Ticks and Hammocks
- Thread starter Sub5mango
- Start date
Ticks tend to climb up to vantage points such as on grass and bracken and wait for passing victims to walk through the undergrowth rather than wander around looking for prey. You then brush by them as you wander around the undergrowth and they latch onto your clothing and climb up to a suitable point to have a snack on you.
Is there a chance you could have transferred them into your bivi bag from you clothing?
I would think that the likeliest reason. I just don't like the suckers, so far had borreliosis once.
Excuse me asking, but how have you identified them as ticks? If they're gorged then they will have fallen off their victim (so, if that's you, they would have been on you a long time), if they're not it's not easy to identify them. Most 'ungorged' ticks are the size of a pin head.
It looked like pictures in the leaflet in this page, which are larger than a pin head. https://www.bds.org.uk/index.php/advice-education/lyme-disease
Here is one example of many I've found that reference leaf litter as a tick habitat https://greentechohio.com/2018/11/06/fall-ticks-active/
OK, I exaggerated, they are typically 2 to 3mm long when 'starved'. But, if they looked like ticks, acted like ticks, they probably were ticks
They will just drop off the host animals onto the forest floor - that can be anywhere; then they tend to climb into the grass and bracken when they next need to gorge and wait for the next passing animal. However, as I've had them and seen them on peoples ankles I think it's safe to assume they don't all do that.
I always apply an insect repellent on my ankles, wrists and face in the woods at night whether on the floor or in a hammock and I never wear shorts where ticks are possible. The only time I've had them is when canoeing (camping on the river banks in Scotland) and have had bare feet/ankles.
Mesquite's description of tick behavior is accurate (MX #2). My quote skill is zero.
Ticks are dropped from animals to do a step in metamorphosis on the ground.
They are attracted to the scent of urine ( game trails). The rest is as Mesquite described.
Following a game trail through a forest is usually the path of least resistance so everybody uses it.
Size: engorged, from pea to grape sizes here.
Populations? Enough to kill an adult moose.
I collected ticks for the Center for Disease Control.
Rabbits were loaded, squirrels were very clean except between their shoulder blades.
Ticks are dropped from animals to do a step in metamorphosis on the ground.
They are attracted to the scent of urine ( game trails). The rest is as Mesquite described.
Following a game trail through a forest is usually the path of least resistance so everybody uses it.
Size: engorged, from pea to grape sizes here.
Populations? Enough to kill an adult moose.
I collected ticks for the Center for Disease Control.
Rabbits were loaded, squirrels were very clean except between their shoulder blades.
Thanks. 3mm is about right. I've been aware of ticks for years but when I used to go into the woods as a kid there wasn't so much lyme disease awareness/risk as now.OK, I exaggerated, they are typically 2 to 3mm long when 'starved'. But, if they looked like ticks, acted like ticks, they probably were ticks
They will just drop off the host animals onto the forest floor - that can be anywhere; then they tend to climb into the grass and bracken when they next need to gorge and wait for the next passing animal. However, as I've had them and seen them on peoples ankles I think it's safe to assume they don't all do that.
I always apply an insect repellent on my ankles, wrists and face in the woods at night whether on the floor or in a hammock and I never wear shorts where ticks are possible. The only time I've had them is when canoeing (camping on the river banks in Scotland) and have had bare feet/ankles.
What type of insect repellent do you use? DEET based? I don't like that, stuff :-(
I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm saying that aren't they also in leaf litter, not just grass and bracken?
Certainly they are. On the ground, in the leaf litter, is where ticks do their body changes in metamorphosis.
The early finishers will have climbed up into grass and shrubs to grab a new passing host.
The late ones are still in the leaf litter.
Typically, a tick collector will use a flag of white flannel cloth on a stick.
Walking slowly and brushing the cloth through the shrubbery on the sides of a game trail.
The ticks hold open their 2 front legs but work them as fast as a mouse trap.
The white cloth makes the tick harvest easier to see.
Enough to give a guy the creeps about walking through the brush before September!
The early finishers will have climbed up into grass and shrubs to grab a new passing host.
The late ones are still in the leaf litter.
Typically, a tick collector will use a flag of white flannel cloth on a stick.
Walking slowly and brushing the cloth through the shrubbery on the sides of a game trail.
The ticks hold open their 2 front legs but work them as fast as a mouse trap.
The white cloth makes the tick harvest easier to see.
Enough to give a guy the creeps about walking through the brush before September!
I understand your aversion to DEET but I use a repellent to suite the risks - so, in malaria country I'll use a DEET based product for example. In the UK I usually get away with a natural DEET free repellent - Lifesystems do a specific DEET free tick repellent; I've also used their normal Natural one. My go-to repellent for Scottish Midges is Midgeaway which uses Bog Myrtle (Lifesystems used to do a myrtle product but they don't now as far as I can tell).
Le Loup
Settler
Interesting, I can't recall ever getting ticks when I lived in the UK, but that was a long time ago now.
Keith.
There’s a thread here about someone getting an infestation of ticks in their tent.
HELP - Ticks everywhere
I went camping on a small island up near the Isle of Skye last week with my two girls. After getting back off the island I started noticing the Ticks all over my girls. They were so small they were barely recognisable as ticks. Both girls had at least 40-50 tiny ticks all over them. It took...
bushcraftuk.com
I know from working in deer country that sitting down with the lads at lunchtime in a place where the deer had obviously spent the night led to all of us getting bitten by hundreds of fleas and feeding several ticks each too. Horrible things. Last year I spied what I thought was a blueberry on the kitchen floor only to find it was a well engorged tick that must have dropped off one of the dogs
Useful link, thanks.There’s a thread here about someone getting an infestation of ticks in their tent.
HELP - Ticks everywhere
I went camping on a small island up near the Isle of Skye last week with my two girls. After getting back off the island I started noticing the Ticks all over my girls. They were so small they were barely recognisable as ticks. Both girls had at least 40-50 tiny ticks all over them. It took...
I know from working in deer country that sitting down with the lads at lunchtime in a place where the deer had obviously spent the night led to all of us getting bitten by hundreds of fleas and feeding several ticks each too. Horrible things. Last year I spied what I thought was a blueberry on the kitchen floor only to find it was a well engorged tick that must have dropped off one of the dogs
Thanks. Have you ever tried this one? https://www.nomadtravel.co.uk/travel-store/mosquito-insect-defence/mosquito-repellents/trek-natural
