Ticks

[CZroe]

If it’s a deer tick - go see your doctor (at least here in NH). You’ve got two weeks to start treatment for Lyme disease before before risking long term recurring symptoms.

Perhaps this is the advice for places with elevated risks, but if you know that you picked the tick up comfortably less than a day earlier, most advice says this is premature.

The advice I’ve seen has been to look for the large red rash with the pale spot centered around the tick bite but I’ve had rashes like that on multiple tick bites (seems typical even without Lyme). If you see the rash, go to the doctor and take the tick with you (hopefully your saved it). Supposedly you aren’t at risk of Lyme until the tick has remained attached around 24 hours but I’d personally be concerned and watching for that rash at half that.

 

[Ajay]

Perhaps this is the advice for places with elevated risks, but if you know that you picked the tick up comfortably less than a day earlier, most advice says this is premature.

The advice I’ve seen has been to look for the large red rash with the pale spot centered around the tick bite but I’ve had rashes like that on multiple tick bites (seems typical even without Lyme). If you see the rash, go to the doctor and take the tick with you (hopefully your saved it). Supposedly you aren’t at risk of Lyme until the tick has remained attached around 24 hours but I’d personally be concerned and watching for that rash at half that.

Generally solid advice (I think it’s 48 hours of attachment for Lyme). The caveat is that there isn’t always a rash. If the rash appears in a hard to see area (back, 'crevasses') then you don’t know you are at risk. I've known a couple of people that have had Lyme and the long term effects just suck. Lyme is routinely in the news in NH and neighboring VT.

 

[skyking]

One of the better natural controls for ticks are Opossum. They eat the bastiges very efficiently. People look at opossum like they are gross vermin, but they serve a purpose.

 

[Captante]

One of the better natural controls for ticks are Opossum

They ARE DISGUSTING VERMIN and also serve a purpose

FTFY!


Also scary looking !!!

 

[kage69]

Generally solid advice (I think it’s 48 hours of attachment for Lyme). The caveat is that there isn’t always a rash. If the rash appears in a hard to see area (back, 'crevasses') then you don’t know you are at risk. I've known a couple of people that have had Lyme and the long term effects just suck. Lyme is routinely in the news in NH and neighboring VT.

Yeah it's 48hrs. You touched upon something I find a great many people have no idea about. The 'bulls eye' mark that often signals an infection is not limited to the scene of the bite!

A Mainiac I know dismissed his for six-seven months as it was on back of a shoulder, and his tick bites were on legs and one burrowed into his belly button *gag*. Had he known about it I bet he wouldn't have waited. No idea on how he is, lost contact before my move West. I imagine it's not great.

Lyme sucks so bad I don't think anyone should chance it, always go see the doc. Be a hard nose 'hate hospitals' type with something else, your body/fam will thank you later.

 

[highland145]

One of the better natural controls for ticks are Opossum. They eat the bastiges very efficiently. People look at opossum like they are gross vermin, but they serve a purpose.

Yeah, they carry fleas and stink up my bike rides because their mates dared them to see what was on the other side of the road.

Now it's the migrating dillos, too.

 

[kage69]

I'm ok with depleting the local opossum food stores too btw, count me in.

Nasty ass monotremes (you heard me!), flea ridden I'm sure. How about all furry things not my pets stay the hell away from my house? At least once a day I go outside and take a piss by garage or garden. I like to make it abundantly clear to any visiting furry things that this place is occupied. Since I started making a habit of it I've noticed a lot less deer and rabbit traffic on my property, which to me is a win as they all carry fleas and ticks to some degree.

 

[skyking]

lulz, nope.

"Here at bigPharmachemical, we ALWAYS have the public's best interest at heart. Our stockholders have no say and profits do NOT enter into the equation. Notice how we make your drugs too? We have your trust, cradle to grave. "

 

[skyking]

I'm ok with depleting the local opossum food stores too btw, count me in.

Nasty ass monotremes (you heard me!), flea ridden I'm sure. How about all furry things not my pets stay the hell away from my house? At least once a day I go outside and take a piss by garage or garden. I like to make it abundantly clear to any visiting furry things that this place is occupied. Since I started making a habit of it I've noticed a lot less deer and rabbit traffic on my property, which to me is a win as they all carry fleas and ticks to some degree.

Monotremes are egg laying mammals. That's not opossum.

 

[zinfamous]

You think getting a tick bite is bad. Get some chiggers and you will know true misery.

https://www.medicinenet.com/chigger...t_are_the_signs_and_symptoms_of_chigger_bites

View attachment 7459

I was about 8 years old when I received a few chigger bites on my nut sack...just before a hot august summer vacation in DC. You know, walking the streets and museums all day, endlessly scartching my balls, cursing the calamine lotion that barely worked but smelled to all hell.

That sucked.


I got some more many years later, on my legs, while in the woods. That sucked, too. I did find that one of those chigger-specific medicines seemed to work, even though it's supposed strategy is based on the inaccurate myth of them burrowing into your skin--it creates a shell around the bites, the idea being to drown them and kill them (they aren't there). People have often used nail polish, too, for this reason. I'm thinking that this works, anyway, because it creates a barrier between the bite and the air, where your lower skin layers are exposed to all those histamines, constantly irritating the skin and causing the itching.

Oh and I got some more chigger bites the other week while mowing the lawn, I think. Figured it out when the supposed mosquito bites just wouldn't go away after a week. and then remembered seeing a fucking chigger a few months ago while re-sealing the house/driveway junction.

 

[zinfamous]

“Fleas and ticks” are common across North America, buddy, but that’s not supposed to scare you. A tick bite isn’t like a wasp or scorpion sting. It’s less than a mosquito or flea. You don’t even feel it. It’s painless, like a leech.

It’s the potential for disease that’s scary, but it shouldn’t be any more scary than getting bit by fleas and mosquitoes. Try to pull the tick out by the mouthparts using tweezers so that it doesn’t leave any of itself embedded. If you are worried about Lyme Disease in your area then preserve the tick for later analysis and monitor yourself for symptoms. You bring it to the doctor if you show symptoms. Otherwise, throw it out and go about your business.

Getting a tick is something nearly every North American outside the desert and urban areas has had to experience. Yes: Even Canadaians. It’s painless and common, which makes your perspective pretty amusing. Do they not have any stray dogs where you are? If you find one in the middle of the summer, take a look: it’s likely loaded with big, fat, engorged ticks.

Seems really weird that you didn’t know these existed here. A bit like thinking we don’t have spiders in North America!

you get bitten by a tick and then become deathly allergic to meat. Just tell me that doesn't terrify you.

 

[zinfamous]

Monotremes are egg laying mammals. That's not opossum.

I think he meant marsupial.

 

[Red Squirrel]

If you get the target like mark, is it too late at that point? If there is still a chance to be cured, at least that is easier to spot than a tick itself. Makes it a tad more reassuring knowing that you just need to look for this spot on your skin.

Either way might be time to mass breed opossum or other natural predator and release them in the wild. The MNR should look into that. If you can replace one pest with one that's less dangerous, it might be worth it. And it's more natural than spraying pesticide everywhere. Though I could see them do pesticide if it gets bad enough and lot of people are getting ill. Sucks for blueberry pickers though.

I don't think much can be done at this point though, if the climate is allowing them to thrive here then they'll just keep coming back. According to this map they're only concentrated more in some southern areas though, except Dryden/Kenora being an exception oddly.

https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/lyme-disease-risk-area-map-2018.pdf?la=en

Seems to be more info here on it:

https://www.publichealthontario.ca/...s/vector-borne-zoonotic-diseases/lyme-disease

It sucks though seems the only main preventive is having to wear long pants and long sleeves - basically have to dress like it's below zero out, and sweat your ass off. Though DEET also seems to work they say, but not sure if that would really be enough. It's kind of like sunscreen where it's easy to miss a spot.

Guessing the risk is higher deep in the bush vs on trails or in your yard though, but there is that one lady that got bit and had to go to the ER, and also someone found one in a playground, so the risk is still not zero even in the open. Scary shit. Might be time to move further north like Hudson Bay area lol. In 10 years from now the climate there will be nice anyway.

 

[zinfamous]

I'm ok with depleting the local opossum food stores too btw, count me in.

Nasty ass monotremes (you heard me!), flea ridden I'm sure. How about all furry things not my pets stay the hell away from my house? At least once a day I go outside and take a piss by garage or garden. I like to make it abundantly clear to any visiting furry things that this place is occupied. Since I started making a habit of it I've noticed a lot less deer and rabbit traffic on my property, which to me is a win as they all carry fleas and ticks to some degree.

I've got at least one possum that I try to encourage to keep hanging out in my backyard area, eating all the things. I've got one returning groundhog for 2 years now, whom I try to encourage to eat all the dandelions. The neighbor likes to trap him (or other ones) because they eat up his front yard farm. I often see him sneaking from the neighbor's yard into the den next to my house, lol. I don't begrudge the neighbor's desire to move them to a location where they won't eat his yard (also have a full basement, so I'm not too worried about them tunneling beneath the foundation), but I also will not go out of my way to anti-groundhog my yard.

I noticed two grey foxes sneaking around the backyard the other night, but haven't seen them since. I figured they had taken over the groundhog den because I hadn't seen it for some time, but then I saw the groundhog rummaging around. I'd love to see those foxes again, though, and establish that they are local residents. Would be awesome. Rabbits are a yearly thing. They just do whatever.

Too many stray cats though. Those things need to go, Killing all the songbirds, probably, but we do have a decent number of those. Had a Cooper's hawk over the last year that had established a nice dining table on the branch outside of my kitchen window. That was fun to see, but I think it has moved on or something else.

I've got bats in the backyard--I need to make some bat houses to encourage more and more to move in and stay. I haven't really seen any snakes though. That sucks.

 

[skyking]

I think he meant marsupial.

I'm sure, it's funny when somebody's 50 cent word attempt backfires. A form of "Archie Bunkerism"

 

[Captante]

My father (RIP) was diagnosed with Lyme 3 three separate times and with all 3 he got the bulls-eye rash at/adjacent to the point of the bite.

All three times he was treated promptly and supposedly cured ... 3rd round he was on IV antibiotics for weeks though.

 

[Ichinisan]

Monotremes are egg laying mammals. That's not opossum.

Probably meant "marsupial"

 

[kage69]

I was thinking of the meme someone posted about it actually, looking for it. Possums have a cloaca, one opening for all three functions. Possums are monotremes in that sense, mono = one, tremas = hole. Aren't they?

 

[skyking]

nope, they give live birth.
Monotremes do not.

 

[pcgeek11]

Yeah, they carry fleas and stink up my bike rides because their mates dared them to see what was on the other side of the road.

Now it's the migrating dillos, too.

Same her. I left home a few nights ago to go to work and saw 3 dead possums and 4 armadillos within the first 5 miles.

 

[pcgeek11]

I was about 8 years old when I received a few chigger bites on my nut sack...just before a hot august summer vacation in DC. You know, walking the streets and museums all day, endlessly scartching my balls, cursing the calamine lotion that barely worked but smelled to all hell.

That sucked.


I got some more many years later, on my legs, while in the woods. That sucked, too. I did find that one of those chigger-specific medicines seemed to work, even though it's supposed strategy is based on the inaccurate myth of them burrowing into your skin--it creates a shell around the bites, the idea being to drown them and kill them (they aren't there). People have often used nail polish, too, for this reason. I'm thinking that this works, anyway, because it creates a barrier between the bite and the air, where your lower skin layers are exposed to all those histamines, constantly irritating the skin and causing the itching.

Oh and I got some more chigger bites the other week while mowing the lawn, I think. Figured it out when the supposed mosquito bites just wouldn't go away after a week. and then remembered seeing a fucking chigger a few months ago while re-sealing the house/driveway junction.

you get bitten by a tick and then become deathly allergic to meat. Just tell me that doesn't terrify you.

And this is why I treat my yard for bugs.

I don't get bitten by anything when I spend time in my yard.

 

[ctbaars]

Does Neem oil really work on bugs?

 

[highland145]

Google says yes.

 

[ctbaars]

I know what google says. But for some reason, I don't believe them. If this worked, we would have never needed DEET.

 

[highland145]

Both DEET and MyggA provided more than 96% protection. The mean protection time for DEET was 8 hrs while the time for MyggA was 6 hrs. Protection obtained from neem oil and chinaberry oil was almost similar (more than 70%), however, the complete protection time for neem was 3 hrs, while that of chinaberry oil was one hour.


Toxic to fish.