Originally posted by Graniteguy: Deep woods hiking - 2 inch band of vaseline on my calfs and upper thighs. Stops and suffocates the little bastards every time.
Oh, that's interesting. Might just try that trick.
Posts: 7324 | Location: the Centennial state | Registered: August 21, 2006
Originally posted by h2oys: My tick story gets "personal" and I am sure you will get a good laugh so here it goes...
We were out at our shooting club property conducting our 2x/yr mowing, trimming, etc.
Literally every time we go out there I either get ticks crawling on me or chiggers. Doesn't matter how many times I spray myself (usually 3-4 times for the 4 hour duration we are there) or whether I tuck my pants into my socks, etc.
About 5 years ago after the property clean up, I checked myself for critters, showered, we ate dinner, and later went to bed. I woke up about midnight because something wasn't right "down there". I scratched, felt something hard, and almost bolted out of the bed.
Got up, grabbed a flashlight, reading glasses, and went into the bathroom. Put my left leg on top of the vanity, stuck the flashlight in my mouth, perched the reading glasses on the end of my nose, used my left hand to pull my satchel up, and DAMN, found an embedded tick on the back of my balls.
Carefully pulled the blood sucker off with a pair of tweezers as close to the head as I could get given my precarious position balanced with one foot on the floor. Put the tick in the sink, grabbed a lighter, and roasted him.
Thought all was well until a few days later when I had flu like symptoms. Went to our internist and he said the head was still embedded.
He took a scalpel to cut out the head and I almost hit the ceiling. He then said; "I guess we will need some anesthesia"! So he hit me with the needle and I almost hit the ceiling again. After the local took effect he removed the head of the tick and put me on antibiotics.
For the next 1-1/2 years I had non-stop elbow pain. After time it finally went away so all is good now.
Nasty. Glad you discovered the little bastard as quickly as you did.
So, a similar story. Growing up, the kids in our family went hunting, fishing, camping etc...and as I mentioned previously, we had moved down South into "tick territory". Our Northern cousins on one side of the family basically lived in the 'burbs, although they did live near a large neighborhood pond and wild area. Basically we were the 'country cousins' and they were the 'city' cousins.
Well we went on a family visit to their house (CT). During the course of the day there developed a slight commotion and so I went in the house to see what the fuss was about.
Apparently my oldest cousin, a girl maybe 10 or 11, had discovered a tick that had bitten her square on the ass. Once they discovered it my Dad mentioned that they needed to be careful to remove the head along with the body and described the removal procedure...however the family had never seen or removed a tick before and to them this delicate procedure was as complicated as heart surgery and so my Dad, as the "expert", was quickly recruited into action.
I was only a couple years older than my cousin and so took great interest in her bent over a foot rest in the living room with her shorts pulled down and my Dad being as clinical as possible during the removal. I swear I thought he was going to turn to his sister, my aunt, and say "tweezers" at which point she would slap them in his hand, then he would say "cotton ball" which would be slapped into his hand, he would apply the rubbing alcohol, and then ask the "nurse" to wipe his brow...then follow up with a band-aid on her ass.
Tick successfully removed, to the best of my knowledge she went on her way without any further problems from the bite.
Also a great story!
Posts: 3723 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: November 24, 2009
