a good check when you come in to make sure you don't have some little guys along for a ride.

The ticks in my neck of the woods are tiny, tiny, tiny this year. You absolutely can not see them until they are full of blood.

My dermatologist said that he has seen several people coming in for him to check on "changing moles" and they were ticks instead.

I went in yesterday to have a cyst checked and asked him to look at an itchy spot on my lower back. I assumed I had a patch from poisin ivy and have gone through a tube of hydrocortisone cream. Evidently, I had scratched off part of the tiny guy and left the sucking part still in me.

The doc cut out the area, sent off some of it to the lab (to check exactly what, I'm not sure) and sewed me back up with stitches.

Be careful out there. I've never had problems with ticks before - while poison ivy will jump out from the next county to grab me! Be sure to get your pets on Frontline.

I don't know if it's all the rain we've been having recently, but the ticks are especially bad this year. Take precautions.

PS - I caught my little guy via the pine straw I was putting out in the yard.

Where do you live?

So far this has been the worst tick season I can remember. I am a native of Virginia and we rarely found ticks on horses or ponys during the summer. Dogs yes but none on the horses. The last few years the horses have been infested and this season I have pulled quite a few off myself.

Increasing deer populations in areas of rural spawl seem to be the reason

I'm in Georgia.
These ticks are different from any I've seen in the past. Much smaller - and far more plentiful than before.

greenfieldhunter, we have lots of whitetail around, so maybe that is a contributing factor. Didn't think about that.

It is doubtful that deer have anything to do with the tick population. Ticks may have population cycles all on their own like rabbits or grouse. Even at that, the far majority of ticks that humans see are wood ticks. It is true that there seem to be a bunch around this spring on a national level.

There is a separate critter called a deer tick (the one that can carry Lyme disease) and it is much smaller. You won't know that you have had one unless you get Lyme disease.

Tick population also has to do with weather influence and your terrain. Contrary to their name, wood ticks almost always hang out in grasses and weeds. They find you or your animals when you brush up against these grasses. They do not leap on you from overhanging branches or nearby trees.

If you wish to try a chemical approach to tick avoidance, use an insect repellent with permanone in it.

OK that may be more than anyone wants to know....but there you have it.>:D<

Deer ticks like wood ticks prefer a breathing warm mammal. When I was a child growing up on a farm in Virginia bored farm kids would pull ticks off the dogs for recreation- we never saw any deer ticks on the dogs-never. We also never saw any deer as the population had yet to make a comeback. Deer were so rare our parents would stop the car when one was spotted so we kids could see them.
Now the whitetailed deer are like rats. Thousands and thousands are running around this formerly rural countryside. Now we have deer ticks everywhere too. On the dogs on the horses and on us. The teeny weeny to small to see unless you look carefully with red spots on back ticks.(in addition to the wood ticks which were always common in our area.

I have absolutly no science to back up what many country people now believe- increased deer population have led to increased deer tick problems.

i should mention that Lymes disease has struck all of our family dogs. It is so common that when we see a lame/limping dog it is the first thing we treat for.

I'm learning a lot. I grew up walking in the woods after school almost every day, and pulled many a tick off the dogs - and an occasional one off me.

I've never seen these teeny, tiny ones before. It's interesting to know they are deer ticks.

I did gather the straw from an area frequented by deer. That theory makes sense.

It sounds like your doctor is testing the specimen for Lyme disease.

When my kids were young they would "assume the position" for a deer tick check. Inside their ears and under their arms would be the general area of discovery. They were very fortunate not to ever get sick. I, however, was not as fortunate -- a nasty disease.

Yes, those deer ticks can be nasty! DH found one on him while camping in GA years ago. Then DD had one on her in CT. They are so small they are easily missed. Thanks for the reminder to be vigilant in checking.

We moved to VA 7 years ago and one month after we moved in, my daughter developed the bulls eye rash on her leg. It dissappeared in 24 hours. I never saw the tick. Luckily I had taken her to the doctor and she was treated for Lyme Disease right away. She is fine and has had no after effects. I am always glad for the heads up on the ticks out there. Ihaven't been paying attention.

geez, starrsville, make me paranoid will ya?

I had a bout of poison something just a few weeks ago. Don't have anything that looks like ticks yet...but I will tell you this with no lie...

We live at the foot of the Cohutta Wildlife Management Area and the bear are already opening our well house door in search of food.

Now, I gotta watch for bears and ticks! Glad I'm headed to Hawaii!

I have a place in the other corner of the state and the food supply was so low last year that momma bears and their cubs were walking down the lane in the middle of the day. We've had them climb decks for birdseed, etc. before, but never just stroll around into yards mid-day. I hope it's a good year for berries this year! :-)

Aloha - have a great trip!

You know what starrsville? These sound like "tall tales", but they are so real.

I think I'll just move to town!!

Okay, I almost wrote about the other creature but I knew it would sound like a..."tall tale" is a good way to put it...but it's true.

When I moved in, a neighbor brought me a plastic container of corn for the "wild" turkey. A turkey had taken up a curve in the road as his territory to patrol - and patrol it he did. The neighbors fed him corn (why I don't know) and thought it was cool to have a "pet" wild turkey.

One neighbor was out for a morning run and unfortunately chose to run the turkey's curve. The turkey went into attack mode and jumped up and spurred the guy's leg. It was a jagged, ugly wound.

The turkey would also chase cars on the road - kind of like a barking dog.

The turkey just disappeared one day. Suspiciously, his disapperance was near Thanksgiving.

We've had more wild turkeys in the area since then, but I don't think anyone is feeding them anymore!

I, ten years ago, had a terrible problem and one of the first things my doctor had me checked for was lyme disease. The small town we lived in had had a lot of deer come down from the hills north of us searching for water (we were going through a bit of a drought). We had open space behind our house and my husband had found a lot of deer droppings. Fortunatly I did not have lyme disease but my doctor who was quite an outdoorsman and an adventure type of traveler thought it was a good possibility before he had the test done.

Up till then I thought one could only have the problem if they hiked in the wilderness etc., but guess not.

My dog was checked for lyme disease a couple of years ago :( He is ok though.
There is nothing so disgusting as trying to pull a swollen tick off of a dog and have it pop while you are doing it ~gag~

Ugh...I'm getting paranoid too! Now that the unpacking is about finished I was looking forward to hiking in the Hill Country, worried only about snakes. Ticks?

Now I'm worried not just about hiking, but about our backyard too, where I see deer almost daily. OK...those in the know...can you see deer tick on you? How small is "small"? How big is the bulls eye rash? Can anyone recommend a good repellent? Aside from long sleeves and pants, any other precautions?

Geez Louise, scorpions inside, Lyme disease out. :(

OO--You sound like me when we moved to GA with all the creepy critters, lol! Yes, the deer ticks are tiny, you can see them but you have to really look hard. They are about the size of a pin head. We use DEET while hiking and do thorough checks afterward. Our DD got the tick in our backyard, but that was in CT right where Lyme disease was found. I do not know about the size of the rash.

OO

Take a look at my posting on this thread yesterday about 5:20PM but to answer your specific question:

If you wish to try a chemical approach to tick avoidance, use an insect repellent with permanone in it. DEET is not as effective.

MMS is correct on the size. Don't worry too much, deer ticks are not real numerous and are usually associated with specific regions. WI was the originator of Lyme disease and I believe still leads the nation.

I do lots of outdoor activities in WI on some recreational property that the family has including handling and being in close proximity to Whitetails very often. I nor my relatives have never seen a deer tick or had Lyme disease.

In the rare event that you do get it, it is easily diagnosed and treated as long as you don't ignore it.