Ticks crawling on me!
 

OMG! I have been picking "bugs" running on my neck for several days and thought they were spiders except the bodies were hard. Today I got one and put it in the sink and discovered it was a tick!! I don't use flea/tick meds on Zoey because it makes her hair greasy. STUPID me. I started looking on her and immediately saw a big swollen one on her neck. I have never seen a tick before but after seeing it in the sink I went online and found out how to remove one. Zoey was such a trooper when I pulled it out and put alcohol on the area. Will keep an eye on the area for any sign of infection. I got out her flea/tick meds and applied it. Can't believe this happened.

Pour a little alcohol in a jar, after you remove the tick put it in the jar with the alcohol, it will die almost immediately, a little trick I learned from a YT member. I use to flush them but always feared one day one would come back and bite my butt. No more fears, I keep a small jar with alcohol for just in case.

LOL! That's exactly what I did - flushed it. I hope I never see another one. Ugg.

Ticks can bring all sorts of bad things. Get a good flea/tick solution for Zoey fast!

I did put it on her immediately. I think it is called Quad Guard - something like that - which was expensive so I guess it is a good product.

Omgoodness......where did she get them from???
I'm glad you finally found out what they are. Ick.
Alcohol in a jar..... I will try and remember that.
I've heard if one is embed, strike a match, blow it out then put the hot tip on the tick and it will reverse itself out of the body.

In living here 30 years we have lived here we have never had a tick nor fleas In my backyard and that is the only place they go. I wonder if rabbits can bring ticks? We do have rabbits.

Not true, only way to get entire tick head out is with a tweezers. There are many suggestions, smother the tick with tooth paste, or Vaseline, all myths, tweezers and grasp head as close to skin without pinching the skin. Firm grip without crushing the tick, pull tick straight out.

Joan is correct. All myths. I went online to see what a tick looked like before I found one on Zoey and there were sites to show the proper way to remove them. I saw a video some time ago on getting a tick out by twisting the body back and forth and the thing backed out but there is no way I could touch that nasty body.

Ticks are gross you did better than I could I cant stand a bug crawling on me

I have heard this works well.

The Tick Key® Tick Remover Your Key to Removing Ticks | eBay

Yes rabbits do carry ticks and fleas too. Deer are tick carriers as well. Virtually all warm blooded wildlife carry ticks and fleas.:eek:

+1 on the Tick Key. Extremely easy tick removal and you don't have to touch the tick. I keep one in my wallet but you can even hang it on your dog's collar. Amazon has them as does eBay.

yes-rabbits are very prone to ticks.

In Australia, this is the latest advice on how to remove ticks:
Catalyst: Tick allergy - ABC TV Science

A longer quote from the site:

"... remove ticks the right way?

Dr Andrew Ratchford
Yeah, if you squeeze the tick, that causes the allergen to enter the bloodstream, which causes the anaphylactic reaction. If you remove the tick correctly without squeezing it then you don't have those problems.

NARRATION
Unfortunately most of us instinctively do the wrong thing. So you have a tick. How should you remove it?

Dr Jonica Newby
Here's my tick. Now this is what most of us will do - we'll either scratch it off or reach for the household tweezers. Now this is precisely the worst thing you can do. As you remove the tick, you squeeze it and all its contents go straight into your bloodstream.

Assoc Professor Sheryl van Nunen
What they need to know is household tweezers are tick squeezers.

Dr Jonica Newby
So what should you do? Well, you should go to the chemist and buy a spray containing ether. So something like Wart Off, or Medi Freeze Skin Tag Remover. Place the nozzle conveniently over the tick and spray. Feels cold - freeze the tick, and wait about ten minutes for the tick to die. Once it's dead, you can just brush it off.

Assoc Professor Sheryl van Nunen
'Freeze it, don't squeeze it', would be our advice.

NARRATION
So that will kill the adults. But what about the tiny ticks? The little larvae or nymphs? Now these are my little larval ticks and for these I'm gonna use a cream containing permethrin. Now this is basically the same kind of cream as you get for scabies. Just rub that in. The ticks will all die and soon you'll be able to just rub them off.

Dr Andrew Ratchford
We dab them. Don't grab them."

When I went online to see how to remove a tick it showed using needle nose tweezers - grabbing the tick by the head next to the skin and pulling straight out. The Australian video said not to use tweezers - it's the wrong thing to do. I hope I never had to get a tick off of my babies or God forbid, me but if I do what is best?

Tweezers have always worked for me, I will stick to that if ever I have to remove another one..... :eek: