OO: Yes deer ticks are the size of a pin-head. Not everyone gets the bulls eye rash or is it always detectable. But if you google Lyme disease you will see pictures of the typical rash.

When hiking you should wear long, lightweight pants that are TUCKED into your socks (white or light colored). After hiking, remove your clothes prior to entering your home's main living area as an additional safety precaution.

We have deer in our yard on a daily basis and I have seen my share of ticks. Just do a tick search after spending time outdoors.

Ya know if it ain't west nile it's deer ticks and Lyme - it's amazing we ever leave our homes, lol!

My father is an avid hunter and fisherman. He is always outiside and checking out deer and running around his property. He has pulled ticks off himself many times.

I guess he was having problems and had the tell tale bulls eye rash. Unfortunately at the time, he did not know what it was and I belive that he also was misdiagnosed. He was having problems with his elbow, and pain, and then actual weakness.

He was trying to pick up a full gallon of milk and actually dropped it. It kind of scared me and he went to the doc. They thought it was tendenitis or something.

Well, to make a long story short he read about it and ended up diagnosing himself. He had Lyme Disease. He had bouts with weakness and other symptoms for years afterward. It is important to pass on the info and know immdiately that you could have Lyme disease and have it checked out.

Thanks for starting this thread starrsville.

What do the fashionistas wear in the great outdoors??? Long pants, tucked into some nice white socks. Ribbed or no? That's a vision. :D Thanks you all, I will educate myself. I didn't realize Lyme disease was curable. How I would ever differentiate a tick from one of the many freckles though is beyond me, I'm afraid. I'm not really paranoid about it (I am about scorpions though), but will be "aware". I can just see my husband's big smile when I start taking my clothes off in the garage the first time!! LOL

"I can just see my husband's big smile when I start taking my clothes off in the garage the first time!!"

LOL...Hey, OO, don't knock it until you've tried it!!! ;)

seetheworld :D
>:-)with a ((x)) on, (or off as the case may be).

Wow! I just learned a lot from this website -
http://www.oes.org/html/how_2_identi...ent_ticks.html

I found a tick with a white dot on the back so I googled and learned it's a "Lone Star tick".

This link also have great (albeit gross) pictures comparing dog ticks and deer ticks. So, the teeny tiny one that got me was an adolescent deer tick!

The CDC map showing Lyme disease risk was a big surprise. Be careful up there in the NE. The risk is low in the SE, but evidently high in my neck of the woods. I've got too many and various kinds of ticks crawling around there.

I don't like chemicals all that much, but time to bomb the house.

Thanks for that link Starrsville--it's probably best viewed on an empty stomach! LOL I know I wouldn't be able to see one of the little ones on me.

We evidently live in an area of either "low risk" or "minimal or no" risk. I haven't been here long enough to know precisely where SA is on a state map where no cities have been filled in. Both risk areas are right around here so I'm assuming there is practically no danger for us and won't worry about this.

Here's a little bouquet from the rest of us here! :) @};- @};- @};- @};- @};-

Ooooh! Looked at that website with the tick pictures. We picked up a lot of ticks on a walk in a field in southern Illinois a year ago. We missed one in my daughters head. It looked like that engorged dog tick when she finally felt it on her head. Thanks for the memories....

Good lab report today - no Lymes disease. Stitches come out next week.

Be careful out there!

Does anyone know how to avoid chiggers? Does permanone work for them? My 8 year old got into chiggers last summer and the bites lasted for weeks and weeks. Horrible itching and ugly bites. (OO - the chiggers were south of San Antonio. I don't know about north of town.)

My dad used to chug a shot of vinegar before he headed out into the blackberry bushes (great habitat for chiggers). It made his sweat less tasty for the little guys!

I doubt you could get an 8 year old to try that remedy. Supposedly, one of the B vitamins does the same thing.

We'd just paint ourselves with fingernail polish to cover the spots and kill the little guys. We looked like polka-dotted kids most of the summer.

sundowner, I got them years ago hiking at Lake Texoma. Miserable critters! AND, I had about decided this morning that that's what I have now too. It itches as badly as poison ivy. I've been out weeding beds of Lantana and think that must be the result. Big ugly, intensely itchy welts. So much for my weeding!! Aargh. They are making me crazy!

I googled for info and the recommendation was a repellent with DEET. Also, the article recommended nail polish - not to kill the chiggers but to cut off air supply to the inflamed portion of the follicle which will relieve the itching.

Well mine are now Estee Lauder's Berry Fizz. I'd heard nail polish was an old wives tale but I'm desperate. It did feel nice going on, actually, as it was cool, thus soothing. It's only been on long enough to dry so the jury is still out on the itching.

I'd googled also and one website talked about putting down 6" squares of black cardboard in the area you think they are living, waiting for a bit then seeing if anything is crawling on it. The hardest part was finding black cardboard. A pair of shoes sacrificed their shoe box for the cause. We'll see.

Here's one of the links, OO -
http://science.howstuffworks.com/question488.htm

Hope it's okay to insert part of the article since I included the link -

One commonly known remedy for chigger bites is to apply nail polish to reduce itchiness. This does not kill the chigger or treat the bite in any way. It simply seals the area off from the air, which keeps the sore from itching so badly.

I bet you look great with Berry Fizz polka-dots! :-)

9 year old girl just died in NW GA from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. 6 others may be infected.

Be careful out there. Wear repellent with DEET. Put pets on Frontline. Do tick checks when you come in from outside.

Wow.
That is one of the best tick pages I've ever seen!
( http://www.oes.org/html/how_2_identi...ent_ticks.html )

Thank you starrsville!!!

I registered just to say thank you for finding and posting that site. It was only a dog tick on my leg. Pheww!

Wow, back at you. Thanks for registering just to say thanks.

The scar on my back isn't so pretty, but I was very glad to learn I didn't catch anything from the little guy.

We all need to take these things seriously. My favorite country spot (gas, horse tack, hay, etc) hasn't had brunswick stew in ages. The guy that helps the owner make it is in the hospital. He was bit by a brown recluse spider - didn't take the bite seriously - infection - now hospitalized and a chance of losing his leg. They are awfully small critters, but can cause big problems. The dermatologist who took out my stitches brushed a brown recluse off her arm while in her garage.

I feel a bit like Hawaii Five 0 - be careful out there!

You're Welcome!

(I love conversations that span months! :D )

One of the things we appreciated most when we moved from Pennsylvanai to the Pacific NW was the rapid drop off in the number of fleas and ticks. Actually, the tick "attacks" on our pets dropped like a rock down to zero. We never found a single tick on our dog or rabbit and the number of flea bites went WAY down.