It's that time of year again. I love going up to our cabin but there are ticks. Last year I felt one but couldn't find it until that night. I had a circle around it and it was red so I ended up going to the Dr when I got home and they gave me a pill. We always have to do checks after being outside. We put Frontline on our dog to stop her from getting them but is there anything we can do to avoid getting them besides wearing long pants and long sleeved shirts, socks over our pants and hats ? I am a sandal and shorts kind of gal and it gets pretty hot in the summer to bundle up. Ticks won't keep me away but I would sure like to feel safe. The duct tape is a good idea since it hurts to pull them off. I couldn't find the clothes on the LLBean site.
What I worry about most is if I have a tick and don't know it. Will there be the bullseye appearance for sure?
The CDC says to use a repellent with DEET on clothing and skin or permetherin (only on clothes). Permetherin can be used on boots, gear, etc and will stand up to a few washings. Here is a link to the CDC site:
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/StopTicks/
Ex officio has bug repellent clothing:
http://www.exofficio.com/search/bugs%20away?utm_source=go...
Just get some good insect repellant. We forgot to put it on one time when we went hiking in Arkansas and when we got home we were all covered in seed ticks! yuck! (they look like freckles) I used duct tape to get them off and that worked great! As long as you don't wait too long to do it- you just put a piece of duct over the tick then pull the tape off- the tick will stick to it.
~C.
Definitely add tick repellent to your plans if you don't do it already -- you don't mention using any repellent. I have not heard of or used the supposedly tick-repellent clothing but I'm betting it's pricey and if the effect eventually wears off with washing, what's the point? Get a good, name-brand repellent.
I've done several first aid courses and have never, ever heard about using duct tape to remove ticks. If the tick is embedded in the skin, meaning it's bitten you and is attached in anyway, using duct tape would be a terrible idea. It could pull off the body and leave the tick's head attached to you -- defeating the point of using it in the first place since you MUST remove the entire tick. Get a good, and very recent, first aid manual for detailed instructions on proper tick removal. You also never try to burn it off (I've actually heard of folks trying this!) and you do not want to use vaseline to "suffocate" it etc. You also do not want to break the tick's body, which can make it exude more of its fluids into you. Once you remove an attached tick, SAVE IT and put it into a plastic bag and take it to the doctor; doctors now can test the tick itself for Lyme disease and let you know quickly if the tick had Lyme and therefore if you have a chance of contracting Lyme. Remove properly, save the tick, see a doctor.
Ll bean sells clothing that is treated to keep ticks away and they stay repellent through a certain amount of washes. After seeing first hand what Lyme can do (my 9 year old has arthritis and my best friend has nerve damage) I will not chance it long sleeves, hats, pants, socks, spray, etc being in shorts and sandals is not worth the risk.
Edited: not everyone gets a bulls eye or if its on your scalp the bullseye can go unnoticed. My son had one of the largest ones our pediatrician had ever seen
I just checked ll bean and I didn't see them :/ they used to sell them. You want to think about treating your clothing with permethrin it's supposed to be better then deet.
We use a tick spoon for tick removal but deer ticks can be hard to see
A lot of good answers have already been given, but I was thinking you might also be able to spray the area around your cabin with something like Ortho Max which is what we use on our yard. We live in a very wooded area and it really seems to help.
