Ticks

[big dog cowboy]

How do you remove a tick head that's already embedded?

Rule #1 - Stay off the internet.

 

[Jon88]

I must live close to you, because my quail and horned toads have also gone, but I have two Kildeers nesting as we speak. I take suppliments every morning and one is a garlic gel tablet that I think keeps blood suckers off. My wife gets all the mosquitoes and chiggers but they don't bother me.
Just my theory but it won't hurt to try it before going hunting or camping and the garlic is beneficial. To see if it works for you don't give any to wife or buddies and see if they get bitten.

They need to do something about fire ants. It's been long overdue.

 

[Doomsday101]

They need to do something about fire ants. It's been long overdue.

Texas A&M is looking at introducing Phorid flies who are natural predators of the fire ant

 

[Jon88]

Texas A&M is looking at introducing Phorid flies who are natural predators of the fire ant

I've heard about them. I think they've tried to release some but they never took.

They need to breed like 1 billion of them and just release them somewhere.

Fire ants cost people tons of money every year.

 

[Doomsday101]

I've heard about them. I think they've tried to release some but they never took.

They need to breed like 1 billion of them and just release them somewhere.

I agree depending on of course what is the downside if any by introducing a species not indigenous to our region

 

[Jon88]

I agree depending on of course what is the downside if any by introducing a species not indigenous to our region

I think fire ants are the only species they harm.

They're really small insects from what I hear - small enough to fit inside a fire ant.

 

[Doomsday101]

I think fire ants are the only species they harm.

They're really small insects from what I hear - small enough to fit inside a fire ant.

Phorid flies are found worldwide, though the greatest variety of species is to be found in the tropics. They are frequently found around flowers and moist decaying matter, although they can be found throughout the house. Several species have the common name of the coffin fly, because they breed in human corpses with such tenacity that they can even continue their life cycle within buried coffins. For this reason they are important in forensic entomology. More generally, the larvae breed in a numerous variety of locations, such as dung, fungi, decaying plant matter or drain pipes.

Most commonly they feed on decaying organic matter. Because they frequent unsanitary places they may transport various disease-causing organisms to food material.

 

[Jon88]

Phorid flies are found worldwide, though the greatest variety of species is to be found in the tropics. They are frequently found around flowers and moist decaying matter, although they can be found throughout the house. Several species have the common name of the coffin fly, because they breed in human corpses with such tenacity that they can even continue their life cycle within buried coffins. For this reason they are important in forensic entomology. More generally, the larvae breed in a numerous variety of locations, such as dung, fungi, decaying plant matter or drain pipes.

Most commonly they feed on decaying organic matter. Because they frequent unsanitary places they may transport various disease-causing organisms to food material.

We'll worry about all that later.

We need the fire ants gone right now.

 

[Doomsday101]

We'll worry about all that later.

We need the fire ants gone right now.

We have been dealing with them since the 1930's I'm all for getting rid of them but I don't want to replace one major problem with another that carries some funky jungle illness. :laugh2:

 

[DallasCowpoke]

How do you remove a tick head that's already embedded?

Put a leach over it and let them battle it out to the death, cage-fighter style.

 

[DallasCowpoke]

When I was 6 or 7, I got a tick on a very sensitive part of my anatomy--the last place you'd want a tick or a hot match pressed against you.

The tick only attacked you there because it made him appear massive and boosted his self-esteem.

 

[DFWJC]

How do you remove a tick head that's already embedded?

Jerry and RW reference?

 

[Hoofbite]

The tick only attacked you there because it made him appear massive and boosted his self-esteem.

Cuttin deep.

 

[big dog cowboy]

From todays local paper right on the front page........

Symptoms make Lyme disease difficult to diagnose

BY HURST LAVIANA
The Wichita Eagle

Bob Reichenberger was perfectly healthy last June when he drove to a pasture near Andale to adjust the sights on two rifles. "I'm an athlete," he said. "I work out. I eat good food. I don't drink. I don't smoke. I've never had any health problems."

Reichenberger didn't worry about the two ticks that bit him that day.

"I felt one crawl up my neck," he said. "I pinched it in half and threw it out the window. Later that night I pulled one off my head."

Reichenberger, a detective on the Wichita Police Department's gang investigations unit, said he was used to chasing down 20-year-old gang members. But over the next several months, he was debilitated by one of the tick bites.

He spent a week at Wesley Medical Center, missed two months of work, began experiencing paralysis and watched his weight drop from 175 to 140 pounds — all without knowing the cause of his mysterious and painful illness.

In December, when he finally was diagnosed with Lyme disease, he began what has been a long and slow recovery from an illness that's not often discussed in Kansas.

"It's a physically and emotionally devastating disease," he said.

Prime time for Lyme

Reichenberger said he was happy to share his story during what has been designated as national Lyme Disease Awareness Month.

As warm weather brings people outdoors, health officials say, May is a good time to learn about tick-borne diseases and how to take precautions to protect pets and yourself from them.

Janice McCoy, health protection coordinator for the Sedgwick County Health Department, said April through September are the prime months for tick-borne disease in Kansas.

She said there were 18 suspected cases of Lyme disease reported last year in Sedgwick County, and four suspected cases of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, which also is spread by infected ticks.

"If not treated by antibiotics, they can cause long-term problems," she said.

The bite of a Lyme-infected tick often leaves a distinctive bull's-eye rash that can grow to 12 inches in diameter.

"That is generally the first sign of infection," McCoy said.

For the 20 to 30 percent of Lyme patients who don't get the rash, she said, diagnosing the disease can be tricky.

From three to 30 days after the bite of an infected tick, she said, a victim begins to exhibit symptoms that mimic many other diseases — fatigue, chills, fever and muscle pains.

"The best thing you can do if you think you have been bit by a tick and have the symptoms, is to see a physician,'' she said.

Kansas state epidemiologist Charlie Hunt said there were 16 confirmed cases of Lyme disease statewide in 2008, the last year for which figures are available. Cases are confirmed after two lab tests come back positive.

Three of the confirmed 2008 cases were in Sedgwick County, while four each were reported in Reno and Johnson counties.

"It's been a reportable disease here for many years," Hunt said. "The organism has been identified in Kansas. It's just not as thick as it is in the northeast.

"We know physicians are looking for it."

Difficult diagnosis

Reichenberger said neither he nor his doctor suspected Lyme disease when he first started experiencing symptoms — muscle spasms and pain in his feet and lower calves — about a month after the tick bite. If he developed the bull's-eye rash, he said, it was probably under his hair and he didn't notice it.

Over the next several weeks, Reichenberger said, the pain spread steadily throughout his body. Eventually, he said, he felt like knives were stuck between the vertebrae of his spine. He said he felt excruciating pain in every muscle in his body.

He was unable to sleep, he said, and prescribed pain medications offered no relief.

In November, after nearly collapsing at work, he was admitted to Wesley. While in the hospital, he said, doctors took blood tests and did an MRI of his brain.

"I had all kinds of doctors looking at me," Reichenberger said. "They just couldn't quite figure out what the problem was."

One doctor suggested that he might have post-traumatic stress syndrome after working 17 years as a police officer. Another diagnosed him with fibromyalgia.

"One of them thought I had Lou Gehrig's disease," Reichenberger said. "Others just flat out said, 'We can't find anything physically wrong with you. You need to see a psychiatrist.' "

After Reichenberger returned home, he and his wife began researching his symptoms, and they began to suspect Lyme disease. But initial tests to determine whether he had the disease were negative, he said.

In December, as he began to fear his disease would prove fatal, he made an appointment with a Missouri doctor who specializes in Lyme disease.

"He immediately diagnosed me as having all indications of Lyme disease," Reichenberger said.

He said tests performed at a California lab were positive for the disease. He said the pain continued during his first month of treatment, but that by February he began to show signs of improvement.

"I still have a few glitches here and there," he said. "But I'm strong again, and I'm pain free.

"I feel like I came back from dead."

Reichenberger said those seeking more information about Lyme disease can visit www.lymenet.org or www.turnthecorner.org.

Reach Hurst Laviana at 316-268-6499 or [email protected].

http://www.kansas.com/2010/05/10/1306879/symptoms-make-lyme-disease-difficult.html

 

[Jon88]

I saw a tick crawling up my calve once.

I put an end to that one.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

It actually looks like a brown recluse spider bite. I did not actually see a tick on me

 

[Jon88]

It actually looks like a brown recluse spider bite. I did not actually see a tick on me

Get that taken care of quick. That poison will spread and eat up flesh. You'll have a big scar if you wait.

 

[notherbob]

That's such a shame. You would think someone would have found a way to kill all of them.

Actually, it's fairly easy for the average homeowner to control them without poisons. They are really deep in their nests but twice a day they are at the top with all the queens, eggs, larve, etc in the early morning before the day gets hot and in the late afternoon after it cools off a bit. That's when I use a stick to rake back the top layer, exposing all three generations and at the same time the workers pour out by the thousands to defend - that's when I powder the entire nest area with Diatomaceous Earth (DE), a non-toxic abrasive that kills all insects that come into contact with it by cutting them and they die of dessication. Don't breathe the dust as it can cause breathing problems and so should be applied with a mask.

It will reduce a large mound to a small mound or make it go away completely. The trouble is each mound may be a part of a chain of mounds but even so by treating all of them every time they recover they will be smaller and then just go away.

Of course a new egg-laden queen flies in and sets up housekeeping and hatches out her servants, nursemaids and defenders. Multiple queens per nest helps survival.

This method should work great for the average city lot but a rancher with a thousand acres can't keep up with it.

 

[Jon88]

Actually, it's fairly easy for the average homeowner to control them without poisons. They are really deep in their nests but twice a day they are at the top with all the queens, eggs, larve, etc in the early morning before the day gets hot and in the late afternoon after it cools off a bit. That's when I use a stick to rake back the top layer, exposing all three generations and at the same time the workers pour out by the thousands to defend - that's when I powder the entire nest area with Diatomaceous Earth (DE), a non-toxic abrasive that kills all insects that come into contact with it by cutting them and they die of dessication. Don't breathe the dust as it can cause breathing problems and so should be applied with a mask.

It will reduce a large mound to a small mound or make it go away completely. The trouble is each mound may be a part of a chain of mounds but even so by treating all of them every time they recover they will be smaller and then just go away.

Of course a new egg-laden queen flies in and sets up housekeeping and hatches out her servants, nursemaids and defenders. Multiple queens per nest helps survival.

This method should work great for the average city lot but a rancher with a thousand acres can't keep up with it.

I mean ranchers.

My family has some land in East Texas that is full of fire ants. I remember seeing a calf that was full of fire ant bites after it was born. These insects are terrible and inhumane. I don't understand why we haven't found a method of eradicating them. It's been over 70 years. What's the hold up?

 

[Sarge]

Couple of beers and a needle.