Tick removal

Sue Gremlin

Piney
Sep 13, 2005
1,277
233
61
Vicksburg, Michigan
As long as you get the tick out ASAP after you find it. That is the key. Once a tick is embedded, it secretes cement so it is actually unable to detach.
Pulling it out is still the best option, if you leave some of the mouthparts in your skin, it's not a huge deal. It'll come out!
 
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46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
2,143
Coastal NJ
A few years ago someone got me a tick key as a gift (https://www.amazon.com/Tick-Key-Products-TickKey-Remover/dp/B000R1D3KQ).

At first I thought they were hokey but it worked quite well. I would still like to have a better backup method than just tweezers so the one described in the link will be it. Thanks for sharing!

I use a 'Tick Nipper'. Got it primarily for removing them from the dog, never failed. Gets the smallest out whole. Found it at a Dicks Sporting Goods store.

25103e05ad3a7b21f3704d392cf1994c655ee240.jpg
 
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RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
4,944
3,080
Pestletown, N.J.
Tried the removal trick in Post #1 this morning. I had two ticks embedded under each arm, apparently from running the dogs through some fire cuts last night.
.
I yanked the first one with my finger nails and the head snapped so I will wait for that to be ejected by my own natural forces.
With the other, I tried the wet Q-tip trick with my wife assisting. After two minutes she said "This is stupid " and I yanked that one too. The head did stay on that one so perhaps he was getting ready to bail ?

So, I am not convinced the trick will work.
 
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GermanG

Piney
Apr 2, 2005
1,111
434
Little Egg Harbor
It's always best to know why you are doing what you do, and not simply what to do. If that method gets the tick out quickly it could be fine, but not if you end up messing with it for a while. It can't be repeated enough times that the tick is not your problem. What's living in its gut is. That is why doing anything that causes it distress and possibly results in it regurgitating what's in it into you, is a BAD THING. This applies to flame, hairspray, vaseline and all the other things granny told you you to do, as well as subjecting it to some kind of tick yoga. That is also why pulling it by its abdomen is essentially treating it like a hypodermic needle, squeezing the contents of its gut into you. Grasping it at the point where it enters your skin, pulling backwards along the same angle its body is entering you, using one of the tools discussed, tweezers or long-enough fingernails, is the safest method.
 
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Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,603
8,181
It's always best to know why you are doing what you do, and not simply what to do. If that method gets the tick out quickly it could be fine, but not if you end up messing with it for a while. It can't be repeated enough times that the tick is not your problem. What's living in its gut is. That is why doing anything that causes it distress and possibly results in it regurgitating what's in it into you, is a BAD THING. This applies to flame, hairspray, vaseline and all the other things granny told you you to do, as well as subjecting it to some kind of tick yoga. That is also why pulling it by its abdomen is essentially treating it like a hypodermic needle, squeezing the contents of its gut into you. Grasping it at the point where it enters your skin, pulling backwards along the same angle its body is entering you, using one of the tools discussed, tweezers or long-enough fingernails, is the safest method.


Then I should have been dead by now. :D
 

46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
2,143
Coastal NJ
Tried the removal trick in Post #1 this morning. I had two ticks embedded under each arm, apparently from running the dogs through some fire cuts last night.
.
I yanked the first one with my finger nails and the head snapped so I will wait for that to be ejected by my own natural forces.
With the other, I tried the wet Q-tip trick with my wife assisting. After two minutes she said "This is stupid " and I yanked that one too. The head did stay on that one so perhaps he was getting ready to bail ?

So, I am not convinced the trick will work.

Thanks for being the test dummy person :D
 
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Sue Gremlin

Piney
Sep 13, 2005
1,277
233
61
Vicksburg, Michigan
Tried the removal trick in Post #1 this morning. I had two ticks embedded under each arm, apparently from running the dogs through some fire cuts last night.
.
I yanked the first one with my finger nails and the head snapped so I will wait for that to be ejected by my own natural forces.
With the other, I tried the wet Q-tip trick with my wife assisting. After two minutes she said "This is stupid " and I yanked that one too. The head did stay on that one so perhaps he was getting ready to bail ?

So, I am not convinced the trick will work.

When ticks bite, they secrete cement to anchor their mouthparts. It takes quite a bit of time for them to bite, and then when they take their meal, they secrete an enzyme that dissolves this cement so they can drop off. That also takes quite a bit of time. From bite to drop off, they are on you for upwards of 5 days. They literally cannot release their bite even if they want to at a certain point. How close to the skin you grab them has a lot to do with whether you will tear their mouthparts off, but so does the skin area and the stage of their cement secretion/dissolution. Sometimes you can pull them out with the cement attached, though, and that is extra cool.
 
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RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
4,944
3,080
Pestletown, N.J.
When ticks bite, they secrete cement to anchor their mouthparts. It takes quite a bit of time for them to bite, and then when they take their meal, they secrete an enzyme that dissolves this cement so they can drop off. That also takes quite a bit of time. From bite to drop off, they are on you for upwards of 5 days. They literally cannot release their bite even if they want to at a certain point. How close to the skin you grab them has a lot to do with whether you will tear their mouthparts off, but so does the skin area and the stage of their cement secretion/dissolution. Sometimes you can pull them out with the cement attached, though, and that is extra cool.

Well that settles it. No more woods for me. I think I will become a city boy.
Tomorrow I am going to buy some theater tickets, get some Dockers and a few button-down shirts.
Anyone want to buy two F-350's ? I gotta get me some kinda import hybrid car.
I'm so done with you hicks.
:)
 
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46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
2,143
Coastal NJ
The best treatment for a tick byte is alcohol. Lots of it applied internally so it works from the inside out. It sucks in enough and it'll just fall out on its own. More than one tick, lots more alcohol. :guinness:
 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
4,944
3,080
Pestletown, N.J.
The best treatment for a tick byte is alcohol. Lots of it applied internally so it works from the inside out. It sucks in enough and it'll just fall out on its own. More than one tick, lots more alcohol. :guinness:

I try and run a high BAC as much as possible but it doesn't seem to affect them. Maybe they are seasoned professionals like me.
:guinness:
 

johnnyb

Explorer
Feb 22, 2013
474
200
96
Whoever said this would be a tick year is right on the money. Yesterday Ro and I got them at the new trails off Patty Bowker Rd and today when we were driving home from Franklin Parker after visiting our botany test site we had 3 ticks on the outside of our blue Ford! Outside!! That's a new, scarey, first.
 
T

Toothy Critter

Guest
I ain't no scientist so this may be debunked, but I personally seem to think that ticks, or most bugs in general, don't like oil. Long time ago I was pestered by insects while working at a home and the lady came out and said "put this on". I scoffed and thought... right, sure. But it worked. Skin So Soft bath oil. Makes you smell like a @%$# but...it works. Years later I saw it being sold in bait and tackle shops. Some people claim it makes matters worse...not for me. Even oily suntan lotion seems to repel ticks. Guess when they get on you and slosh around in the oil they get discouraged, But Avon can't sell it as a repellant because of the original patent rules so they tried to imitate it and produced a repellant to copy it. That does not work. It must be Skin So Soft bath oil only. And splash it on thick. Anyone else have a good way to keep the buggers off ? Obviously Perethmin on clothes.
 
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