[GCW]

I'm talking arthropods here, not dankey lines.

After getting 5 ticks in the last 6 outings I'm getting bored of trying to pull/ dig out ticks and parts of ticks from my legs.  I think I must be a tick magnet.

Anyone got any recommendations for a tool for removing ticks in one piece?  (or are they all just shit).  I've seen the TickTwister and the Tick Lasoo and theh TickOut.

Any advice?

[Serpico]

Napalm.

[Adam Lincoln]

Where have you been climbing G? Good to see the tics prefer the taste of you to the taste of Amber. 

[GCW]

Got one at Warton.  Then another at Warton.  Then one at Farleton.  Then another at Farleton.  Then one up at Gouther.  I managed to avoid one at Thorn.

Little fuckers.  I seem to attract insects.  ANy midges/mosquitos/ticks and they head for me.

[tomtom]

Anyone got any recommendations for a tool for removing ticks in one piece?  (or are they all just shit).  I've seen the TickTwister and the Tick Lasoo and theh TickOut.

Any advice?

For tick removal - put a blob of fairy liquid on it - the fucker then cannot respire, so lets go to try and find somewhere where it can breathe... then you pull it off and STAMP on the little bastard   This has worked better for me than other methods - though it does feel fucking weird when it wriggles and lets go.. euch..

For tick discouragement... Long trousers (doh!) with a draw cord around the ankle - or failing that SteveM has a cunning trick of stuffing his socks up the bottom of his trousers (round his ankles of course..)..

Chemical wise I spent some time doing fieldwork with some folks in the US mid west, and that was tick central. Aside from tucking trousers into socks - they all put insect repellant (something deet based) on their ankles and lower legs. That seemed to help.

Other than that make sure you really check yourself out when you get back home. Backs of knees, around the waist band of pants and in the crease between your legs and meat and two veg are their favourite places!

[GCW]

I do all the discouragement (except ankle ties/bicycyle clips).

It isn't recommended to use vaseline/washing liquid/ cigarettes/flames as the ticks regurgitate into their host and it incresaes transfer risk of Lyme's from an infected tick.  Hence the desire for clean removal.

I'll maybe try DDT next time.

[tomtom]

It isn't recommended to use vaseline/washing liquid/ cigarettes/flames as the ticks regurgitate into their host and it incresaes transfer risk of Lyme's from an infected tick.  Hence the desire for clean removal.

Cheers for the tip!

[dave]

yeah owt like that vaseline bullshit or hitting them with a lit fag is crap advice. just pull them out (slight twist can help) with tweezers. if you really want to be serious about avoiding nasties further down the line, then save every removed tick in an old 35mm film canister (remember those?) that way if you do come down with anything the quacks can test the tick to see what shit its given you. If you get them out early you're very unlikely to get any problems though.

[GCW]

The ones I've recently have been very small and fall apart when you use tweezers, leaving the head in.

[SA Chris]

I have one the large and little sets of tick twisters, and they work very well on all but the tiniest ones, and they can usually be removed by scraping them with a fingernail. Have one set in the top zip of pack, and another in 1st aid kit at home.

Dave's advice is good about keeping the corpses after crushing them, fold them in a bit of bogroll makes them easier to find, esp if they are tiny. Watch the spot where they attached for a week or so after. A mark like a mosquito bite is expected, anything other than that, go see a doc. And agree that suffocating and burning off are bad ideas.

[tomtom]

After my previous post that revealed how little I know about tics maybe this will offer some compensation.. I was in the field today up in N.Yorkshire and the guy I was with had one of these. I think he first got it for his dog, but has used it on himself and recons its works really well...

[Johnny Brown]

Would you recommend the big one or the little one?

[tomtom]

Would you recommend the big one or the little one?

A big one for big tics and a little one for little tics?? 

[SA Chris]

That's the tick twister as mentioned by GCW and I, they come in a set of 2 - small, and slightly less small. A few about in Northumberland this weekend, although I think they were from wandering in the dunes on Lindisfarme, rather than at the crags.

[Baldy]

Also, when removing them, do it quickly and with as little fussing about as possible, if the tick is poked about too much it sees it as an attack and again spews up into your gaping tick wound.
I did a little research a while back and apparently if you get them off within 48 hours you significantly reduce the chances of lyme's or other nasties.

Archie

[GCW]

TickTwister video here.

[GCW]

Right, after getting another tick on Friday which the wife managed to snap at removal (so now I'm part man- part insect), I think I'll invest in one of the tick twisters.  I'll let you know how it copes with the next tick event (which won't be far away based on previous records).

Interestingly, I note that people have caught Lyme Disease following tick bites in Silverdale 

[GCW]

My TickTwister arrived this week, which was good as I got 3 ticks yesterday.

I can report the TickTwister worked wonders- easy to use, and gets the ticks out alive and whole.   

I'd happily recommend it for anyone that gets ticks on a regular(ish) basis. 

[mrjonathanr]

Right, after getting another tick on Friday which the wife managed to snap at removal (so now I'm part man- part insect),

Brundle-GCW? Has your dynoing dramatically improved recently?