#tick safety

[monsterqueers]

Ok so I love all the tick awareness posts going around, but a lot of the advice is not feasible for everyone.

As someone who lives in a tick hotspot and works in the woods outside, ticks (and other biting insects) are a very normal and unavoidable part of life for some people.

For people who live like me and cannot simply do pitch perfect doctor recommended things always all the time, here is some harm reduction-esque advice;

Pants and lighter clothes are a great idea. They make ticks easier to spot and make them work harder to bite you. They aren't required, but they are useful.

Insect repellent does work. Use some on your lower legs/pants if its available. Its not as effective on ticks as it is on mosquitos, but it can help. Some repellents are great on ticks but not so much other bugs. Ive had luck with the usual 'off' brand name spray and a spray called cedarcide. Cedarcide did better than off for me, but it has a VERY strong nausea-inducing scent that not everyone can handle and you shouldn't go through wetlands with it on your boots. This isn't a rec just a report, do your own research, etc etc.

Avoid tall grass and brush, this often has ticks. They do not drop down from trees. If you avoid places ticks are likely to be it can help. Yes fuck lawn culture but theres a good reason some places mow the places people walk- less ticks. Consider doing that maybe.

Check for ticks periodically while outside, and do a more through check when you come inside. Hotspots are around the crotch, armpits, ankles, anywhere under clothes, any other 'folded over' parts of your body, and the scalp, but feel over as much of your body as you can. Changing out of your clothes when you are done being outside for the day is recommended.

Sometimes ticks manage to bite you. This is not the end of the world. Just get them off ASAP by pulling them off from the head. Don't do a twisting motion, just pull from as close to the skin as possible. Don't burn them off, pull them off still alive, THEN burn them or whathaveyou. Tweezers or the tick removers help but aren't strictly necessary. If its been on for less than 24 hours you are probably fine and don't really need to bother keeping the tick in most cases.

Treat tick bites with your preferred itch reducer if you want (calamine lotion, hydrocortisone, etc) and maybe some rubbing alcohol or other antiseptic if you're worried about infection. Watch the bite and your general state of being for a bit (~2 weeks) after.

A red raised bump from the bite is normal. Some people (hi!) react strongly to all insect bites and get inflamed and itchy at the site for days no matter what. This only becomes notable if the rash spreads strongly, makes a bull's eye shape, you exhibit other symptoms associated with tick borne illnesses or allergic reactions, or it seems to have become seriously infected. This is when you really want a doctor.

If you exhibit tick born illness symptoms, its also not the end of the world. Get to a doctor asap though- fast treatment is key. If you live in a high-risk state for certain diseases, better safe than sorry.

Tick bites happen, you usually don't need to panic about them. Keep an eye out and avoid them where possible, but if you can't just keep an eye out for symptoms and remove them asap.

[trunkards]

Trunkards #608. When you get back to nature, nature gets back to you.

© 2023 Rick Hutchins

[spoonful116]

Tick bites aren't just itchy, they can carry some nasty diseases!

[insanefemme]

All of the above + There are also repellants against ticks both for humans and for animals. I mostly spray the repellant on my legs especially my ankles.

I use Scalibor for my dog and I've found that that works best. One lasts us the entire tick season.

If you do get a tick don't panic. Yes they carry illnesses but a lot also don't. I've probably removed 100+ from my, my friend's and my neighbours dogs and cats. I'm really good at both finding and removing them so I'm constantly checking any animal that lets me. None of those animals have gotten sick.

I've only had one myself but yeah I just monitored the bite after removing the tick and that's it.

Also. They can be surprisingly tiny. The one I had was so tiny I couldn't even see it's belly lift when I ran over it with my finger (I thought it was small mole)

But they can also be surprisingly large when full of blood - think the tip of your pinky (from where your nail starts growing) sized.

I'm trying to write a post about tick safety and avoiding tick bites, but a lot of the info on websites is like "Avoid going in the woods, in plants, and where there are wild animals" and "Activities like hiking and gardening can put you at risk" and I'm like thanks! This is worthless!

As ticks and tick borne illnesses are expanding their range, I think it's important for people to be educated about these things, and I think it's especially important to give people actual advice on how to protect themselves instead of telling them to just...avoid the natural world

Rough draft version of Tick Advice:

Ticks don't jump down on you from trees, they get on you when you brush against grass, brush, bushes etc.

Ticks get brought to an area when they get done feeding from an animal and fall off them. In the USA, the main tick-bringing animal is deer, but I've seen plenty ticks on feral cats and songbirds.

Ticks get killed when they dry out so drier areas with more sunlight are less favorable to ticks.

The above is useful for figuring out whether an area is likely to have lots of ticks, and how vigilant you have to be in that area.

Wear light-colored, long pants outside. Tuck your pants into your socks, and tuck your shirt into the waist of your pants. Invest in light, breathable fabrics idc

IMMEDIATELY change out of your outside clothes when you come back from a tick-prone area, wash them, and dry them on high heat to kill any ticks that might be stuck on.

Shower and check yourself for ticks after coming inside. Hair, armpits, and nether regions in particular. You can use a handheld mirror or rely on touch; an attached tick will feel like a bump kinda like a scab

While you're outside, you can just periodically check for ticks by running your hands down your legs and checking visually to see if anything is crawling on your clothes. Light colors make them easy to spot, and they don't move fast.

Combing through each others' hair to check for creepy crawly critters is a time-honored primate ritual and is not weird. When hiking, bring a friend who will have your back when you feel something on your neck and need to know if it's sweat or a tick

If you're careful, you can usually catch ticks before they bite you, but if one does bite you, it's not the end of the world. Since tickborne diseases are different regionally i suspect this advice will differ based on where you are, but the important thing is remove the tick with tweezers (DON'T use butter, a lit match, or anything that kills the tick while it's still attached, please) and contact a doctor to see what to watch for. Most illnesses you can catch from ticks are easily treatable if you recognize them when symptoms first appear

[hinamie]

i'm exactly as normal about him as I thought I'd be

[weedman4206969]

[priyanshujakhwal]

Tick Free- Tick & Flea Repelling Spray

This is a Tick and Flea Repelling spray which is an ayurvedic and 100% natural product. This is specially made to prevent our furry friends from ticks and fleas. As it is organic product and free of all harsh chemicals it can be used to any age dog whether it is puppy or a adult dog. The Active ingredients in the tick spray is in the form of natural oils and extracts of Lemongrass, Basil, Eucalyptus, Licorice, which helps in eliminating ticks without causing any harm on the coat.

[keyboardsblog]

Welcome Summer Solstice! (6/21/23). How Do I Safely Find Ticks On My Pet To Help Prevent Lyme Disease? #SummerSolstice

[monster-creator-12]

Guess who got Lyme Disease! Pro tip to all fellow field biologists, always tuck your pants into your socks and your shirt into your pants. Something my dumbass forgot to do for a few days due to the oppressive heat. That was a big mistake. Also douse your clothes in permethrin. I’m on antibiotics and I caught it early so I’ll be fine, just a hazard of the job I’m afraid. This is why I prefer aquatic and marine field work to terrestrial.

[spoonful116]

Bug off, bugs!

[isaacsapphire]

I might legit do this on purpose to defend against tick bourn illness .

wore my thigh high boots on a walk today and we had to take a path through some long grass and while everyone else was rolling their pants into their socks and putting on jackets to protect themselves from ticks i was standing there smug as hell in my thigh high leather boots.

[plebeiangoth]

Just pulled a tick out of a nast bite, which I must have picked up from the garden earlier

Please be extremely careful after being outside to check for ticks, remove ticks immediately and entirely, clean any bites, and go straight to the doctor if you get a bullseye, worsening rash, flu-like symptoms or joint pain. Lyme disease fucking sucks, I stupidly ignored it for a month as a kid once and I didn't recover well once I completed antibiotics and had post-treatment lyme disease syndrome for a long while.

The bite I have mostly looks like I did a rough job removing the tick and pinched my skin too hard trying to grab the tick. But I scrubbed it with iodine and put some PRID on it (I don't know if that helps, it's just a thing my mom told me to do with tick bites and it seems to make the bite heal quickly). It was surely attached for less than 24 hours (5 max, I imagine) and there's no rings. I think it'll be fine but I'll monitor it

[baconcolacan]

This is what Tom's rifle looks like btw lol, it's a modified Winchester M70, still bolt action, which drives Tord insane but Tom more than makes up for it by being an extremely talented, and scarily accurate, marksman on the field.

It's difficult to use if you don't have Tom's strength and precision.

I have this mini headcanon that both Tom and Tord like guns, it's just that Tom prefers older models and guns used for accuracy, while Tord loves more powerful and modern guns.

[planet4546b]

i think one of my favorite things about citizen sleeper and the experience of playing that game is the realization that the characters who look like cute, cozy-game-type possible friends and love interests do not care about you and are using you for their own goals. and you can use them back to get the ending you want but i felt bitter and scared and alone while playing that game and the game shrugged right back at me and said yeah. you might be.

[rambrosius]

I don't normally engage in these kinds of posts beyond reblogging them, but I'll get into my personal connection and PSA:

Watch out for ALL allergies too, especially with the rise of Alpha-gal.* My aunt has it, and is not only allergic to nuts, but mammal meat (pork, beef, goat, etc...), mammal milk (cheese, yoghurt, etc.), several cleaners, certain artificial sweeteners, gelatine based products like capsules and Jell-o, cement glue, and much more. Animal byproducts are everywhere and can be just as harmful as directly touching milk. If she is in the vicinity of cooking meat, she will go into anaphylactic shock. She is so sensitive that she does not have to touch it for her throat to swell shut. Likewise, several other people in my family and my village that have deadly allergies related and not related to Alpha-gal (there is about 700 people in my town and I can name at least 10 off the top of my head alone out of just the circle of people that I have some kind of relationship to who have an allergy). If someone requests for a certain ingredient to be left out, do NOT think you're doing something by ignoring that request.** You could start a deadly reaction.

Consider instead adding epipen training the next time you get first aid or cpr/aed certified, and actively engage in risk reduction. You do not need to know someone's medical history to respect a request. I promise that there are very few people with a condition who want to make your life harder, and even fewer people have the audacity to fake a condition.

*Alpha-gal is not a genetic allergy. It is caused by a tick bite from a Lone Star tick. Which means that anybody can be at risk for developing this disease, and this is why it is one of the fastest growing allergies in North America. There is currently no cure, but there are injections available to reduce the risk of severe reaction. Reduce, not mitigate entirely. Please take caution if you know you will be spending time outside during warmer seasons, take the time to learn how to prevent tick bites.

**This goes beyond allergies. Diabetics, people with hypertension or who have high cholesterol, folks on certain kinds of medications, folks with disabilities related to mouth movement or swallowing, and so many more are often restricted or prohibited in what they can consume, by eating or by contact, without having an adverse reaction and/or dying.

I wasn't going to derail the disability pride month post for people with peanut allergies but in relation to that topic

I have never seen another allergy that has been so viscerally hated and mocked by people working in education like nut allergies. I've seen fellow teachers cringe that their classroom was the "nut free" classroom that year. Support staff that are trained and willfully don't follow cross contamination protocol in the lunchroom because it's too "tedious" or "time-consuming". Full preschools + childcare centers that refuse to accommodate nut allergies. Schools where the only free lunch is a PB&J. Before/after school programs and summer programs whose food curriculum has nuts and doesn't provide an alternative activity.

Allergy discrimination is so so insidious and prevalent. It's happening behind their back and it is everything from the exposure joke to possibly causing someone to go into anaphylaxis from willful ignorance.

Also other parents in the classroom are guilty too. The "not my child not my problem" brain rot means that those lunchboxes are like bombs for airborne exposure allergies

[taurya]

Cameras can have a little bit of spray paint

Just as a taste