Tick prevention

[ArlyA]

Permethrin is highly toxic to cats.

Ya so don't let your cat drink from the spray bottle? Eat your clothing?

 

[EscapedSuburbia]

Permethrin is highly toxic to cats.

Only when wet. Your clothes with dried permethrin are fine.

 

[John_Mc]

Permethrin is highly toxic to cats.

In it's liquid form it's toxic to cats. Once dried on the clothing, it's not a problem. Our cat regularly sleeps on my clothing - either the stuff I sprayed myself or the factory-treated stuff I buy and has no issues at all.

 

[John_Mc]

Has anyone tried making tick tubes? Supposedly you soak cotton balls in permethrin then stuff them into tubes from toilet paper or paper towel rolls. You then place them in places mice frequent. The idea is the mice take the cotton balls to make nests and end up getting permethrin on their fur which kills ticks. Internet lore claims they significantly reduce tick populations. I bought the supplies to give it a try this Spring but haven't gotten around to it yet.

I have not tried it myself, but a couple of local friends have. It seems very effective in reducing the tick population around their yard.

 

[John_Mc]

The permethrin you spray on your clothing works well. Once dried on, it lasts through 4 or 5 washes. (I could never keep track of the washes, so when I was treating my own clothing, I would just retreat all my "work in the woods" clothing on the first of each month during tick season.

I've switched to using Insect Shield factory treated clothing. The treatment lasts through about 70 washes (by that time, the clothing is starting to wear out anyway.) It's convenient not to have to worry about when the next treatment is due. I've been using various factory treated clothing for more than 10 years. I just don't find ticks on me when working in the woods. (In contrast, lately I take my dog for a walk in those woods and find 8-10 ticks crawling on her.)

They are always running sales. Right now they are offering 25% off women's clothing for their Mother's Day sale. They usually run a sale on men's clothing for Father's Day. Basically, unless you are in a rush, ll of there stuff goes on sale sooner or later.

https://www.insectshield.com/

 

[oosik]

I live way out in the country. Ticks are plentiful here. I can feel them crawling on me and pick them off. A crawling tick will wake me out of a sound sleep.

 

[EscapedSuburbia]

I check myself for ticks when I change clothes after I'm done working outside for the day. It's not uncommon to find a tick crawling on me later in the evening when I'm sitting on the couch. My theory is they're riding into the house on my dog. She gets a tick preventative every few months but that only kills them after they bite her so if they jump ship in the house before latching on they can find my wife or I. I'm not sure how to prevent that other than not letting the dog in the house.

 

[ArlyA]

The sawyer brand Permethrin treatment is suppose to be dried before wearing them..

Sidebar about wearing treated clothing, misquotes and flies will not bit you thought them, makes them ill as well.

 

[WinterDeere]

I live way out in the country. Ticks are plentiful here. I can feel them crawling on me and pick them off. A crawling tick will wake me out of a sound sleep.

You may be the exception, here. I can usually feel other bugs when they’re crawling on me, but almost never feel a tick, until I find it attached to me.

I remember finding one attached to my sternum in the shower after a 4-day camping trip, around age 12, the damn thing was swelled up to the size of a marble! I honestly don’t know how I never felt, or even accidentally popped, the damn thing.

 

[ponytug]

@WinterDeere as @oosik wrote "a tick will wake me out of a sound sleep", so I'm in that group. The only time a tick used to get me was when I was a kid, and then only during the day, working outdoors.

Some other blood suckers, not so much.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Bocephous]

In 1991 I moved to Florida, moved back in 2007. With the exception of those 15.5 years I've lived on the same hill in NEPA since I was 3 or 4. I spent all my time in the woods and fields when I was a kid and can't recall ever seeing a tick, or knowing what a tick was. Now they are the source of all kinds of badness for humans, dogs, etc. What happened during that span of time that caused this? I have my own ideas but I'd like to hear other's opinions.

 

[WinterDeere]

What happened during that span of time that caused this?

1975 - Lyme Connecticut... huge outbreak of what was originally thought to be early-onset arthritis, identified by the following year to be a new disease transmitted by ticks. Hence the name, and the rest is history.

It was later proven that it has existed for thousands of years, all over North America, but was only first-identified in Lyme CT. Throughout the late 1970's, knowledge and awareness of this disease was mostly isolated to CT and NY, along with one or two doctors operating in MI and WI. During the 1980's, knoweldge of it spread.

Several write-ups, you could read on this the rest of your life and never run out of material, but this is the first one that popped up in Google: History of Lyme Disease - Bay Area Lyme Foundation

 

[Bocephous]

I should have been more specific: What caused the explosion in the tick population?

 

[ponytug]

@Bocephous I think ticks and Lyme being everywhere is a number of things; the reduction deer hunting, and thus more deer, partly changes in land use, partly a reduction in the use of pesticides like DDT when you were a kid (you just retired, right?), but also if someone grows up in the woods, with a mother who was in the woods, they get antibodies to tick secretions and to a lesser extent Lyme disease. If you develop antibodies to tick secretions, the ticks can bite, but not feed, and the ticks drop off quickly, and before the transmission of things like Lyme disease, as well as other tick borne diseases. So, I think it is a number of things, not any one thing. I've seen lots of pet theories, most of which don't seem to have stood up to close scrutiny. I think most folks, me included, like simple answers, but this one is, I think, a bunch of things.

Warmer winters spreads the range of ticks, but tick numbers are mainly dependent upon hosts and predation. So, changes in your local woods, and hedgerows/road edges could easily drive tick eating birds elsewhere.

All the best, Peter

 

[WinterDeere]

I should have been more specific: What caused the explosion in the tick population?

@ponytug beat me to it, but everything I have read agrees 100% with what he is saying. But even putting all of those factors aside, increasing suburban sprawl and new building on old farms has vastly increased the number of people living in regions where ticks are likely to be present.

 

[Duds13]

I spray a couple different pairs of pants and socks with Sawyer Permethrin and let it dry before wearing them. I may start wearing a preventive tick dog collar around my boots or pant leg. lol

My oldest sister's best friend growing up had one of the first cases of Lyme disease in our small town in upstate NY on the VT border. Doctors had no clue what she had, really messed her up and she ended up passing away from it. One of my best friend's has lived with a really bad case of it for about 10 years now. He's has a forestry company in VT so always in the woods. F'n things are nasty.

 

[WinterDeere]

I lost a dog to Lyme disease. We caught and cured it, but not until after permanent liver damage had already been done. She lived just fine a few more years, but the resulting liver damage eventually did her in at age 16.

16 years may sound good, but her twin sister / litter-mate lived to 20 years 3 months, until we had to have her put down due to cancer.

 

[Duds13]

I lost a dog to Lyme disease. We caught and cured it, but not until after permanent liver damage had already been done. She lived just fine a few more years, but the resulting liver damage eventually did her in at age 16.

16 years may sound good, but her twin sister / litter-mate lived to 20 years 3 months, until we had to have her put down due to cancer.

Wow, 16 and 20 years for dogs is unheard of these days it seems. Sorry for your losses

 

[WinterDeere]

Wow, 16 and 20 years for dogs is unheard of these days it seems. Sorry for your losses

We also had a carnival goldfish that appeared to be immortal, until a stupid but well-meaning housekeeper massively over-fed it after countless years in the fish bowl, and a layer chicken who lived (and continued laying) 10 years thru countless heat waves and cold snaps. Must be something in the water, here.

 

[Duds13]

We also had a carnival goldfish that appeared to be immortal, until a stupid but well-meaning housekeeper massively over-fed it after countless years in the fish bowl. Must be something in the water, here.

Sounds like you are going to live to be 120