I figured, I should lay out the wealth of information (not much) that I know about ticks here. I am going to dispel of a few myths re. ticks.
MYTH 1: Ticks are the same as chiggers
Actually, they are NOT. Chiggers are the young lifestages of a type of mites. Ticks are in the ixodediacae family; chiggers are in the trombiculidae family. Both are, though, arachnids. Chiggers, then, attack when they are young; ticks attack in the adult phase. So they are both different species and they attack at different ages. Although S would tell you, ticks can also attack young, although not on purpose. Seed ticks are tick larvae; Straka once had one attack his eyeball!
MYTH 2: All ticks are poisonous
Nope, in fact, no ticks are poisonous. But ticks do carry a bacteria in their gut that can make people very sick with stuff like Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Ticks are a vector in the disease chain.
MYTH 3: If you get bit by a tick, you'll get a disease
The odds of you getting a disease are not high actually. First, not all ticks are vectors. Dog ticks, for example, are relatively harmless. Second, for the tick to give you disease, it has to vomit into you. This means that the tick must have been attached for a while, or it must get stressed out enough to vomit. The worst thing you can do when you have a tick on you is to pick at it unsuccessfully. It's better to either remove it properly or wait until someone can remove it for you.
MYTH 4: Ticks can just jump right onto you in the woods
Ticks can't jump. They can only be transmitted through contact. That is why it is rare to get ticks in sparse forest, but easy to get them in high grass, bramble, or clear cuts.
MYTH 5: Ticks only go for exposed skin
Actually, ticks prefer nice niche-y little crevices. Exposed skin allows them to get to these crevices, but when you are checking yourself or crew for ticks it's best to check all the awkward places. They love underwear lines, behind your knees, near your socks, under your hat band, in your hair, etc.
And now.... what to do about a tick!
Here's what you should do if you think you've got a tick.
1. First, find the sucker (literally, haha) and see what it looks like. If it is engorged (bigger than about a pinhead) it's probably been there for a while. Generally speaking, if the tick is silvery-grey like a dime, it's a dog tick, and will be okay; if it is brown or black, that may be a deer tick or a longhorned tick, and those are not okay.
2. Get a pair of tweezers and grasp the tick by the head. It has a large body, but do not grasp that. The head is the best place to grab, as close to the outer mouthparts as you can get.
3. Pull SLOWLY back on the tick. Mouthparts are covered with natural barbs and the tick inserts what I can best describe as "a long nasty tongue" into you; you DON'T WANT THAT TO GET STUCK IT WILL HURT. Pull straight backwards.
4. Do not use alcohol, match, or vasoline to remove the tick. That will stress it out and it will barf.
5. Put the tick in a plastic baggie and hang onto it for at least a few weeks; if you have entymology buddies, get a positive ID on it. You need to know what kind of tick bit you just in case you feel sick.
How to prevent ticks:
1. Wear DEET outside-- that really does help. I know they fall on you and everything, but DEET works. It just does.
2. Always wear a hat if you will be in dense woods. Foresters don't wear the long back hardhats because they look cool-- we wear them because ticks fall down the back of your shirt! (so does rain)
3. tuck in every seam you have-- don't let ticks in your shoes, gloves, etc.
4. Always check your crew when you leave the woods during a tick season. It's embarrassing to be standing there in your skivies, but worthwhile!
5. After you've been bit, apply lots of calamine lotion and do not itch. Why? The "long and nasty tongue" secretes a fluid that gets into the skin around the bite. When you itch, you're spreading that fluid further into more capillaries and only making your problem worse. DO NOT ITCH.
mmmmm archnidae!!
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