Ticks!

[angie7]

So what do you use to help with the ticks b/c they are everywhere this year. Dh planned a trip to a local park today for me and the kids. We had a very nice picnic lunch with a walk through the woods. Little did we know that we would be picking off about 50 ticks, the majority if which were deer ticks the entire time! I sprayed us with skin so soft (the kids and I are mosquito magnets) and sprayed our clothes with Adam's Flea & Tick spray (it's for dogs but has always worked great in the past, except this time obviously)

It was a nightmare. We cut our trip short b/c the ticks were everywhere, A even had one that already embedded themselves in her side : Luckily we didn't find many on the kids, dh and I were another story. Dh had to pull over on the side of the road b/c he had 2 crawling up his leg : I hate ticks, HATE them! Oh, did I mention that we are moving to a house on 9 wooded acres in a few weeks with 4 dogs and 1 cat and the ticks are this bad, I'm afraid to see what my animals are going to bring home.

So what do you know that works to kill them or keep them from getting on you and your pets? Any ideas???

[mjg013]

They've been horrible here too. I found one on my the other night crawling on my leg. Vada has found two embedded over the last week. I've been checking everybody every night.

[beanma]

Hi Angie,

We have a lot in our neck of the woods. Our dogs are on Frontline which is supposed to kill fleas and ticks. So far it's working well and I haven't seen a live one on them.

As for people, I'm not that down with chemicals on our kids. I use some natural stuff from the HFS and I don't really expect anything, even the heavy chemicals, to keep all the ticks away here. We've got too many! I do nightly tick checks as part of our spring/summer bedtime ritual. They are really yucky! We tape them to an index card when we find one. If we go somewhere particularly ticky (like a hike in the woods) we'll do a tick check immediately upon coming home.

It sounds like you may have stumbled into a nest of them. Nymphs of the larger ticks, like the dog ticks, lonestar, etc, can look like deer ticks. When you get into those seed ticks you can get a whole bunch at once like that. I had that happen on a hike once when dd1 was a baby. Luckily she didn't get any, but my legs were absolutely covered. I must have had 25-30 on my legs! Yuck! They were attached, too, and so small I couldn't pull them off. Since then I've been told that tape (like duct tape) is great for getting seed ticks off. At the time i just shaved them off with my trusty razor.

[rainbowmoon]

:

We have been getting them on us constantly.


I have to say having just moved here from the desert I would take scorpions over ticks any day! (Just another thing I hate about New England)

[BarnMomma]

We're a very outdoorsy family so ticks are a huge concern.

First, eat as much garlic as you and your LO's can stand. It will make you smell bad to the ticks.

Second, make a natural tick repellent by combining aloe juice, and hefty amounts (think50-100 drops at the very least) of lemon, rosemary, lavendar, eucalyptus essential oils. the ticks really seem to hate this combo.

And as always use smart clothing options when outdoors. Snug fitting underwear, socks, sneakers, light colored clothing, hair up, hat, and always check you and the kids very well for ticks as soon as you come inside. A lice comb works well for checking the hair.

[LionessMom]

i was always told that ou dont want to leave the head imbedded in your skin. anybody know how true that is? my dad used to use a blown out match to make them withdraw, my step mom used to use vaseline.

[GAjenn]

We use vaseline to get them to pull their head out.
On the dog we use advanticks which works great.
I just deal with them on me, but I put a ton of dryer sheets in the stroller/outside of carrier for the baby.
"Get'um while they are crawlin" is what my Grandma used to say!

[rainbowmoon]

if you use tweezers and twist it while pulling it out it should get the head out. I used to use matches on my dogs when we would get them in the desert (yes there are ticks in the desert too, just not very many!)

@GAjenn- why dryer sheets?

[biochick]

They are everywhere here too, our yard is just full of them. We do tick checks every time we come in from outside. I read that Geranium Rose oil works well so I've been putting some of that on the dogs collars along with using Frontline. I have not noticed any on the dogs. For the kids, I diluted the GR in almond oil (apparently almond oil contains sulfur which is also a repellent) and have been putting that on their socks. I'll have to try the eo blend posted above. Where can I get aloe juice?

I was also reading that diatomaceous earth and predatory nematodes can really help with ticks so that is my next step. I hate being terrified to go outside and play in our own yard.

[LionessMom]

i also cover my head. they do fall out of trees too.

[operamommy]

We live out in the country with woods around 3 sides of our home. We've just learned to live with them. As a PP said, I don't like putting chemicals on the kiddos, so we do a nightly tick check when we're getting them ready for bed. The big kids check themselves, as do dh and I. Yesterday I had one almost at my temple when I came in from gardening.

[beanma]

I think you're better off with just a good pair of tweezers instead of vaseline or matches. I have never had a tick leave the head in when I get them with my good tweezers. Crappy tweezers=a lot harder. I grab the tick with the tweezers as close to the skin as possible and then pull back and up a bit. They always come out whole and crawl around until I tape them onto an index card for posterity or release them to a watery grave in the toilet. Here's what snopes has to say about tick removal.

We have some "Tick Guard" natural spray that we have used. I don't trust anything really, though. I got it at our local coop HFS. It's deet free.

[radishes]

Ugh, my FIL is in the middle of getting 11 weeks, 5 times a week, intravenous antibiotics for lyme disease. I recently read this article in Mother Earth News though, and it sounds really good. I don't like all the weird stuff in tick sprays.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Natur...Repellent.aspx

[Polliwog]

Ugh, I found my first tick this morning. I used my fingers since I didn't have tweezers handy. Not the right thing to do, but hopefully I won't get sick.

[oceanbaby]

Someone told me to get into the bath when you get home, that they will jump off of you once you hit the water. I haven't tried this myself yet, but two kids in ds's nature class have had embedded ticks in the past few weeks so we are doing tick checks immediately after class.

I have also been told that this year is a really bad year for ticks (we are in No. California.).

[mommariffic]

I'm so glad someone made a tick post

We've been DEEP in tick hell lately. I'm the one who's suffering - ticks don't bother me too much because I find them, and just pull them off/flush them...but I kind of don't want them on my daughter. Luckily, I've found a few and gotten them when we've come inside.

I have an all natural insect repellent, but that does little more than make us smell like a mint-lavender mix, which is nice, but not that productive. I just make sure we do a tick check when we come in from being outside, and that's that.

[snoopy5386]

how do you check for ticks in your kid's hair? DD has long, thick, dark brown hair. I have NO IDEA how to check her scalp for ticks. The idea of using a lice comb nightly is laughable, I can barely use a regular brush on her. I would love to hear any ideas!

[rainbowmoon]

Part the head in 4 sections then go through each section a little at a time. Hair clips and a rattail comb are useful. You can also feel the ticks on the scalp if you are shampooing, I have pulled several off my kids that way..

Originally Posted by snoopy5386

how do you check for ticks in your kid's hair? DD has long, thick, dark brown hair. I have NO IDEA how to check her scalp for ticks. The idea of using a lice comb nightly is laughable, I can barely use a regular brush on her. I would love to hear any ideas!

[radishes]

I just remembered something when I was studying aromatherapy. If you drop one drop of thyme essential oil on a tick, embedded, it will pull its head out and fall off. I tried it before and it did work.

[beanma]

Originally Posted by oceanbaby

Someone told me to get into the bath when you get home, that they will jump off of you once you hit the water.

Nah, that's laughable. They don't care at all whether you're wet or dry. They just want to suck your blood. BWA-HA-HA!