Tick season question???

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msinc

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Is there anyone out there that can help settle an argument regarding the lowly tick??? Here is the issue...it seems like everyone you ask will have some remedy, usually in the form of a chemical, that when applied to a stuck in the skin, blood sucking tick is supposed to instantly cause said tick to immediately back out and walk around in little circles in a daze. Whereupon you simply at your leisure pick it off and dispose of the permanently brain damaged little beast. We have all heard some suggestion or another, the most popular usually being fingernail polish or some other high solvent. Followed next by usually some certain flavor of dish detergent. My question is: is all this nothing more than a so called "urban legend" or what??? I have had ticks and without exception had to grab the thing with the right type tweezers and pulll hard, sometimes leaving the tick torn in half with his beak still embedded. All that makes me believe there is no way a tick, once buried and drinking away can "unlatch" in an instand and stagger away in the sworn daze so many folks will attest to. What say you???
 
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I don't think anything works every time.
I've found that by killing the tick with rubbing alcohol, just soak the tick for a minute with a tissue soaked in the stuff, probably 9 times out of 10 if you wait a while it will just go limp and you can easily remove it. Wait an hour.
I like the rubbing alcohol because it kills bacteria and viruses too. Everything it touches. I use the 91% stuff, but I am pretty sure that hand sanitizer would quickly kill a tick as well.
The best tool I've used on live ticks that are attached is called a tick twister, a $5 pair of tick forks sold usually at vet hospitals. They work great, small and large sizes, for (you guessed it) small and large ticks. Google it, money well spent IMO. Much better than tweezers.

I've been told that by completely covering one with a thick gob of petroleum jelly, it won't be able to breathe and it will let go. Makes sense to me, but I am gonna have to try it a few times before I accept it.
 
I have lived on a farm for the last 25 years, ticks are an every day problem 5 months out of 12.

I use full strength RepelXP on a cotton ball. It kills them dead in under 2 minutes, and they release the hold with their legs. The mouth may still be subcutaneous after they die, but the jaws will relax enough that you can remove them without leaving the head in your skin.

Nothing I have found will make them release and run around.

RepelXP is a concentrate bug spray for horses (active ingredient Pyrethrins) . It is expensive, but works as advertised for horses, and off label for ticks.
 
I simply grab the tick body as best as I can, turn it about 1/2 turn and pull it straight back and out... it's worked for me for the 22 years I've been camping on the ground, deer hunting, working in deep woods and walking fence rows and native prairie grass. One spring/summer I had 16-17 tick bites... let me tell you... Rocky Mtn Spotted Fever ain't no fun at all...

H:eek:G
 
If you can get a set of tweezers like they sell at a hobby shop, they are very narrow at the end and you can grab the tick much better because they are designed for picking up very fine parts without damage. I have heard of the old turn and twist method, but I have also heard of removing them with vasoline as well by letting it sit on them for a bit and then they kind of back out.
 
Or Lyme's. I got it in 2005 and fortunately, I received treatment promptly so I've not suffered too much with it.

Whatever you do, don't squeeze the tick! If you do, you risk pumping the spyro kites that infect with Lyme's into your wound. Left to itself, the tick concentrates on taking IN your blood and only after it's finished feeding, would it eject these bugs into your wound site. This can be 24 hours, sometimes more, giving you time to react without risking exposure.

In an emergency I've used the tines of a fork to get under the tick and lift him up to the point that I can get a tine between his mouth parts and my hide. Prying gently and not crushing the tick's body you can usually tear him out with steady pressure and not leave his biters in you.

Antiseptic, such as my pal Geoff's 91% ISP will kill off any topical bacteria. Then watch the site for a couple of days and if you get "the ring", see a Dr. immediately....
 
When I was a kid, my dad would light a kitchen match, blow it out and then apply the still hot end of it directly in front of the ticks head. Never saw a tick that didn't immediately back out, but must have been dad's way of doing it as I haven't had the same luck, some do, some don't. We've already been fighting ticks, had two of the dogs jump the fence and run around in the little bit of brush and trees in the area, so far we've gotten about six off each of them that were crawling around, and pulled four or five off with fine point tweezers down at the head, so far all of them came off with the head intact.
 
Aloha,

Here, I spray the property with whatever bug killer is on sale.

Following the instructions.

Haven't had fleas or ticks for a Long while.

When we did have a flea/tick peoblem, Wife and I used skinny nosed

curved forceps. Got the ticks and fleas good and dropped them into a

small bottle of slovent.
 
My Dad used a lighted cigarette on my back when I had 2 ticks there. Burned like Hell but the bugger backed right out. That was years ago. Now I use vasoline smeared all over the tick & he dies.Besides I don't smoke anymore.
 
Not there I'm not.

Dick Rumbaugh said:
My Dad used a lighted cigarette on my back when I had 2 ticks there. Burned like Hell but the bugger backed right out. That was years ago. Now I use vasoline smeared all over the tick & he dies.Besides I don't smoke anymore.
Click to expand...

I will not be applying anything hot down there Dick.

Most ticks around here just get pulled with the fingers. I've heard that trying to smother them will cause them to puke back into your body, causing infection.

Always check for ticks before bedtime, they will be itching by morning.
 
As others have said, grab the tick's body with pointy tweezers and turn the body COUNTER CLOCKWISE and SLOWLY pull the tick out. My vet has a neat tool that looks like a pen with tiny tweezers at the end that he used to pull ticks off of my dog. I'd like to find out where he got them. If you are having problem with ticks on your dog, get Preventic - tick collar for dogs, it kills and detaches ticks for 3 months.
 
My sister just sent me this, every now and then she comes
up with something useful. quien sabe??
Chipmunk6

"Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover the tick
With the soap-soaked cotton ball and swab it for a few
Seconds (15-20); the tick will come out on its own and be
Stuck to the cotton ball when you lift it away.
This technique has worked every time I've used it
(and that was frequently), and it's much less traumatic
"Unless someone is allergic to soap, I can't see that this
Would be damaging in any way."
 
I've tried everything, except the liquid soap and cotton ball, which I will try next time. The only thing that works for me, is to snatch the little rascal out and mash him with a rock.
 
geoff40 said:
a tick twister,.
Click to expand...
I bought a couple of these for getting ticks off my cats. Never had them on myself. Just get the body of the tick between the prongs, turn a couple of times and it comes out without leaving the head behind. Money well spent. Needless to say I don't do what my signature says with these little critters
 
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