Ticks, they are taking over!

[Jims5543]

Anyone else ever had this problem?

In the past 2 weeks we have probably found 20 ticks inside the house, my wife is freaking out. She sweeps the entire house twice a day.

So, what to do?

I am taking the next 2 steps.

- Frontline on the Dog (only pet)

- Spraying yard with a pesticide of some sort.

Anything else?

Call the exterminator and treat the inside of the house?

We are leaving at the end of the month for North Carolina, I am coming back a week later for 1 week then I am off up to NC for another week, this would be a oportune time to do something drastic.

[stomachmonkey]

Jim,

Frontline is a must beginning of every season.

20 ticks is a lot. Wonder if a tick dropped a brood in the house?

[Jims5543]

Ughhh!! I hope not. I am callin ght exterminator on Monday. I cannot spray the yard today because we are being destroyed by a Tropical rain shower.

I will try to combat this Sunday or at the beginning of next week. It Sucks.

[charleskieffner]

i love ticks..............big juans! like the ones found on deer and elk here..............and my dogs!

tweezers and baby oil to remove.

PITA!

nothing better than 22oz claw hammer to splatter them! hahahahahaa

[Brother]

Stop killing the fire ants in your yard.

[scottmandue]

Sorry for the (somewhat) thread hijack... I sometime hike in an area that is known to have ticks, haven't got one yet but just in case.

How do you remove one? I have heard tweezers but what is the technique? Baby oil? How does that work? I have also heard of using a lit cigarette? Wha....?

[stomachmonkey]

the oil "smothers" them. Makes them start to back out. If you yank em w/out getting them to "let go" the body can seperate and the head stays under your skin.

cigarette is kinda obvious. what would you do if someone held a flamethrower to your a55?

[bigchillcar]

i would guess that the dogs are bringing them in.

[vash]

i pull them out with two credit cards. better to use someone else's cards. work them like big flat tweezers. works like a charm.

ticks are gross. i once was asked to put a dog out of it misery. it was a stray that set up residence at the local dump. it had mange or something. on the portions of the body that was furless, it was covered with ticks, shoulder to shoulder. the animal control guy burned it. i still get heebed out thinking about it. (my arms look like a plucked chicken right now)

[masraum]

Vaseline also works like olive oil which works similar to a cigarette, makes the little bugger want to leave voluntarily.

I've heard that pulling them out can be bad. When the head breaks off inside you, you can end up with infection.

If you want to spray something around the house, spray "Demon". My mother gets it in Pensacola, and gave me some. I can spray it around the outside of the house and under behind cabinets and stuff in the house, and it controls bugs in the house for a whole year. I suspect that it would do a number on ticks as much as it does roaches and everything else.

[scottmandue]

Okay so covering them with oil or Vaseline smothers them and makes the leave on their own. I have also heard that if you try to pull them out and don't get all of it you can get a nasty infection.

I will be sure to bring something like that along on my next hike on the central coast.

Thanks for helping a city boy out.

I have gotten pretty good at spotting poison oak.

Now how do I keep the mountain lions away?

[Brother]

Pulling them out doesn't prevent them from entering the house. Encourage natural predators of the ticks.

I lived in the sticks surrounded by dear and wildlife and I never had any ticks in my house or dog. I just left the fire ants alone around the edge of the property. That created a barrier.

As an added bonus, as long as I didn't let the grass and soil dry out, dung beetles would pick up my dogs poop for me. I never shoveled a load of dog crap for a year.

[pwd72s]

Why did the Feds outlaw Diazinon and Dursban? To protect the endangered ants, ticks, termites, etc....

[tabs]

Ticks move with the phases of the moon.

[Bary Mukalkiner]

Originally posted by pwd72s
Why did the Feds outlaw Diazinon and Dursban? To protect the endangered ants, ticks, termites, etc....

To keep from exterminating geese, swans and ducks.