How bad are ticks where you are?

[bab]

They are typically very bad here (Long Island) and are off the chain this year.

[bab]

I've heard you should tape roller the dog after a walk

[Deleted]

Where I am, ticks are not common, but I'm from CT and it was just awful. A walk through the woods would yield dozens of ticks on a dog. Do whatever you can to keep them off!

[gummybear]

Ridiculous this year. We pull a few off each other every year after being in certain areas but this year they are infesting places they never were before - like our yard, playgrounds etc. Disgusting.

[awick14]

We have only found one on our pup but that was in the one time we took him for a walk in the woods. The vet said that they have been so bad here that lots of dogs have each had 4-6 ticks. So I guess we are extremely lucky.

I have never given him the chemical tick/flea (we don't get fleas here.) treatment until I pulled this tick off him. I will treat him again in the fall as it's now getting to hot for ticks here.

[lindyanne]

They're really bad. We live about 3/4 mi from our school. There are wetlands here and there and I don't know if that makes it worse. We also have a lot of wooded areas in my neighborhood. There was a thread started on our PTO page about them and at least a dozen parents have said there was one found on their child at or after school. I just ordered a spray to put on our clothes and shoes.

[pinkpinot]

I live out in the sticks and it's awful. We also have an influx of gypsy moth caterpillars, when you go outside it sounds like it's raining but it's just the caterpillars eating. It's crazy.

I've given in to using chemicals. I'm out all day long with my 2 year old and I'm scared to risk it. So far I've had two ticks on me, none on him. Every time we take a break to eat, I check him for ticks. And myself.

[honeychai]

Fucking awful

[picaflora]

They are naturally worse in VA than when we lived in NC. I'm gold that they are high for the area as well. So far we haven't found any on us yet.

The vets here DO test dogs for Lyme when testing for heartworms. Apparently our dog has it, so we did strong antibiotics and a vaccine. I'm fairly sure she got it before we adopted her. She was covered in ticks at first.

[sawyerthedestroyer]

They're so bad this year. We've gone camping and on a couple of hikes and have come home with ticks every time. It's really surprising because we were below freezing for weeks at a time this winter. I thought long freezes were supposed to help kill them off.

Oh! And the last tick that bit me was a Lone Star tick so I'm just waiting for an allergy to red meat to develop because I get myself worked up about that stuff.

[EmilieMadison]

Very bad. 
We had already found several ticks crawling (not yet attached thankfully) on our pup by the middle of April. 
We use Frontline for fleas and ticks and she has also gotten the Lyme's vaccine. 

[EmilieMadison]

May 31, 2015 11:32:45 GMT -5 sawyerthedestroyer said:

They're so bad this year. We've gone camping and on a couple of hikes and have come home with ticks every time. It's really surprising because we were below freezing for weeks at a time this winter. I thought long freezes were supposed to help kill them off.

Nope. We are well below freezing for months at a time, and in the double digit negative temps often in the winter, and we still have some of highest tick "populations" in the country (MN) every year. 

[jane6672]

Terrible. I've had 2 bites myself already (barf), not to mention a lot of crawlers I've pulled off.

[EmilieMadison]

May 31, 2015 11:36:36 GMT -5 carrotsmakemefat said:

I recommend this thing

What does it do?
ETA: Oh, it removes ticks! Derp. 
Seems awfully complicated, doesn't it? Would that even work on tiny ticks?

[nsl]

Not bad where we currently live, but I know they're all over the place not too far away.

[sawyerthedestroyer]

I can never get a hold of those little fuckers with that thing.

[patches31709]

May 31, 2015 11:37:30 GMT -5 EmilieMadison said:

May 31, 2015 11:36:36 GMT -5 carrotsmakemefat said:

I recommend this thing

What does it do?
ETA: Oh, it removes ticks! Derp. 
Seems awfully complicated, doesn't it? Would that even work on tiny ticks?

It's super easy, you just twist and it pulls the whole tick out. If they're super tiny we have trouble using it and use tweezers instead, but if they're a little bigger this thing is so much easier.

[gummybear]

Ughhh pulling them off is the worst. I found one on my 3 yo at the Y while blow drying her hair. I asked the front desk for tweezers. What a scene that was! DD was SCREAMING! I was quickly escorted to an office for more discretion. Embarrassing.

[pinkpinot]

I'm not sure how accurate this is and I haven't Googled but my local newspaper said deer ticks don't die in the winter, they hibernate underground. I had never heard that before but I guess it makes sense because we had a really brutual winter in Northeastern Pennsylvania and ticks are out of control.

[vagrrrl]

May 31, 2015 11:32:45 GMT -5 sawyerthedestroyer said:

They're so bad this year. We've gone camping and on a couple of hikes and have come home with ticks every time. It's really surprising because we were below freezing for weeks at a time this winter. I thought long freezes were supposed to help kill them off.

Oh! And the last tick that bit me was a Lone Star tick so I'm just waiting for an allergy to red meat to develop because I get myself worked up about that stuff.

They're bad here in VA. And last year my husband was diagnosed with Alpha-Gal, which comes from a Lone Star tick bite. He knows he was bitten by at least two of them several years ago. It took quite awhile to diagnose because the allergy symptoms are delayed after eating meat. Tick bites are serious business!

[frannyr]

mid-Atlantic - they are always pretty bad here.

Frontline really works on my dogs. I've found a few here and there crawling on them, no bites. One on me crawling - ick. DH found one on his leg this week. Wish they made Frontline for humans.

I check myself and dogs constantly - every time we come inside. I also tend to spot them outside, so gross.

[karinothing]

May 31, 2015 15:46:38 GMT -5 incogneato said:

This whole topic has me breathing in a paper bag. My SIL has been dealing with really sucky lyme symptoms for years now and I'm super anxious about my kids. We haven't seen any this year yet, knock on wood, but I'm religious about bathing the kids every night when they've been outside (supposed to help) and checking them thoroughly. I hate hate hate HAAAAAAATE ticks!

Yeah, we went to the spray park the other day and DS wound up with a tick on his neck! How one gets a tick at the spray park I do not know. But luckily I caught it RIGHT after it got on him so it hadn't bit him yet. Still it freaks me out. I don't really get how long a tick has to bite you to transmit lime though. Is it immediate?

[joenali]

I don't think we gave them here,. I've bfvdf ccxr


(I was tying and fell asleep, ps


**i typed this out this morning and fell asleep while typing. Thanks Percocet!

[dirtyred]

May 31, 2015 11:09:53 GMT -5 awick14 said:

We have only found one on our pup but that was in the one time we took him for a walk in the woods. The vet said that they have been so bad here that lots of dogs have each had 4-6 ticks. So I guess we are extremely lucky.

I have never given him the chemical tick/flea (we don't get fleas here.) treatment until I pulled this tick off him. I will treat him again in the fall as it's now getting to hot for ticks here.

A couple of years ago ticks were HORRIBLE in my area.  We took our dog to a state park and did a couple of hikes.  We came home and my DH pulled SIXTY ticks off of the dog.  They were everywhere--he even found a couple between her toes.  I was creeped out for days; I kept thinking I felt them crawling on me.

[karinothing]

May 31, 2015 16:36:44 GMT -5 carrotsmakemefat said:

May 31, 2015 15:54:30 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Yeah, we went to the spray park the other day and DS wound up with a tick on his neck! How one gets a tick at the spray park I do not know. But luckily I caught it RIGHT after it got on him so it hadn't bit him yet. Still it freaks me out. I don't really get how long a tick has to bite you to transmit lime though. Is it immediate?

Various theories on this. Some say it needs to be attached for hours. Some say it is immediate. Sadly there isn't a lot of research on this.

Johns Hopkins has a new lyme research center. I'm actually applying to be accepted as a patient. Good news that more traditional medical centers are acknowledging that NO, this is not all cured with 30 days of abx.

Interesting. I hope infection isn't immediate that would suck. Any progress on a vaccine?

[katb]

May 31, 2015 11:53:00 GMT -5 patches31709 said:

May 31, 2015 11:37:30 GMT -5 EmilieMadison said:

What does it do?
ETA: Oh, it removes ticks! Derp. 
Seems awfully complicated, doesn't it? Would that even work on tiny ticks?

It's super easy, you just twist and it pulls the whole tick out. If they're super tiny we have trouble using it and use tweezers instead, but if they're a little bigger this thing is so much easier.

Have you tried the dish soap trick?  It really does work, even on the tiniest deer ticks (that is what we have the most of here in my part of Maryland).  Put any dish soap on a cotton ball (the cotton helps grab them, but I have used a folded paper towel).  Put it over the tick and wait - I wait a solid 5 - 10 minutes.  The tick slides right out.  If it doesn't, I put more soap on it and wait a few more minutes.  This has made my life so much easier with my kids.  (Works for long haired dogs too!)

The ticks are horrible here - usually every day someone has one crawling on them, etc.  I am hyper about searching for them now since my DD had the bullseye rash and was diagnosed with Lyme's.

[bugandbibs]

I don't think we have them here? (WA state)

[katb]

May 31, 2015 17:03:53 GMT -5 incogneato said:

May 31, 2015 15:54:30 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Yeah, we went to the spray park the other day and DS wound up with a tick on his neck! How one gets a tick at the spray park I do not know. But luckily I caught it RIGHT after it got on him so it hadn't bit him yet. Still it freaks me out. I don't really get how long a tick has to bite you to transmit lime though. Is it immediate?

I've read that it varies. SOME ticks can transmit it within a half hour but this is still really rare. In general I've heard 36 hours, and often if you bath within a few hours of being outside, the ticks are still wandering around looking for a good spot and will wash right off. This is why I wash the kids every night and do a check, figuring if I check them every night hopefully I will catch any little suckers before they have a chance to pass along nasty germs.

Can someone PLEASE come up with a Lyme vaccine??? PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE?

My doctor said the same thing.  That most times it takes 12 - 24 hours for a tick to attach.  We now shower daily  - we were doing it every 2/3 days before my DDs infections.

[lilafowler]

I BLAME CONNECTICUT.

[agnes]

I never actually seen a tick