Dyslexic moment - saw the thread title and thought it was a discussion on your anti-tank regime!
Thought 'blimey, that is extreme camping!'
Thought 'blimey, that is extreme camping!'
What's your anti-tick regime in camp?
- Thread starter Gotte
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If every third step you shake your left leg and flap your right arm, aint much in the woods will mess with you. Even 2 leggeds will avoid you.
Well I have a bottle and it clearly says on it "Contains amongst other ingredients 0.5% (w/w) Permethrin"
Still on sale in the UK. 4th product down on http://www.purpleturtle.co.uk/acatalog/SkitoStop_from_Nikwax.html Protection for up to 6 months.
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So? you put yer left leg in, yer left leg out, in out, in out, and shake yer arms about?
Hi my first post looks like a great forum, I got here looking for midge repellent and found so much more.
Until recently we lived in the N of Spain where one of my sons had a tick (garapata in Spain) bite that gave him borreliosis, that was scary and some. Check out the potential long term prognosis of the three main tick born infections - it is not nice to think of permanent brain damage, internal bleeding, organ atrophy or heart failure happening to an offspring or yourself. There is some seemingly valid research that suggests in some areas of the world the high incidence of children with learning difficulties is largely due to undiagnosed tick infections. Months of antibiotics and blood tests later my son was given the all clear but after 40 years of not being too bothered about ticks it really made me think.
Some of the stuff we found out is: they are a spider not a fly, they host on very small rodents as well as larger animals, if you are regularly in low undergrowth wear long boots / wellies / gaiters and rim them with thick vaseline, that stops them crawling up, block gaps so they have a harder time getting to your skin - however they do like to wait on high bracken or branches at bracken height waiting for passing deer - avoid rubbing against stuff but they are not likely to leap onto you over a gap. Check regularly and remove them as soon after you spot them as possible. If in tick territory and you feel something crawling on your skin get in there and check it out, do not wait. Do not use heat or alcohol or other trauma inducing methods, it often causes them to spew back the contents of their stomach or at least some saliva and that is how the infection is transfered, even itching one can make that happen = if you are itchy dont scratch, check out why first. The hooks are the best approach, if you have not got one get as deep under them as you can and push them up and out fast - squeeze your skin not the tick, hurt yourself to save yourself. Keep a pair of long strong finger/thumb nails to hand, tweezers can be useful but do not squeeze the tick or body try and get them under the beast and if anything tear your skin and lift the whole out rather than tearing the tick
AS mentioned in here the swiss Army knife ones are good as they are sharp and fine, fat blunt ones are useless.
If you get a radiating rash - like a circular bruise or redness get to a medic ASAP and get a blood test +antibiotics that is a sure sign of infection it can take hours days or even a week for the rash to appear, it might appear around the bite or it might appear elsewhere on your body. You can be infected without the rash appearing, my son had the rash, I do not know how to diagnose infection without seeing the rash. It is only a small proportion of ticks that carry infections but bites should always be taken seriously and monitored for anything unusual happening to your skin..if in doubt seek advice if the infection is not treated within a week or two it can be very hard to get rid of. I am not a medic and please don't take this as gospel it is what we learned 3 years ago after a lot of internet trawling and talking to experts but opinions vary and ideas change over time.
stay safe
Until recently we lived in the N of Spain where one of my sons had a tick (garapata in Spain) bite that gave him borreliosis, that was scary and some. Check out the potential long term prognosis of the three main tick born infections - it is not nice to think of permanent brain damage, internal bleeding, organ atrophy or heart failure happening to an offspring or yourself. There is some seemingly valid research that suggests in some areas of the world the high incidence of children with learning difficulties is largely due to undiagnosed tick infections. Months of antibiotics and blood tests later my son was given the all clear but after 40 years of not being too bothered about ticks it really made me think.
Some of the stuff we found out is: they are a spider not a fly, they host on very small rodents as well as larger animals, if you are regularly in low undergrowth wear long boots / wellies / gaiters and rim them with thick vaseline, that stops them crawling up, block gaps so they have a harder time getting to your skin - however they do like to wait on high bracken or branches at bracken height waiting for passing deer - avoid rubbing against stuff but they are not likely to leap onto you over a gap. Check regularly and remove them as soon after you spot them as possible. If in tick territory and you feel something crawling on your skin get in there and check it out, do not wait. Do not use heat or alcohol or other trauma inducing methods, it often causes them to spew back the contents of their stomach or at least some saliva and that is how the infection is transfered, even itching one can make that happen = if you are itchy dont scratch, check out why first. The hooks are the best approach, if you have not got one get as deep under them as you can and push them up and out fast - squeeze your skin not the tick, hurt yourself to save yourself. Keep a pair of long strong finger/thumb nails to hand, tweezers can be useful but do not squeeze the tick or body try and get them under the beast and if anything tear your skin and lift the whole out rather than tearing the tick
AS mentioned in here the swiss Army knife ones are good as they are sharp and fine, fat blunt ones are useless. If you get a radiating rash - like a circular bruise or redness get to a medic ASAP and get a blood test +antibiotics that is a sure sign of infection it can take hours days or even a week for the rash to appear, it might appear around the bite or it might appear elsewhere on your body. You can be infected without the rash appearing, my son had the rash, I do not know how to diagnose infection without seeing the rash. It is only a small proportion of ticks that carry infections but bites should always be taken seriously and monitored for anything unusual happening to your skin..if in doubt seek advice if the infection is not treated within a week or two it can be very hard to get rid of. I am not a medic and please don't take this as gospel it is what we learned 3 years ago after a lot of internet trawling and talking to experts but opinions vary and ideas change over time.
stay safe
Do ticks in the UK carry those terrible diseases too? Tick-borne encephalitis and borreliosis?
In Estonia we have both and the government is campaigning each spring to get people vaccinated against the former. I've had 2 shots last spring and a third in 2012 will finalize the vaccination for me. Then I'm good for 3 years. Luckily borreliosis can be treated with antibiotics, and there's a minimal risk of infection if you get the ******** out ASAP, but getting it would still suck.
Most older people here don't think it's a risk and go out to the woods without vaccinations, they think it's a load of rubbish. My friend's dad got tick-borne encephalitis and was in a hospital bed for several months. First two weeks he was shaking constantly and they could only give him 1 shot per day which took that away. He also lost like 20 kg of bodyweight and sometimes makes less sense when he talks now. A scary-scary disease.
In Estonia we have both and the government is campaigning each spring to get people vaccinated against the former. I've had 2 shots last spring and a third in 2012 will finalize the vaccination for me. Then I'm good for 3 years. Luckily borreliosis can be treated with antibiotics, and there's a minimal risk of infection if you get the ******** out ASAP, but getting it would still suck.
Most older people here don't think it's a risk and go out to the woods without vaccinations, they think it's a load of rubbish. My friend's dad got tick-borne encephalitis and was in a hospital bed for several months. First two weeks he was shaking constantly and they could only give him 1 shot per day which took that away. He also lost like 20 kg of bodyweight and sometimes makes less sense when he talks now. A scary-scary disease.
ticks are the bane of my life, best thing to do i find is to check every night and morning, helps if you have someone to check your back too.
I try and avoid ticks by walking where the sheep have been when possible, their coats mop them up.
phil
phil
I tend not to go into heathery/bracken rich area's my two main camping spots i do have to do a tick run,but i either wear very light clothing,(to see them) then change once down to place,or the permethrin route on a coverall and again change once down, I ABSOLUTELY hate them, would defo wipe them all out if i could.
I have yet to be bitten by one, never mind I am a shorts and sandals type in the summer, and I don't avoid bracken either. Wish I were so lucky with clegs though, I got a nasty infection from one of them which made my whole leg swell up.
I just had a trawl through both pages of the thread, as I was sure I'd posted on it before. Apparently not.
Seems like a bit late in the year to be talking about ticks but a mate of mine, on the phone last week after a couple of nights camping in Fife, told me he'd removed 2 ticks from his groin.
I think our first frost here was about a month ago, the spring crocuses and bulbs were sprouting in mid November, I'm seeing wood pigeon displaying in flight, the windscreen of my car was thick with ice yesterday morning and I was wondering why I had an itchy midge bite last night! It all seems a bit crazy, and the in-built seasonal calendar seems to be shot all to hell.
As for ticks - I'd never been bothered with ticks in all the years I've wandered the Scottish hills, until the last couple of years. In trying to rationalise this, I can only comment that my habits have changed, as has the way I go into the hills. Curiously, I've started using bothies more than I ever have, but that change of purpose has caused a change in behaviour.
My previous habit would have been trousers in socks, shirt in trousers, gaiters and very often water-proofs, a liberal covering of Jungle Formula, and that regime was followed in day to day manners. As it is when my objective is to go camping today.
You don't generally get midges in a bothy. This is a disused shepherd's or estate worker's house, with fire-place and often sleeping platforms, and the way to many bothies is on Land Rover track, so gaiters are left in the car unless I know for a fact that I'll be going into wet ground, or am going to a place outwith prior knowledge.
I'm in no doubt whatsoever, that the reason I've picked up ticks recently is because I've relaxed the routine that I practiced for decades, in the mistaken belief that going somewhere with a roof is comparatively risk free. But you still have to go out for wood, the call of nature and to explore the area. And people take dogs to bothies, which do what dogs do and they bring ticks in with them, which can lie dormant for months until a tasty treat comes their way.
So, trousers in socks, shirt in trousers. Good loop-knit socks stop them getting through. Another tip is that yo can see ticks, even the juvenile stages, on light coloured trousers, which gives you the option of brushing them off.
An old mate of mine was always complaining about bites as he swanned around wearing a T-shirt and shorts. What he didn't get was sympathy!
Cheers,
Pango.
Seems like a bit late in the year to be talking about ticks but a mate of mine, on the phone last week after a couple of nights camping in Fife, told me he'd removed 2 ticks from his groin.
I think our first frost here was about a month ago, the spring crocuses and bulbs were sprouting in mid November, I'm seeing wood pigeon displaying in flight, the windscreen of my car was thick with ice yesterday morning and I was wondering why I had an itchy midge bite last night! It all seems a bit crazy, and the in-built seasonal calendar seems to be shot all to hell.
As for ticks - I'd never been bothered with ticks in all the years I've wandered the Scottish hills, until the last couple of years. In trying to rationalise this, I can only comment that my habits have changed, as has the way I go into the hills. Curiously, I've started using bothies more than I ever have, but that change of purpose has caused a change in behaviour.
My previous habit would have been trousers in socks, shirt in trousers, gaiters and very often water-proofs, a liberal covering of Jungle Formula, and that regime was followed in day to day manners. As it is when my objective is to go camping today.
You don't generally get midges in a bothy. This is a disused shepherd's or estate worker's house, with fire-place and often sleeping platforms, and the way to many bothies is on Land Rover track, so gaiters are left in the car unless I know for a fact that I'll be going into wet ground, or am going to a place outwith prior knowledge.
I'm in no doubt whatsoever, that the reason I've picked up ticks recently is because I've relaxed the routine that I practiced for decades, in the mistaken belief that going somewhere with a roof is comparatively risk free. But you still have to go out for wood, the call of nature and to explore the area. And people take dogs to bothies, which do what dogs do and they bring ticks in with them, which can lie dormant for months until a tasty treat comes their way.
So, trousers in socks, shirt in trousers. Good loop-knit socks stop them getting through. Another tip is that yo can see ticks, even the juvenile stages, on light coloured trousers, which gives you the option of brushing them off.
An old mate of mine was always complaining about bites as he swanned around wearing a T-shirt and shorts. What he didn't get was sympathy!
Cheers,
Pango.
In the last 6yrs ive had about maybe 6 ticks on me,and luckily got them off before they've attached, but im more carefull now(i check all the time,wear light clothing,or permethrin,and keep to a minimum walking through high undergrowth) than i was, i used to sleep anywhere(if id been out walking and was tired id just sleep in the nearest woods, field etc,plus id crawl/ walk through any undergrowth never got a tick on me.They must be on the increase im pretty convinved of it.
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