Here is an link to an excellent flyer from the CDC on ticks (and removal there-of) and Lyme Disease.
https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/resources/tool ... se-508.pdf
Jim Wagner
tick removal
Re: tick removal
Update: a few weeks ago, I had to use the Tick Twister on a hiking partner, and then it had to be used on me, and both times it seemed to work really well. The tick that was pulled off me (after around 4 hours embedded) was so intact that it extracted itself from the twister slot and started crawling around.
Will hike off trail for fun.
Re: tick removal
I try to follow the practice of pulling on a tick gently until it gives up and releases on its own (using the proper instrument and technique). Done correctly, you don't squeeze the tick. Imagine pulling a nail out of wood, using a claw hammer. Same idea. Pull gently until your skin tents out, hold for maybe 15 seconds, if no success pull a little harder. It always works for me, I've never had to pull a tick out using brute force (i.e. I've never pulled a tick off the same way you'd pick a berry, by simply plucking it off quickly). I've only had to extract a handful* of ticks, so I'm far from an expert.
* not literally, that would be horrible
* not literally, that would be horrible
- Waffle Stomper
- Posts: 3581
- Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Re: tick removal
I had one squirm in a vial of rubbing alcohol for a couple days before there was no further movement.
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." - John Muir
Re: tick removal
Chip Down: your "catch and release" comment is very funny
I just hope I don't get bitten by one of your ticks. However, my policy is more like "stand your ground." If it bites me, it dies. That goes for animals big and small.
BTW, I could use another bear skin carpet. That cougar skin in the guest bedroom is getting a bit worn out.posting.php?mode=reply&f=18&t=28121#
I just hope I don't get bitten by one of your ticks. However, my policy is more like "stand your ground." If it bites me, it dies. That goes for animals big and small.
BTW, I could use another bear skin carpet. That cougar skin in the guest bedroom is getting a bit worn out.posting.php?mode=reply&f=18&t=28121#
- retired jerry
- Posts: 12774
- Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Re: tick removal
hmmm...
my cat bit me...
my cat bit me...
Re: tick removal
i got 2 tick bites this year. One on the top of my forearm near my elbow out in the ochocos in may. Pulled it off the second i noticed it and no reaction really. Itched for a few days, small spot for a week, then gone. Whew, as my prior tick bites in the previous years lasted for months upon months..
Then I got a bite under my left pectoral muscle july 1st down in the siskiyous. Must have be a section we went through as my dog picked up a bunch that day but we did a hike with plenty of brush and tall grass just 1 ridgeline/valley over and zero ticks.
Anyways the tick wasn't on me for more than an hour and had bitten, I pulled it off and killed it (always). Within 12hrs later, that night, I couldn't sleep due to pain in my shoulder. I was wracking my mind for where I must have jarred it, having done some off trail up hill travel with a 25lb kid on my back and other misc stuff.. surely i had tweaked it. The next morning inspection showed a line of red traveling up from the tick bite to my armpit where my lymph node had swelled considerable (maybe like the size of a small mandarin orange?)..basically the 'cup' of my armpit was bulged out instead of in..and my entire shoulder hurt 5 out of 10 on the pain scale.
By late Tuesday it felt better, and Wednesday we had a town day scheduled and I managed to get in an out of urgent care at Curry Health Center in Brookings in about 35 minutes with a prescription for doxycycline which I finished on Saturday. No more pain but intense itching at the bite and around it still and it looks terrible. I feel like I'm getting a hyper-reactive immune response to tick bites these days. At almost 40 I guess it is finally time to establish a PCP and keep an eye on these things so I've got a follow up at the end of the month. I am guessing I'm going to have to have the bite area excised or wait for a granuloma to form and that will be removed.
Then I got a bite under my left pectoral muscle july 1st down in the siskiyous. Must have be a section we went through as my dog picked up a bunch that day but we did a hike with plenty of brush and tall grass just 1 ridgeline/valley over and zero ticks.
Anyways the tick wasn't on me for more than an hour and had bitten, I pulled it off and killed it (always). Within 12hrs later, that night, I couldn't sleep due to pain in my shoulder. I was wracking my mind for where I must have jarred it, having done some off trail up hill travel with a 25lb kid on my back and other misc stuff.. surely i had tweaked it. The next morning inspection showed a line of red traveling up from the tick bite to my armpit where my lymph node had swelled considerable (maybe like the size of a small mandarin orange?)..basically the 'cup' of my armpit was bulged out instead of in..and my entire shoulder hurt 5 out of 10 on the pain scale.
By late Tuesday it felt better, and Wednesday we had a town day scheduled and I managed to get in an out of urgent care at Curry Health Center in Brookings in about 35 minutes with a prescription for doxycycline which I finished on Saturday. No more pain but intense itching at the bite and around it still and it looks terrible. I feel like I'm getting a hyper-reactive immune response to tick bites these days. At almost 40 I guess it is finally time to establish a PCP and keep an eye on these things so I've got a follow up at the end of the month. I am guessing I'm going to have to have the bite area excised or wait for a granuloma to form and that will be removed.
Feel Free to Feel Free
Re: tick removal
since everyone wants to know about 'my rash'
jk..
Compared to the tick bite I got at catherine creek in March of 2017 on my hip the july 2019 bite I got in the siskiyous is already better and seems gone. wooo! I was worried about it being agitated for years like previous bites I got. Maybe the anti-biotics helped?

Compared to the tick bite I got at catherine creek in March of 2017 on my hip the july 2019 bite I got in the siskiyous is already better and seems gone. wooo! I was worried about it being agitated for years like previous bites I got. Maybe the anti-biotics helped?
Feel Free to Feel Free