The trouble with tracking or going out into the woods and fields is that sometimes you have to get “down and dirty”. Trackers call this “dirt-time” where your nose is to the floor examining micro signs of compression, disturbance and spoor. This can cause a problem especially in the summer. In fact you don’t have to have your nose to the ground to pick up a tick or two.
Ticks will survive better in hotter weather, but they will actively seek blood during warm weather and attach themselves anywhere (and I mean anywhere) on the body, especially those nice warm places we have! They tend to hang out in damp places for example mammal feeding areas but they can also be found in the long grass of meadow land and parks.
So what’s the deal? The trouble is that ticks carry diseases. They pick up the diseases from other animals they’ve feasted on and could transmit these diseases to humans. They can also inherit the disease from the parent tick. The most harmful is Lyme disease or Lyme borreliosis which can be a very debilitating illness lasting sometimes for years if not treated in the early stages.
Early symptoms can develop within days or weeks of the bite which may include tiredness, chills, fever, headache, muscle and/or joint pain, swollen lymph glands and blurred vision. A characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans may appear. It is generally a circular rash that may clear in the centre, resulting in a “Bull’s eye” appearance. It can expand and move around the body. Medical help must be sought as soon as possible.
Have a look for the link that shows you a video of how a tick feeds.
It’s difficult to avoid ticks with our past-time, so we have to take the risk; it’s as simple as that. We can obviously check ourselves thoroughly at the end of the day and use a buddy-buddy system of inspection if you’re with a group of people. When you get home after your excursion, check yourself over thoroughly before jumping in theshower. If a tick is found, it should be removed preferably with a tick removal tool. Failing that, use pointed tweezers and grasp the tick as close to your skin as possible without squeezing the tick’s body and pull the tick out by twisting and pulling gently. There may be considerable resistance. Ah… those huge fangs! Lovely!
The mouth-parts of a tick include a hypostome (rostrum) which is implanted in the skin during biting. This hypostome is fully covered with backward directed projections like barbs; this allows the tick to “anchor” into the skin. If you try and pull out the tick, the spikes will rise and the mouth-parts of the tick can break and stay in the skin, causing pain and infection. With a specialist hook, you can turn the body of the tick; the spikes fold into the axis of rotation, and the tick is easily removed, without traction effort, and decreasing the risks of breaking the rostrum.
It may not be possible to twist out the tick if you don’t have a bespoke tool, therefore try and gently pull out the tick.
If no tools are available at all, rather than delay, use a cotton thread – Tie a single loop of cotton around the tick’s mouthparts, as close to the skin as possible, then pull gently upwards and outwards. The idea is to remove the whole of the tick from the skin. If a part is left in (if you’re not careful, it’s normally the head) you can still get infected.
The sooner the tick is removed the better, but there’s no set time that a tick has to stay attached to the skin to potentially infect the host.
Don’t be tempted to burn off the tick or use any other methods, for example paraffin, petrol, vaseline or meths. This may make the tick regurgitate the content of its stomach.
You must then use antiseptic to clean the area; wash your hands (and tools used) and try and save the tick in case later symptoms develop. There’s no need to panic though. Many ticks do not carry the disease but just be wary and check yourself thoroughly.
Please also bear in mind that the information is for use in the UK and other countries may have different tick types and diseases.
Pablo.
Welcome.
This is the home of Woodlife. You will find links to Pablos Woodlife (blog) the Woodlife Social Network (forum) and Woodlife Trails (courses) all on this page.
Do insect repellants help keep ticks at bay?
PS Pablo I registered at your forum a few days ago but cant log in – do i need activation?
Hi Pablo
Essential infomation and well written, I don’t think that ticks have been much of a problem in my area but I’m always conscious if I travel.I can recall being present when someone got “ticked” in Devon last year. Sheep and Deer are the main carriers I believe?
This is the worst part of my love for the woods. Things eating me. It totally freaks me out.
There is tick repellent(what you want to look for is 0.5% permethrin. Deet is questionable) available and so far it has worked out for me. You spray your clothes(not yourself, it is a pesticide) and let it dry, it works for a couple of weeks.
I think my brother may have been in infected by a tick, as he has a swollen lymph gland on his leg. At first he thought it was from a mosquito bite and didn’t go to to the doctor until his leg had swollen up and gone numb. When the doctor saw him he just said it wasn’t from a mosquito as there weren’t any in the UK and to just keep his leg raised and the problem will go, which is obviously complete BS and hasn’t worked. My dad has told him to try and get a second opinion but I was wondering if you know if there is any cure for the problem?
Zammo, Your brother should go back to the GP and insist that he has been bitten by something other than a mosquito. He might just be allergic to what ever bit him, but he should get tested in case it is one of the tick diseases. If the GP doesn’t want to know I would tell him to go the hospital. A strong course of antibiotics should clear it up.
Pablo.
Ok thanks I’ll pass it on to him.
BTW do you know what has happened to Bushcraft UK, it always seems to be down now?
Hi Pablo, a well written article. Anyone who spends time outdoors should take note of what you say and heed your advice. Last year I picked up five ticks on one trip. This year, so far, I have managed one. That was when walking across Scotland at the beginning of May. Keep up your excellent blogs. Dawn.
Nice one Mr P!
As usual well put together and written. For added info I have used the ‘Q Tom’ on both me and the dog! 2 tiny plastic hooks, one for big boys, one for the smaller types, you slide the hook (a bit like a claw hammer without the face!)under the tick and ‘TWIST!! yep thats right twist!! anti-clockwise and out they come complete with mouth parts, then treat as you suggest. If all else fails get a good coating of vasaline all over the tick and surrounding area which then suffocates the tick which comes away without a struggle,(well you would if you were dead!) down side with this method it takes a couple of days to kill the thing. Keep up the good work.
Regards
Sailor
Pablo,
just about the best simple guide to removing tics I have ever seen. Can I use it in a book I am producing?
I have some great knife stuff from Rod-the-younger thats going in as well.
Sandsnakes
Rod-the-elder
Sandsnakes – Feel free but please credit the link I provided. I’ll pm you on the network.
All – A number of issues have been raised referring to methods for tick removal. I’ll only reiterate what I said in the post. I’m inclined to follow medical advice provided by official medical sites, and that is that suffocating with any substance or burning off is not recommended. Likewise, pulling the tick out instead of twisting is the recommended method.
All the best,
Pablo
Sorry – just to clarify about the twisting issue: the site does so do NOT twist with tweezers, but with the actual tick removal tool you should twist: ‘With a specialist hook, you TURN the body of the tick; the spikes fold into the axis of rotation, and the tick is easily removed, without traction effort, and decreasing the risks of breaking the rostrum.’
Excellent post, Pablo; everybody should be aware of the hazards posed by ticks. I worked for years on a highland sporting estate where I was involved in red deer control and regularly had several ticks feeding upon me at the end of the day…it became an evening ritual to ‘de-tick’ myself and the dog.
Re. the post above: *When the doctor saw him he just said it wasn’t from a mosquito as there weren’t any in the UK and to just keep his leg raised and the problem will go, which is obviously complete BS and hasn’t worked.*
It never ceases to amaze me how sweeping, and inaccurate, statements like the preceding one are made by our medical ‘experts’. Two years ago I contracted Lyme disease and, upon presenting to my GP with the classic symptoms, she declared that I had a flu bug and treated the rash, unsuccessfully, as ringworm!! I returned on two occasions, insisting that I felt that it was Lyme disease, but when I was told that there was no Lyme disease in Britain I informed her that I had done my zoology thesis on Lyme disease. Ten minutes later,I had had my blood tested; after a week or two the results came back as positive (I was appalled when my GP then declared that it was only ‘slightly’ positive) and was put on a dose of antibiotics. Don’t underestimate the disease; its very nasty & I was off work for several months. Also, don’t let your GP’s ignorance put you off. If you suspect that you have been bitten by a tick and are exhibiting ANY of the symptoms, insist upon a blood test.
There is an excellent wee tool available now for tick removal.
http://www.misotrading.co.uk/
I find it far superior to the green plastic hooks referred to above, but they are better than using tweezers. Moreover, all the sites that I’ve seen warn against coating the tick with ANY substance as this can cause the tick to regurgitate its blood-meal; as the Borrelia parasite resides in the tick’s digestive tract, this could increase the risk of becoming infected. Sorry to rant on folks…enjoy your time in the wilds…I still do, but I’m just much more aware and wary now. Peace and harmony to you.
Dingus – I have read about this tool – why do you consider it superior to the green plastic hooks? Any experiences may help us choose the best device
Hey Wild Man – I find that when a tick attaches itself to me I become aware of it PDQ! The green plastic hooks are great for removing ticks that have been feeding for a number of hours, but I found that they couldn’t quite connect with a tick that hadn’t been attached for long. The tick needs to have fed and increased in size for even the smallest hook to ‘catch’ a hold of them.
The plastic hooks then are fine for removing a tick which has been feeding for some time from my dog because the tick will be larger. Despite a thorough check when we come off of the hill, I usually can only locate them through the thick fur of the dog once they have swelled.
The Tick Lasso however will slip over even a nymph and, because, if used properly, the loop encircles the tick’s mouthparts before being drawn tight, there is no chance of the tick slipping out of the device, as can happen whilst attempting to remove very small ticks with the plastic hooks.
The plastic hooks are cheaper however and, as I said before, are preferable to tweezers.
As with all methods, great care must be taken not to squeeze the body of the tick whilst removing it as this could cause it to regurgitate its blood meal back into you, leading to an increased risk of infection. At around £6 a hit, the Tick Lasso is expensive but, in my humble opinion, the benefits outweigh the cost. The service was PDG too; my order was placed mid-afternoon and delivered by first post the next day.
I hope this helps explain why I felt that the Tick Lasso was superior to the plastic hooks.
I’m off on holiday now to the Cairngorms…a weeks cycling/trekking/bird-watching and I’ll have both devices with me – kinda like belt and braces, but as I said earlier, I’m mega-paranoid about the wee f*ck*rs now. Peace and harmony to y’all
Good post, I’ve never had one in the UK but have had them here and in the US. They can be really hard to find as they can get anywhere – a favourite haunt though is the top of socks/bottom of trousers.