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Old 04-24-2018, 02:14 AM   #1
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Name: Vivienne
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TICKS!

All is happiness and joy of being a new owner just now got frightening.

I have not had a tick on me in some 40 years. Now being out in nature with the dogs walking on Huckleberry Trail over here in Blacksburg, Va there is a stinkin tick crawling. Where was I when I found it on my neck? Yeah, listening to my Daughter in law playing the piano over here at Virginia Tech. Did I scream, no, but my heart rate went up significantly.

Where did I pick that up, or was it one of the dogs.

NOW WHAT? Are there anymore crawling around in my camper, should I get it fumigated, the dogs just got their doses of flea and tick meds 2 days ago.

I am wide awake at 4:00 a.m. can't go back to sleep.

what does everyone else do.

PLEASE do not tell me the horror stories as I am already freaked out and more bad news will make me go nuts, probably drive DH really nuts.

Shall I have a fumigator spray this camper?
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Old 04-24-2018, 04:32 AM   #2
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We encounter ticks at least once a year, usually on the dog. I have a spoon like device with a groove in it for removal. It gets the whole tick most of the time. My wife picked up a deer tick last fall. We went to the doctor because of the possibility of Lyme disease. He wrote a prescription, one pill, done. Ticks are gross and disgusting and hard to avoid especially if have a pet. If you get the whole tick, you will heal quickly. If not, it will take longer. Keep an eye on it. Not much else you can do.
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Old 04-24-2018, 05:20 AM   #3
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Ticks need a host, so no need to worry about the camper.
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Old 04-24-2018, 06:51 AM   #4
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Both myself and my wife have had our share of problems caused by ticks, some quite serious. They crawl up on blades of grass or twigs of bushes and extend their hooked front legs, waiting for you to brush by, be picked up and start their next stage in life. There may be some in your trailer if the pets shook them off, but fumigating it sounds to me like exposing yourself to some nasty chemicals, even if in small doses. Those ticks will die soon anyway because the trailer inside is dry.

When going outside in spring, bug spray on your clothing, especially the pants, will make a big difference.
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Old 04-24-2018, 07:02 AM   #5
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This wasn’t asked but we found that putting hydrogen peroxide on a tick will make it back right out.
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Old 04-24-2018, 07:06 AM   #6
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One of my super-powers is ignoring things. And a PhD (self awarded) in rationalization. When it’s (tick) right there in front of me, I dig out the tick tool, otherwise, there are parts of me I haven’t seen in years.

Reasonable precautions, long pants, hats, bug spray, inspection of what I can see seems to go a long way.

There are so many things you’re not worrying about I wonder why you picked this one.
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Old 04-24-2018, 07:10 AM   #7
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I very much doubt there are any more ticks in your camper; ticks don't operate that way. They wait on vegetation for something to come by and latch on. You already had it on you before you got in the camper.
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Old 04-24-2018, 07:10 AM   #8
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I was digging my trailer out of the snow yesterday . When I came in the house to have some coffee , I found 2 ticks on me . Picked them off , told the wife that the ticks were out and went back to work. Living in Michigan and never having a tick , you must be the luckiest person on the face of the earth.
I wear long pants , socks , and shoes in the summmer and it’s not a fashion statement !
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Old 04-24-2018, 08:09 AM   #9
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This is fact......if you drink rum, and a tick sucks a little blood outta ya, they get stupid really fast and start looking for dates....kinda like when we're drunk at a bar.....thing is they don't see well and like the plump ones ...thinking they'll share the blood ...get mixed up and try picking up a spider...insulted spider eats tick.....fact
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Old 04-24-2018, 08:25 AM   #10
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And we seem to have had a new tick species land on our shores.
A swarming, exotic tick species is now living year round in N.J. | NJ.com
Does not need a male to spread, females are self fertile.
So far it's in New Jersey, give it time and it will be everywhere I imagine.
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Old 04-24-2018, 11:51 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenton View Post
And we seem to have had a new tick species land on our shores.
A swarming, exotic tick species is now living year round in N.J. | NJ.com
Does not need a male to spread, females are self fertile.
So far it's in New Jersey, give it time and it will be everywhere I imagine.
And she asked that no one make it worse by telling horror stories, and still you went there.
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Old 04-24-2018, 01:25 PM   #12
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I like Brad Paisley's idea:
"
I'd like to check you for ticks."
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Old 04-24-2018, 01:56 PM   #13
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We found our first tick of the season on one of the dogs today. Very thick in our area. You learn to do tick checks everyday. Have your spouse check areas you can't see, and vice versa. No reason to get excited. Just be vigilant in checking for them throughtout the seaon.
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Old 04-24-2018, 04:00 PM   #14
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Vivienne, my wife is almost as freaked out by ticks as you are.... almost.

Last year we were driving on an outing from our campsite, and she says she thinks she has a tick on her head (and she has a thick head of red hair). I was like, "yeah, yeah" but obliged and looked, and low and behold I found that it was in fact a tick bothering here. I plucked it off, but for days she was always freaking out, thinking she had another one and having me check. There never was another, even our dog did not have any.
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Old 04-24-2018, 04:45 PM   #15
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I get freaked out by ticks, too. Even though I grew up in eastern Nebraska and we camp all over Colorado, I had never had one on me or my kids. A couple of summers ago, my son picked one up in Western Nebraska, and I was freaking out for WEEKS. Even though it hadn't yet burrowed in....blech. Insect born diseases are no joke.

Honestly, I say if it makes you feel better to bomb or spray for ticks, do it. I'm a pretty organic, natural food and cleaners type of person, but ticks, head lice and mosquitos get full strength pesticides.
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Old 04-24-2018, 05:27 PM   #16
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Five reasons to not totally panic about ticks and Lyme disease

"The odds of getting Lyme disease from an individual deer tick bite are pretty low: Even in tick-ridden areas, less than 5 percent of bites result in an infection. But those that do are easy to deal with, Sood says. “Lyme disease is completely treatable."

more info here

And here

And here

Still it kinda sucks to live in states with high numbers of these critters. I use DEET often.
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Old 04-24-2018, 05:39 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John Linck View Post
"The odds of getting Lyme disease from an individual deer tick bite are pretty low: Even in tick-ridden areas, less than 5 percent of bites result in an infection. But those that do are easy to deal with, Sood says. “Lyme disease is completely treatable."

more info here

And here

And here

Still it kinda sucks to live in states with high numbers of these critters. I use DEET often.

Several members of my family have contracted Lymes disease and my son has contracted it twice .
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Old 04-24-2018, 06:22 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John Linck View Post
"The odds of getting Lyme disease from an individual deer tick bite are pretty low: Even in tick-ridden areas, less than 5 percent of bites result in an infection. But those that do are easy to deal with, Sood says. “Lyme disease is completely treatable."

more info here

And here

And here

Still it kinda sucks to live in states with high numbers of these critters. I use DEET often.
And its also easy to have the disease misdiagnosed and not treated properly. The first link included this quote:
Fact: When treated with antibiotics in the early stages of the disease, Lyme disappears in almost all people.

and adds:
“When you are first infected, your body hasn’t had time to make those antibodies, and you can test negative in the early stages of the disease.”
The key is "in the early stages." There are endless cases of misdiagnosis, largely because there is no reliable test for the disease. And Lyme is only one of a number of similar tick borne diseases. If not treated early with antibiotics it can become a life-crippling chronic condition. I have some first hand knowledge of such a case and it is not a good life.

Knowledge is the key. A few points:
  • If a tick is only attached for a few hours, then disease transmission is unlikely. Check each other often when you might be exposed to ticks.
  • Deet and Permethrin are generally effective.
  • Dry heat is one of the best ways to kill ticks. Put clothing and bedding that might harbor ticks into a clothes dryer on high for 45 - 60 minutes.
  • If I had the symptoms of a tick borne disease then I would insist on an aggressive regiment of antibiotics. Many doctors will resist this because of the legitimate concern about the overuse of antibiotics but the risk of cronic Lyme overrules that in my opinion.
  • Lastly, become educated from reliable sources such as https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/index.html
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Old 04-25-2018, 07:51 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John Linck View Post
"The odds of getting Lyme disease from an individual deer tick bite are pretty low: Even in tick-ridden areas, less than 5 percent of bites result in an infection. But those that do are easy to deal with, Sood says. “Lyme disease is completely treatable."

more info here

And here

And here

Still it kinda sucks to live in states with high numbers of these critters. I use DEET often.
Only one of those links mentions anaplasmosis - that's the one my DW came down with last summer and it was bad. Took a long tome to fully recover.
Vermont has seen an exponential growth in cases of anaplasmosis in recent years, we were told.
(Please, ladies, do not freak out, just be aware.)
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Old 04-25-2018, 08:49 AM   #20
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We’ve found that bug spray with less then 40% DEET does nothing to repel ticks . When we camped in the BWCA we used 100% DEET which worked really well but that’s getting difficult to find .
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