Ticks!

Tabnabs

Just looking at the survival tin on the BOB thread and it reminded me that I put one of these into mine last year


If you don't know about ticks, you need to educate yourself and I'd recommend the following site http://ticktalkireland.org/

eth0

Annoying little shaggers them ticks. Never been bit by one here, only in England. Are they more common over there?

Doc Ruby

Blech. Hate ticks. I thought lyme disease was only in North America though?

Tabnabs

Doc Ruby wrote: »

Blech. Hate ticks. I thought lyme disease was only in North America though?

Not at all, more info here
http://www.hpsc.ie/hpsc/A-Z/Vectorborne/LymeDisease/Factsheet/

and

http://www.caireland.org/our_campaigns/rural_livelihoods_campaigns/Are_You_Tick_Aware?/

johngalway

Doc Ruby wrote: »

Blech. Hate ticks. I thought lyme disease was only in North America though?

No. My girlfriend has had it, you don't want to get it - seriously & genuinely.

You're planning on heading to Connemara? That's where she picked the little critter up. Those tick tools do work well, have removed a little tosser out of her daughter last year.

Not so careful with myself, familiarity breeds contempt being a sheep farmer they're part of the job

Doc Ruby

And now I hate ticks even more. Still just doing a bit of quick study on it:

Remember, an infected tick must be attached for more than 24 hours to successfully transmit B. burgdorferi to humans.

So you should be alright with regular self inspections, which I'd do anyway.

Although why..?

No. Although there had been a vaccine against human Lyme disease, this vaccine is no longer marketed.

colonel-yum-yum

Ticks eh?

sheesh

no not the tick :D

ticks

Yes there is Lymnes disease in places like Killarney national Park it is supposed to occur in places that have Deer I heard warnings about it when i used to go orienteering there.

slowburner

As a wee fella, I was always told to avoid Bracken. That was where you were sure to pick up Scíortháins (sp).

And it is true, Bracken is one of the favoured habitats of both deer and sheep ticks.

Here's advice on how to remove the creatures.
http://www.bada-uk.org/defence/removal/indextickremoval.php

MaxWalker

Hello,
I get these from the vet every time I can't find the old ones
They come two to a pack, one for for larger ticks, the other for smaller.
Instructions on small insert. Cost under £4 for the pair.
As the ticks use a local anesthetic type 'spit', you may not be aware you have one till inspection, and unless you have a friend, mirror or very bendy neck, you will not be able to check all your bits.
Hope this is of some use.

sheesh

just so everyone knows getting bitten by a tick does not equal limes disease its only if there are wild(?) deer that harbour limes disease in the area you are walking.

whoops:eek::o

completely wrong in all the wrong ways

johngalway

sheesh wrote: »

just so everyone knows getting bitten by a tick does not equal limes disease its only if there are wild(?) deer that harbour limes disease in the area you are walking.

Nope.

There are zero deer in my area, trust me, I've looked Herself wasn't anywhere else and still got it.

slowburner

sheesh wrote: »

just so everyone knows getting bitten by a tick does not equal limes disease its only if there are wild(?) deer that harbour limes disease in the area you are walking.

Ixodes ticks are hosted by a wide range of mammals including deer, sheep and cows;

http://www.hpsc.ie/hpsc/A-Z/Vectorborne/LymeDisease/Factsheet/

Tick Talk

Ticks are usually carried on smaller mammals when they are tiny. The adults tend to crawl higher up in a 'questing' position so they can detect carbon dioxide from passing animals & latch on with their hooked feet. The smaller larvae & nymphs however can hang around closer to the ground & may latch onto ground feeding birds, squirrels, mice & of course dogs sniffing around in tall grass & humans sitting or playing where the ticks maybe hiding. It's important therefore to be aware that ticks can grab onto you even if deer are not present in the area. In American the deer tick is the one most commonly known to carry Lyme diease (it's the sheep tick in Ireland, Ixodes ricinus) so it is often thought that only deer carry it but deer tend to be more suited as breeding gounds for adult ticks rather than being direct carriers of the disease. Tick Talk Ireland recently published a tick study where they asked members of the public to report where they had seen ticks. Kerry & Connemara came very high in the results, this backs up some of the data that was found by University Hospital Galway where they found Connemara to be endemic.

A copy of this article can be found on our site at http://ticktalkireland.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/lyme-mapping-west-of-ireland/

johngalway

Blessed with ticks, rock, and rain we are, Gods country

slowburner

Rocks and rain we need, but ticks we could do without.

Jim Martin

Kerry & Connemara figures because they lurk around in heather & bracken, which there would be a lot of in those counties!

ShadowFox

http://www.facebook.com/groups/44960753282/