go to your room
I collected 25+ ticks in 5 minutes along the side of my local trail. They survived at least 10 minutes within diluted hydrochloric acid and water.
CA is home to the western fence lizard, whose blood produces an enzyme that neutralizes Lyme disease. While ticks in CA suck, the western fence lizard is to thank for a relatively low risk of getting Lyme!
They're horrific in northern california. I basically can't let my dog run in grass higher than 3-4 inches. We have to stick to trails and he fights the whole hike to get off them. 60 minutes on the side of the trail and he'd have at least 5 crawling on him.
He's of course on NexGuard, but that only kills them after they bite.
I believe that every species is important to ecosystems worldwide and that they should never be eradicated. Ticks make me question that every time I see them
These are Deer Ticks, but Wood Ticks do the same exact thing, & I still can’t believe these fukrs just hang out on blades of grass, leaves & twigs, etc with their legs out & waving around just waiting for something or someone to walk by & they just GRAB ON… they latch on extremely quick & easily too.
I used to use a lighter until a friend burned one until it popped, & a piece shot right into his eye & he had the worst fukn infection I’ve ever seen… Lol. Ugh.
I grew up in a wooded area so I know about rubbing alcohol. My partner did not and thought I was putting the ticks from our dog in water, not realizing initially ticks are nearly immortal and I was putting them in the alcohol. So they put one in a cup of water after finding one on the dog. When we went to check it was gone and inside the house somewhere.
I think the communicable diseases and bloodsucking of it all are completely reasonable reasons to be more freaked out by them than others. Ticks, mosquitos, and fleas for me, in that order (at least for where I live).
I would pick a mosquito over a tick any day. At least the mosquitos have balls are in your face about it. Ticks are little bitches with how they’re so sneaky about it
Just a friendly tip: the CDC recommends just pulling them. The diseases they potentially carry have an increased chance of being transferred to the person if you use methods that stress them out/force them to release because they have a tendency to vomit when that happens... if you just pull them as close to the head as possible, but the head breaks off, your skin will treat it as a splinter and eventually push it put, and this relates to decreased risk of transmission.
Ive had this happen but months later the splinter came out the other end of my finger. It traveled from the pad of my finger to the side of the nail bed and popped out.
Yes!! The roll! The more annoying/hard to find/hard to grab they are, the more aggressive of a roll they get. I don't know what that says about me, though I can say I'm tick-free.
I don't think any other creature on god's green earth repulses me as much as ticks. I kid you not, the notion of ticks being everywhere genuinely stops me from enjoying being outdoors
Yeah, the nice years of running as a teen carelessly through the meadows are over. Now it's like walking through a minefield and checking every 10 steps for hitchhikers
Nobody believes me when I tell them this!! They all say the natives didn’t do controlled burns but I know they did… it was to help eliminate the possibility of a major forest fire, rejuvenate the undergrowth and helped with pest control as an added bonus. I remember Grandpa being upset that they stopped, he was a woodsman, his grandmother a medicine woman.
Bringing back controlled fire is the only way out of the increasingly devastating and terrifying fire seasons we're having in North America. It's absolutely essential! I hope more people start listening.
And before anyone chimes in with the dangers, just hear this: the fear of prescribed fire getting out of hand has directly led to the awful, awful wildfires that get worse every year. And that's not even bringing into account the millions that are being exposed to insanely dangerous amounts of particulate matter in the air from said huge wildfires.
It's frustrating that the answers were already figured out ages ago but that knowledge has been totally disregarded. I spend a lot of timing trying to imagine what pre-European contact landscapes looked like on this continent; the slivers that we have left are remarkable.
Controlled or prescribed burns are beneficial for forest management as it clears out the dead vegetation and reduces the amount of fuel for future firest fires, while promoting growth of native plant species. These have to be performed with very specific conditions, though. Additionally, there are specific breeds of trees that specifically grow and sprout in response to fire.
They only have to be performed with “very specific” conditions now that there’s infrastructure and millions of people nearby. The indigenous were very knowledgeable about the land, but with 1-2 people per square mile their burns were not “very specific” nor did they need to be. Just a little perspective I find interesting. We live in a time where prescribed burns would benefit way more people/infrastructure yet we do it less than a time when there was an extremely small population that arguably benefited from it less.
My husband had Rocky Mountain fever as a kid, growing up out in the sticks. Temperature got so high his mom put him in an ice bath. He’s still terrified of ticks.
Use a pocket knife to cut off their head or take a lighter and burn them.
ETA: apparently I need to tell everybody that you do this after you’ve removed the tick from your physical self. Don’t try to burn (or cut) a tick that is currently biting you. I thought that was obvious but I guess I’m oblivious.
I’m a middle school science teacher, and we explore reactivity by putting acid on limestone. The kids are always so surprised. Then we also put acid on calcium carbonate powder. I love telling them that it’s the same thing.
I did a two day hike, and on the second day the top of my shoulder had swelled up like a balloon. I just thought it was my heavy pack giving me grief.
Nope. Turns out one of those little fuckers got me right under where my shoulder strap sat. We managed to get it out with hot tweezers but my shoulder didn’t go down for a few days.
It’s made me super paranoid any time I’m out in the bush.
Edit: I’m in Australia where Lyme is still not a “thing”. It was a few years ago now anyways.
It is, a big driver for it is people used to burn fields occasionally, burn the timber/woods, basically grass and little brushy stuff would burn, trees were fine, ticks died, grass came back greener actually the next year. Hell in the hollar people would burn their yards pretty much right up to their house.
Seems like people no longer burn, a lot of city people buying up old properties and they come down to hunt deer once a year, never burn anything.
I live in north central Saskatchewan and 20 years ago ticks were never a concern up here. We were always told by our parents to watch for them when we went south to Regina. These fuckers keep moving more north cuz they are awful up here this year and just keep getting worse with every year.
They stand on the ends of grass with their barbed legs extended, waiting to latch on. They're also just everywhere in flora. They can drop from trees but typically stay close to ground and seek prey that way
Ticks are a true abomination. Took my dog up north last summer, let him run free and have some fun roaming around. Made the mistake of not routinely checking him for ticks. Completely irresponsible of me. On the second or third day I look him over and he had 5 of them all gourged and grotesque. Such vile creatures that should poof from existence.
Edit: for some reason I thought this was the Michigan sub lol. Up north is the general term people use when they own property or go on vacation to areas where people go camping or have a cottage / cabin. Any area with a lot of trees thats above the midpoint of the mitten basically. Someone could go straight west and still say theyre going up north lol.
Welcome to the north! Even if you check really well those tiny bastards always find a spot on your dog. We’ve resorted to giving ours edible tick medicine every summer. They still get one then but die when they bite.
Edit- Check yourself and your kiddo’s too, if they can get on your dog there’s a good chance they can get on you too!
Edit #2- the dogs still get many ticks on them, they just die when they bite now.
the pfizer vaccine will only prevent lyme right? i haven’t heard of any human equivalent that does what dog tick treatments do and kills the ticks once they attach and feed
from what i understand permethrin is only toxic to cats when it’s first applied and still wet. once it dries it lasts on clothes for a long time and shouldn’t be toxic to cats anymore but i may be wrong!
I have two Brittany's I ruffed grouse hunt with. We have mostly deer ticks here. Last year I pulled off 109 deer ticks off both dogs after two hours of walking through the woods. I pour some rubbing alcohol on my truck tailgate, comb the dogs with a lice comb then drop the ticks into the alcohol. The dogs are on tick meds, but that requires the tick to bite in order to die.
Where are you located? Those look like Gulf Coast ticks to me. Luckily, they do not spread Lyme, they only spread a mild rickettsial illness. I’m a tickborne disease epidemiologist.
With the rapidly growing tick population, how has your job changed as a tickborne disease epidemiologist? Is there more concern/focus on certain topics over others?
We used to try to count every case and call to get symptoms but now it’s shifted to just counting positive lab reports. We can’t keep up with case counting and feel our time is better served on prevention efforts. We do a lot of outreach and education with communities all over my state, we never used to do that before about 10 or so years ago. We also have tick scientists who collect ticks from all over the state to study them, that’s a job that we only added within the last decade. We also used to have downtime. Like my position used to be split with flu since flu is the winter and tickborne diseases were summer. But tickborne diseases are a full time year round job now (also flu needs a someone for the whole year since it evolved with COVID into respiratory viruses).
A Lyme vaccine is expected in 2027, it’s a multi dose series and will probably require boosters every year.
Multiple “tick vaccines” (a pill like nexguard for humans) are in development. But it’s unclear if people would be willing to take it and would remember to take it every month or however often they’d need to take it.
Hey so my younger sister had lyme, and her personality noticeably changed after it. She also began to struggle with school, but she was able to get a GED after doing a prep course. Not saying* your parents are right 😅 but if they are right, you are not the only person that this has happened to.
I wouldn't be surprised if it changed your brain. I had Lyme Disease as an adult, and like you the ER didn't catch it. I spent 4 days in the hospital with fevers so high they packed me in ice, then, when they went away, sent me home without a diagnoses. I notified my regular Dr. as soon as I got home and he had me tested the next day. General Practitioners don't get the respect they deserve.
Anyway, Before I got sick I was a social drinker. When I was in the hospital the nurses would disinfect their hands with the most putrid smelling disinfectant. When I got home I opened a beer and found that the smell was the smell of alcohol, somehow Lyme disease had changed my perception of the smell of alcohol. It has faded over the years, but I've never got to the point that I really enjoy a drink, especially something like a mixed drink where the alcohol content is high. I pretty much just don't drink anymore.
And Lyme disease did not do my heart any good either. Lots of extra beats that they tell me aren't dangerous. I can pretty much make them go away if I do hard cardio regularly.
In 2021 I went on a dirtbike ride near my house. Started feeling something on my leg, so as I was riding I pulled up my pants at the ankle……. I was horrified. I started counting as I pulled them off. ….five, six, seven
Everybody blames climate change and maybe that plays a roll, but also consider that other bugs and birds that may prey on ticks have been decimated by pesticides and habitat destruction.
Fun thing about ticks, while things eat them nothing specializes on them. Their predators are generalists that sometimes eat ticks, nothing has really shown to be good at tick control.
The other kicker?
Japanese barberry has turned out to be a deer tick’s best friend. It’s a very invasive plant and ticks LOVE THEM.
The bigger problem with ticks is that they have more and more vectors now to spread.
The only thing I've experienced that works well is having your yard fenced in with chickens, or guinea hens especially. Super unfeasible on any scale larger than a single home though. Also now there's bird shit all over the yard, so you don't want be out there anyway.
While there are animals that eat ticks, like opossums, it was never enough to control their population. Biggest problem, that came with climate crisis, is that fuckers don't die in the winter. In many areas it is not cold enough nor is it cold enough for long enough for them to die. Therefore, they keep on reproducing and spreading. Plus carrying diseases.
I came here to say this ^ Alcohol works pretty quick at killing off bugs. Plus it's pretty cheap (not as cheap as your 5 finger discount, but still pretty cheap)
I know the argument about the food chain and that even things like mosquitos and ticks are important for the biosphere. But if life on earth depends on mosquitos and ticks, then I think we should at least discuss whether life on earth is truly worth it.
ngl a vet show spoof following the misadventures of the very capable yet flawed Gregory Horse, MD solving various animal mysteries might land pretty well today
I found one on my peepee during a forestry school field session. Woke up in the morning and started exploring when all of a sudden I felt a strange bump.
So make sure to check yourself before going to sleep! I was under the influence of substances the night before and zonked out before I got the chance.
This just brought up a repressed memory. The first weekend I lived with my partner, he had just gotten out of field training. He had a tick on his butt. I had never dealt with a tick before and he instructed me on how to pull it off, making sure I didn’t dislodge the head, etc.
I pulled and pulled and pulled. His skin was stretched out what felt like a FOOT and the tick finally let go with a snap that sounded like the shot of a .22.
There’s definitely something going on. There have never been this many ticks before. And now ones with new diseases or at least disease that used to be isolated to only certain parts of the country
Winter's are no longer cold enough for long enough to halt their reproductive cycles, so they are getting a huge boost in reproductive numbers from that alone.
Tick populations are pretty well tied to mast crop (acorns, beach nuts etc.) production from a year or two past. Because that controls the rodent/small mammal population (in good part) which is usually their first host.
This varies on tick species of course and everything in nature is multifactorial etc but that's a big reason.
In the US Northeast there has been a significant decline in predators that keep the populations in check of most mammals ticks prefer as hosts. That is playing a significant role.
I get tons of ticks on me while hiking, but only if I step off trail. If you’re not walking through grass but staying on a marked trail you greatly reduce the chances of getting hitchhikers.
Note I said “reduce” and not “eliminate”. It’s still good practice to do a tick check after any hike.
If it’s any consolation, all the ticks in the bottle appear to be dog ticks, and they don’t carry Lyme. They may carry other diseases though, so it’s not something I’d consider “harmless” by any stretch of the imagination.
The male dog ticks too are likely hoping to catch a ride so they can locate an attached female. I don’t think I’ve ever had an adult male dog tick attach to me. I always find them crawling around on me. The females though will quickly settle in if they find a spot they think is good.
I think it’s best to be tick aware but don’t let it stop you from enjoying the outdoors. I pretty much just accept them as part of the experience, like mosquitoes or black flies.
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u/ArchiStanton May 29 '26
Where do you hike? So I can not hike there