Spring’s tick tock
Posted on May 1st, 2008 – 8:03 AMBy Robyn Dochterman
Hey! It’s really spring. I was just outside planting trees and when I came in, I felt the first tick of the season crawl up my neck. And the second! It’s amazing how creepy that feels after several tick-free months. I’d nearly forgotten how a tick truckin’ across my skin can suddenly make me itch everywhere and want a shower. And did I mention worry about Lyme Disease? Ah, makes me wish for snow (no, not really).
When I was a kid, I remember seeing my dad pull blood-engorged ticks off our German Shepard (named Duchess, of course) with a pair of pliers. I’d watch in horror as he tossed the tick in a tin can and set it on fire. Later, he took to smashing them with a hammer. I remember thinking that seemed unnecessarily violent.
But then, just what do you do with a tick you no longer care to share quarters with? You can’t just put ‘em back where they found you.
You should, of course, follow this advice from the Minnesota Department of Health, which monitors Lyme Disease (from the deer tick (on the right), not the wood tick (left). Both are magnified.
Which brings me to my preferred method of disposing of ticks. I sort of collect them in sealed plastic sandwich bags and watch ‘em slooooow down over a couple of days before I dispose of them. Makes my dad’s method seem kind, I know. Maybe in my old age, I’ll put them in the freezer and see if they thaw out and rebound. Who needs an iPod for entertainment?
Are ticks a problem in your yard? Do you take steps to keep them away from you? What do you do with them if you find them? (Tell the truth, you’re a screamer, aren’t you?) And, have you been unlucky enough to find them after they’ve, uh, settled into your more private parts?
14 Responses to "Spring’s tick tock"
If I’m outdoors when I pick one off my body, it gets a splitting by the pocket knife. If I’m indoors, I prefer the burial at sea (down the drain). Sometimes I wave as it swirls down the drain.
Oh, very creative, Jeff!
Last week I found a tiny tick (pretty sure it was a deer tick) climbing around on a top I had hanging on a hook in my closet. The last time I wore it was when I was cleaning up my yard after the snow finally melted - weeks ago when it was so cold that the thought of ticks didn’t even enter my mind. How horrifying! I still have the heebie-jeebies.
It’s fun to set them on the concrete and light them on fire with a match to watch/hear them go “POOF!”
This, of course, only works if they are crawling around versus being attached…
At our cabin last summer, there were so many that lighting them on fire or splitting them with a knife would have taken all day. So my brother got creative, grabbed a plastic bottle and put a little vodka in it. Everytime we found a tick, into the bottle it would go. They would crawl around for a while before eventually falling down to the bottom. I figure they at least died a happy death….
I HATE ticks. I haven’t had one on me for a few years, but they just creep me out! ick ick ick , I hate ticks!
But Brooke…wasn’t that a waste of perfectly good vodka? LOL. You guys have great ideas for sending ticks to their doom.
I really, really HATE ticks and I really, really love being outside so, I try to make the best of it. When I pull a tick off me, I check its sex before I rip its head off. It’s easy to sex ticks: girls have a necklace (a circular pattern on their shells or backs or whatever you call ‘ems), boys have suspenders (two straight lines.)
We get a LOT of ticks at our house. Last year I discovered THREE well attached ticks on my 3-year-old daughter during bath time. Despite the creepy-crawlies that when up and down my spine, I calmly got the tweezers. Only two days later I found one in her ear. We like to trap the suckers between two pieces of scotch tape so we can show our trophies to Daddy when he gets home. Needless to say, she started yelling out, “TICK CHECK!” every night before bed. Good reminder that it’s time to reinstate the tick check back into our bedtime routine.
That link you provided does not tell how to kill/dispose of the tick.
Oooh, there are tons of ways to dispose of ticks. My favorite is to pull their heads off. But you can also just squish them. Up at the cabin, we keep a little glass jar filled with an inch or two of gas or rubbing alcohol and drop them in the jar. By the end of the season, we have quite a collection. . . Does anyone else have a better way to do in ticks?
my dog has thick black fur, making tick checking incredibly difficult. i pay the money to his vet for reliable flea and tick prevention every year. we frequently walk along paths with tall grass, and thru wooded areas where we could easily pick up ticks. i always have to check for burrs in his coat, and havent found a tick on him yet. now if only they could find such a thing that was safe for humans. and maybe even make one that made us untasty to mosquitos…
Ooh. Wouldn’t that be nice?
I use advantix for my pups. As for the little critters…if they are attached I heat up a needle with a lighter and make them let go. I had a nasty infection years ago from pulling them off. If I find them I use what ever method is closest and it usually means flat-ticks.
Greengirls Jaime Chismar, Connie Nelson, and Robyn Dochterman are dishin' the dirt from the backyard garden and beyond. Whether you're a greenthumb or greenhorn, they're eager to learn from your misshaps, mistakes -- and most importantly, your sweet successes -- all growing season long.
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