Ticks?! (spiders, nuisance, territory)

[looking4home]

How awful! Virginia was late to the tick party because I remember when ticks first became a problem on the East coast, specifically New England, about 25 years ago. Then I read several years later it had spread to other states and Virginia was mentioned.

My niece worked on Nantucket one summer and contracted Lyme Disease and it wasn’t diagnosed until months later. It destroyed her immune system. She died of an aggressive type of cancer about five years later at age 40. This is a disease that negatively affects both health and quality of life, sometimes severely. You’d think this would be a disease they’d be able to develop a vaccine for. Or some type of prophylactic measures other than wear white clothing and don’t sit on the grass!

[YorktownGal]

Originally Posted by looking4home

How awful! Virginia was late to the tick party because I remember when ticks first became a problem on the East coast, specifically New England, about 25 years ago. Then I read several years later it had spread to other states and Virginia was mentioned.

My niece worked on Nantucket one summer and contracted Lyme Disease and it wasn’t diagnosed until months later. It destroyed her immune system. She died of an aggressive type of cancer about five years later at age 40. This is a disease that negatively affects both health and quality of life, sometimes severely. You’d think this would be a disease they’d be able to develop a vaccine for. Or some type of prophylactic measures other than wear white clothing and don’t sit on the grass!

I'm sorry about your niece!

My daughter had lyme diseases without a bull-eyes rash. It weaken her immune system. She's all better now. The problem wasn't lyme, but her doctor!

Her doctor did not do ELISA test and a Western Blot. He did one test which was negative. Instead, ordering the second test, he insisted it was mono. Yet, my daughter's mono test was negative. I found a better doctor that used both lyme tests and placed her on a month of doxycycline.

If treated correctly at the beginning, it's not an awful disease. It's when it lingers, it causes damage like severe heart damage.

I've had ticks since the 1970's. I wouldn't hide from them. When I lived in Massachusetts, every year there were mosquitos carrying eastern equine encephalitis (EEE). It causes fatal encephalitis or inflammation of the brain quickly. It makes lyme disease look better.

You still have to live your life.

[emsman]

The ones to worry about are the ones that carry the disease that prevents you from eating red meat after the infection. I don't remember the name of the condition, but you can't process the proteins after infection. I have a friend that got that one, no more steaks or burgers.

The Black Legged tick and the Lone Star tick are the ones you really need to worry about. I get bit all the time at work by ticks, just get them out ASAP and clean the area good, and hope you found them soon enough.

[looking4home]

Originally Posted by emsman

The ones to worry about are the ones that carry the disease that prevents you from eating red meat after the infection. I don't remember the name of the condition, but you can't process the proteins after infection. I have a friend that got that one, no more steaks or burgers.

The Black Legged tick and the Lone Star tick are the ones you really need to worry about. I get bit all the time at work by ticks, just get them out ASAP and clean the area good, and hope you found them soon enough.

It just seems they be able to eradicate or control them by spraying or something. I mean the state or counties because they are a public health threat. A lot of places spray for mosquitoes now because of West Nile virus and Zika.

[YorktownGal]

Originally Posted by looking4home

It just seems they be able to eradicate or control them by spraying or something. I mean the state or counties because they are a public health threat. A lot of places spray for mosquitoes now because of West Nile virus and Zika.

This is what I don't get. Mosquitoes only bred in water, they don't bred in grass. So why spray lawns?

Mosquitoes prefer forests, marshes, or tall grasses. All mosquitoes like water because mosquito larvae and pupae live in the water with little or no flow. Male mosquitoes don't bite people and live for less than a single week. Female mosquitoes bite people and live for six weeks. Drain flower pots, level ground, prevent puddles - all good ways to prevent mosquitoes. Treating lawns - not so good.

You can't spray for ticks without poisoning the ground, birds, insects, etc. I didn't spray and had the only fireflies in the neighborhood.

[looking4home]

Originally Posted by YorktownGal

This is what I don't get. Mosquitoes only bred in water, they don't bred in grass. So why spray lawns?

Mosquitoes prefer forests, marshes, or tall grasses. All mosquitoes like water because mosquito larvae and pupae live in the water with little or no flow. Male mosquitoes don't bite people and live for less than a single week. Female mosquitoes bite people and live for six weeks. Drain flower pots, level ground, prevent puddles - all good ways to prevent mosquitoes. Treating lawns - not so good.

You can't spray for ticks without poisoning the ground, birds, insects, etc. I didn't spray and had the only fireflies in the neighborhood.

I think I’d rather have no fireflies than ticks. I know of so many people who didn’t even know they were bitten until they weren’t feeling well and the doctor eventually tested them for Lyme disease. By then it was too late and the disease ravaged their immune system.

My daughter’s mother in law had it unbeknownst to her and developed Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma which no one else in the entire family had and the doctor thought it could have been caused by untreated Lyme Disease. My daughter also worked in a doctors office and one of the doctors had gone to Cape Cod for the summer. His teen daughter contracted Lyme disease and it paralyzed her arm. That also happened to my niece who eventually got cancer. Her forearms became paralyzed and she couldn’t drive a car or ride a bike. That was early on before she developed cancer but if Lyme takes hold then it’s too late and not even antibiotics can help.

Who cares about insects and wildlife when the health of you and your loved ones is at stake?

[16 Acres]

Not all it seems, but most Ticks will itch soon after they bite you. If you feel an itch, check on it. I agree, if you pull them off within 24-48 hours, there shouldn't be a problem. When working on un-mowed grass or in the woods, I wear special treated socks, spray #40 Deet on the bottom of my pant legs and tuck them into my high laced boots.

On my land, I used to let the Deer roam freely, but since I had Ticks around the house and in my own yard one year, I now run them off. They have seemed to get the message as I now have just a couple now and then. It seems to have worked, but of course, I still have ticks although a lot less.

Some of the experts dis-agree with me but around here, they are basically gone by mid-July. But other locations may vary.

[L00k4ward]

Permethrin treated clothing works, but have to be sprayed and dry for a couple of hours in advance.
Allegedly properly treated clothing may still be effective after 5-6 washing.

If you have to be prepared in a hurry for walking in the woods- people use double sticky tape like in the photo

[looking4home]

Originally Posted by L00k4ward

Permethrin treated clothing works, but have to be sprayed and dry for a couple of hours in advance.
Allegedly properly treated clothing may still be effective after 5-6 washing.

If you have to be prepared in a hurry for walking in the woods- people use double sticky tape like in the photo

Wow is that for real? All those ticks? That’s crazy! Of course, not all ticks carry Lyme Disease. It’s still gross and scary regardless to have an insect attach to you and gorge itself on your blood.

[Parnassia]

Originally Posted by looking4home

Who cares about insects and wildlife when the health of you and your loved ones is at stake?

Indiscriminately poisoning "insects and wildlife" will end up biting those loved ones in the proverbial a*& eventually...just in a different way. If you don't want to be bitten, repel the little beggars instead. History has shown that it's not a good survival strategy to poison your own nest!