Up here in Minnesota, we're having a terrible tick season. Any tips on coping?
Are there colors they don’t like? Scents?
What to do with them when there’s nothing to kill them (like when you’re outside and you don’t want to run in every other second)?
Anything else? I’ve lived here all my life, but I’ve never experienced them this bad.
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The best protection is
)1: Mechanical; wear light colors, long pants tucked into socks, boots, long sleeves, hoodies with hood up. I have friends who also add white cotton gloves when gardening.
2) Visual: Inspect everyone after you have returned indoors.
3) Sensual; Shower.
4) Medical; Use Frontline on your cat or dog and also inspect them.
It doesn’t make for a joyful half-naked summer, but Lyme disease is nasty. Here (12165) we live in the epicenter of Lyme, erlichiosis, babiosis, Rocky Mt. spotted fever and other tick-carrying diseases.
Keep some tissues on your person; remove tick with a piece and squash. I personally wouldn’t use DEET due to the toxicity of the ingredients.
Wear light clothing so it’s easier to spot them! And when you do get one, you can take lime juice, shampoo, or rubbing alcohol, and rub right around it in counter clockwise motions. Hope you don’t get any!
Why counter clockwise ?
If one’s goal is to get the tick to loosen it’s hold, why does the direction make any significant difference.
If it’s clockwise, it won’t work ? Huh?
All the medical advice I have gotten (along with the tiny tweezers, magnifying glass and tick ID card) was to grasp the tick firmly by the head (the part attached to you) with the tweezers and pull very firmly. Then squish.
The strength of those itsy bitsy jaws are startlingly strong.
An act of friendship around here is to remove ticks from parts of friends that they cannot reach themselves. I took one off just below the chin of a good buddy. I managed to get a few whiskers in the process.
When you’re checking yourself, don’t forget scalp, arm pits and pubic hair. The ticks gravitate to warm spots.
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