It's almost summer time again. The ticks are already out in Vermont. I know a few people who have had to pull them off of themselves or their kids already.

How do you prepare for the tick season? How do you keep them away from your yard or what do you do to protect yourself? Is there even protection for these little bugs?

Also, how do you protect your animals?

I don't remember the name of the stuff, but my wife has some flea and tick meds for the animals that she puts on the back of the neck twice a year.

Here's a handy trick for when you are in the woods where ticks are really bad. You can put a flea collar around the ankle of your hiking boots. this keeps fleas and ticks from going up your pants legs. They are also a help against chiggers.

DO NOT allow these to get in contact with your skin.

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I was looking around the site today and realized that there isn't a whole lot of information about ticks. So I did some research and found this info:

Ticks are the leading carriers of diseases to humans in the United States, second only to mosquitoes worldwide. It is not the tick bite but the toxins or organisms in the tick's saliva transmitted through the bite that cause disease.

Ticks are arthropods, like spiders. There are more than 800 species of ticks throughout the world. They are responsible for carrying such diseases as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease, babesiosis (Texas fever), ehrlichiosis, and tularemia (also transmitted via rabbits), as well as Colorado tick fever and Powassan (a form of encephalitis).

In addition to disease transmission, ticks can also cause tick paralysis. This condition occurs when neurotoxins in the tick saliva make you ill; cause paralysis of the body; and in extreme cases, can stop you from breathing in extreme cases.

Two groups of ticks are important to humans because of the diseases they can transmit:

* Hard ticks have a tough back plate or scutum that defines their appearance. The hard ticks tend to attach and feed for hours to days. Disease transmission usually occurs near the end of a meal, as the tick becomes full of blood. Some of the more common hard ticks are these: American dog tick, Wood tick, Deer tick (they carry Lyme disease), and Lone star tick.

* Soft ticks have more rounded bodies and do not have the hard scutum found in hard ticks. These ticks usually feed for less than 1 hour. Disease transmission can occur in less than a minute. The bite of some of these ticks produces intensely painful reactions. Two common soft ticks found in the United States are the Pajaroello tick and spinose ear tick.

Outbreaks of tick-related illnesses follow seasonal patterns as ticks evolve from larvae to adults. They hide in low brush to hitch a ride on a potential host. Ticks require a "blood meal" to grow and survive, and they are not very particular upon whom or what they feed. If these freeloaders don't find a host, they may die.

Once a tick finds a host-such as you, your pet, a deer, a rabbit-and finds a suitable site for attachment, the tick begins to burrow with its mouthparts into exposed skin. Tick mouthparts are barbed, which helps to secure them to the host.

Often the tick secrets "cementum" to more firmly anchor its mouthparts and head to the host. Ticks may secrete or regurgitate small amounts of saliva that contain neurotoxins. These nerve poisons cleverly prevent you from feeling the pain and irritation of the bite. You may never notice the tick feeding on you. The saliva may contain a blood thinner to make it easier for the tick to get its blood meal.

For more information on ticks, visit http://www.emedicinehealth.com/ticks/article_em.htm.

Thanks for the post. Lymme Disease is turning up all over the place this year. I hate to wear long pants in the summer, but sometimes I just want to be a little more careful if I'm off in the woods.

I found a tick on one of my sons over the weekend and wanted to share this information with you.

1. Check your naked body from head to toe for ticks ' small black, brown, reddish or tan disklike arachnids (having eight legs), from the size of a pinhead to almost the size of a thumbtack. Pay special attention to the backs of your knees, your groin area and your torso.

2. Ask a friend or family member for help if you find a tick in a hard-to-reach spot.

3. To remove an attached tick, use a pair of fine-tipped tweezers or special tick removal instruments. These special devices allow one to remove the tick without squeezing the tick body. This is important, as you do not want to crush the tick and force harmful bacteria to leave the tick and enter the dog’s bloodstream.

4. Grab the tick by the head or mouth parts right where they enter the skin. Do not grasp the tick by the body.

5. Without jerking, pull firmly and steadily directly outward. Do not twist the tick as you are pulling.

6. Using methods such as applying petroleum jelly, a hot match, or alcohol will NOT cause the tick to 'back out,' In fact, these irritants may cause the tick to deposit more disease-carrying saliva in the wound.

7. After removing the tick, place it in a jar of alcohol to kill it. Ticks are NOT killed by flushing them down the toilet.

8. Clean the bite wound with a disinfectant. If you want to, apply a small amount of a triple antibiotic ointment.

9. Wash your hands thoroughly.

10. Please do not use your fingers to remove or dispose of the tick. We do not want you in contact with a potentially disease-carrying tick. Do NOT squash the tick with your fingers. The contents of the tick can transmit disease.

Once an embedded tick is manually removed, it is not uncommon for a welt and skin reaction to occur. A little hydrocortisone spray will help alleviate the irritation, but it may take a week or more for healing to take place. In some cases, the tick bite may permanently scar leaving a hairless area. This skin irritation is due to the irritating and destructive tick saliva. It is not due to the tick losing its head, literally. Do not be worried about the tick head staying in; it rarely happens. This skin irritation is due to a reaction to the tick saliva.

Very true! Good info in the post. Thanks.

thanks for the tip..very useful and i am just fortunate that i don't go to the woods that often..

Thanks for sharing some tips in removing a tick. I haven't had this kind of encounter yet but at least now I know and i'm prepared
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We have always used the match method. Thanks for the info.

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I've always found that tweezers or a knife is best to remove a tick. If you are using tweezers be sure not to squeeze the body as you could squeeze the bad stuff back into the wound. You want to get under the burrowing tick and slowly pull away the tick from your body. A knife will work a little better because you are less apt to squeeze the body but you need to make sure you pry the entire tick off you skin and not just sever the body from the mouth of the tick. Otherwise you could get an infection from the mouth part that is still embedded into you skin.


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