Tick Tick Tick

 

 

Ticks are one of those things that are hard to love. Actually they are difficult not to dislike. You are wandering along minding your own business and without you knowing it a tiny hitch-hiker has stuck out a thumb and is coming along for the ride. So far so okay.

Once on-board they can wander about a bit, find somewhere nice warm and moist if possible. So this is the first hint the relationship is not healthy, your armpits and crotch are ideal holiday homes for ticks.

This is bad enough if they just hung about being a vague nuisance, but nope, they bury themselves into you head first, little legs wriggling. The wriggling legs give them away more than anything at this point. The size of a pinhead, not exactly easy to see, especially if via a mirror. There is something unsettling about spotting an insect burrowing into you.

If only this was their least unpleasant aspect. It is bad enough, but worse to come. The reason they are buried head first is because they are after your blood. Leave them long enough they can end up the size of a large pea or more, filled with your blood. They look decidedly ugly at this point.

If only this was an end of it, but in exchange for your blood they can give you rather unpleasant diseases. Lyme's disease being primary, it is not something you want. To add to the fun, symptoms can take a considerable timescale to develop and can be difficult to diagnose. Delightful isn't it.

Removing them as quickly as possible is a good plan. A diseased tick has a greater chance of passing on the disease the longer it is attached. Here the tick has one last little joke for you. Evolution has made sure tick mouthparts are ideal for hanging on. Basically they are not coming out, Pull a tick and its body will part from its mouth. The mouthparts remain in you to go septic. If that is not bad idea enough, in shock the tick probably vomited its stomach contents into you. Not great for disease avoidance. Burning them, covering them in meths etc etc have similar drawbacks.

So removing a tick fast and efficiently is a good plan. The best way I have found is with a tick removal tool and daily inspections where at all possible.

Not all removal tools are created equal. After failed experiments with a few (it is useful to have a small dog as a tick collecting device) I found the O'Tom Tick Twister to not only have the most flamboyant name but also the best results.

The device is simple, effective, efficient and small. Seems to have some eco-friendly credentials too boot. The Vetinary Record tested 4 different extraction tools offering different approaches to the same problem and the O'Tom was significantly better than other methods.

This is one bit of wildlife I am keen not to meet on Dartmoor.  I fully expect to be pulling them out of the dog at some point though.