# Ticks



## Altaskibum (May 12, 2008)

Hey All, I just took my dog for a walk under the power lines the other day and we both came back covered with ticks. I am not a pansy it was just a huge pain getting them all off of myself and the pooch. Any idea when they slow down enough to get into the brush. I don't mind a few of them but this was just crazy.


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## deadheadskier (May 12, 2008)

I personally never had a problem with ticks having lived most of my life in New England and spent a lot of time in the woods.  Maybe one a year.  Dogs I've had were another story.  Seemed like a daily thing in summer to search for tics on Samson.


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## ski_resort_observer (May 12, 2008)

Go to the vet and get some Frontline for the pooch....definately have ticks in Cumberland, ME, not so much in Vermont. We use Buzz Off,  a Maine made non-DEET all natural repellant that helps in addition to the other common sense things to do.


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## Johnskiismore (May 12, 2008)

Yesterday we were getting ready to mountainbike in Berlin, NH, and everyone coming off of the trail told us us that ticks had goot them.  We were lucky, no passengers but I have aleady been visited by two ticks............ and that was almost three weeks ago!


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## Puck it (May 13, 2008)

Use K9 Advantix.  Covers Ticks, fleas and mosquitos.  My two may get one or two a year using this.


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## ski_resort_observer (May 13, 2008)

Puck it said:


> Use K9 Advantix.  Covers Ticks, fleas and mosquitos.  My two may get one or two a year using this.



Is that the product that has that cute funny ad.."there ain't no bugs on me".....is it better than Frontline?


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## GrilledSteezeSandwich (May 13, 2008)

Several years back..I got a lyme disease tick bite.  There was a bullseye on my arm..and luckily I got the right drugs and got the lyme disease zapped from my system.  I got the tick bite fooling around the woods in NJ with an ex-girlfriend..and apparently the ticks get lyme disease from deer.


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## SkiingInABlueDream (May 13, 2008)

to the OP - Id suggest getting tested for Lyme.  Absence of the telltale bullseye rash is not an absolute indicator that you're not infected with the bacteria.  And if it's in your system and goes untreated it builds up until you have serious neurological issues and life basically sux.  I know someone who went through it.


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## Altaskibum (May 13, 2008)

Yeah I keep frontline on my dog. And I find that they still will hitch a ride but they die if they cling on. As for me, I was able to remove all of them and none bit me, (all wood ticks). I find that if I stay in wooded areas I am usually ok but if I get into a field or pasture that is when they really come out. I know that spring is the worst for ticks I just am curious when they tone down.


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## Puck it (May 13, 2008)

ski_resort_observer said:


> Is that the product that has that cute funny ad.."there ain't no bugs on me".....is it better than Frontline?


 

Yes it is.  It also stops mosquitoes too.  I prefer it over frontline.


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## bliss (May 18, 2008)

my friend and her bf went for a hike last weekend and came back with a collection of ticks as well! I went hiking and had none... is the location a factor?
what i am hearing is that it was not cold enough this winter, so it is going to be a tick intense summer


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## MichaelJ (May 18, 2008)

I'm currently on 21 days of antibiotics for my first tick bite ever. I had a deer tick on me for around 36 hours; I had felt the discomfort but thought it was just one of my injuries (see my Owl's Head trip report) so it wasn't until I looked closely and saw the little legs that I realized what was going on.

The official word from the doctor is that had I gotten to them within 72 hours of the initial penetration, I could have had a one-time treatment that would stop any lyme or skin infection outright.

So if you do get bit, get thee to the doctor in time.


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## Altaskibum (May 18, 2008)

Wow! glad you caught it in time!


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## MichaelJ (May 19, 2008)

Whoops, lemme clarify what I said there, because I didn't actually catch it in time:

The one-time within-72-hours treatment is one dose of antibiotics and you're done.

I had the tick for 36 hours and didn't get to the doctor until after the weekend (didn't want to skip Mother's Day) so I'm on the 21 days of 2 doses of antibiotics each day.


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## Talisman (May 20, 2008)

Not to be nosey, but how 'bloated' was the tick when you found it on yourself?  Local doctor's are pretty blase about tick bites unless they have been feeding awhile and bloating is one of the factors.

Human parasites are rarely fun.


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## MichaelJ (May 20, 2008)

Not really engorged at all, but still, having been attached for 36 hours it was still very risky, and the resulting bite wound was in worrisome shape and merited some level of antibiotics, anyway.


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## catskills (May 30, 2008)

More Tick Stew and Less Ticks.  :blink:


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## Mike P. (May 30, 2008)

I've missed two days with flu like symptoms. no sign of ticks but maybe a mosquito bite????  (or maybe allergerie?  Never have had allergies before though  & I wouldn't think they would come with body aches .


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## billski (Jul 6, 2008)

deadheadskier said:


> I personally never had a problem with ticks having lived most of my life in New England and spent a lot of time in the woods.  Maybe one a year.  Dogs I've had were another story.  Seemed like a daily thing in summer to search for tics on Samson.



I've been hiking these parts since 1978.  I'll find ticks on me only if I'm either bushwhacking or running through pastures or tall grassy expanses (you know, like dogs do...).  I always make sure to check myself as soon as I'm out.  

I can't recall a time I picked up a tick when hiking on a maintained trail.


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## ski_resort_observer (Jul 6, 2008)

bliss said:


> my friend and her bf went for a hike last weekend and came back with a collection of ticks as well! I went hiking and had none... is the location a factor?
> what i am hearing is that it was not cold enough this winter, so it is going to be a tick intense summer



The harshness of the winter doesn't effect the number of ticks directly, the amount of hosts availible(mostly deer in the northeast) does that. Ticks spend the winter in the ground so if there is little frost they are active faster. If the winter is mild it does mean tick season can start earlier but a spell of dry warm weather will end the season. 

Ticks cannot jump or fly but will drop down on a subject from above. They are alerted by our release of carbon dioxide just like mosquitos. Some feel they are also alerted by our heat but that is debatable.


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## MichaelJ (Jul 11, 2008)

ski_resort_observer said:


> Ticks cannot jump or fly but will drop down on a subject from above.



Or get brushed onto a leg while moving through tall grass, which is how I always seem to end up dealing with them...


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## ski_resort_observer (Jul 14, 2008)

MichaelJ said:


> Or get brushed onto a leg while moving through tall grass, which is how I always seem to end up dealing with them...



I think that's how most of us get them....kinda surprised  that there isn't nearly as much tick action up here in Northern Vermont vs the Maine coast.


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## MichaelJ (Jul 15, 2008)

I think it has to do with the length of season. The White Mountains don't have ticks once you get north of the Sandwich Range (which does have them), and the region around Sugarloaf, as well as Baxter, don't have them, either.


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