That’s right! I know it because I’m a TICK magnet!
I’ve had 3 tick bites so far this Spring. They FREAK me out!
Wes and Madison haven’t had ONE tick bite and they’ve been doing a lot of BushWacking (because we’ve gotten into GeoCaching). Not one on either of them.
I’m not complaining, don’t get me wrong. I’m SUPER glad neither of them have had one.
I just don’t understand what it is about ME that they love! Just me and Brody. We’ve found 5 ticks on Brody. Two of them had just jumped on for a ride and hadn’t sunk their fangs in yet. Friggin’ ticks!
This winter was so mild, we didn’t have enough freezing days in a row to kill them off, apparently. (According to our Vet.)
We are religious about doing Brody’s Flea and Tick treatment.
I use Tea Tree oil products on my hair once a week. I don’t wipe myself down with Deet every time I go outside. That would get old after about the 5 time each day.
Eat more onions?
Bathe in Tea Tree oil every morning?
Hang a string of garlic around my neck?
I’m seriously thinking this might be my best option!
(Found at Amazon.)
Seriously, anyone have any Tick Avoidance advice? (Other than “Don’t go outside”.) I’m kind of desperate here!
Up here in Canada they are REALLY bad. We easily pull off 75 – 125 every couple days off the outside dogs. This latest check we found them between the dogs toes, private areas and eye lids. Our indoor poodle seems to attract them in 3′s and the humans usually have at least 1 or 2 each a day. Just part of living in the country on an acreage, in Canada, in Manitoba. We are planning on moving down South, hoping the grass is greener without the ticks!
Good Lord , I’d put in a gravel yard if I found that many each day. Seriously? That is a lot of ticks. I guess you get used to it after so long. This is the first season that I’ve ever seen a tick up close and personal so it’s difficult for me to get a handle on it. All in good time, I suppose. But 75-125! I don’t think I could ever get a handle on that many.
20 acres would be pretty expensive to cover in gravel. lol I used to shake in fear when I found one but with so many around now I’ve conquered my fear out of necessity. It has gotten so bad with the outdoor dogs that we now just use an empty container with alchohol in it or gas and dump them in as we pluck them off. We use Melaluca shampoo regularly which helps but doesn’t stop the little pests. They are so gross.
Oh Lordy! I’m in Alaska (no ticks here yeah!) but moving to WNC next year, and when I visited there had a tick each time and I wasnt even out in the woods! They creep me out so much! Deet may be my new best friend or I won’t go outside at all! Check out the CDCs link on ticks, I did yesterday. One thing it said was to put a defensible space of a gravel walk around your lawn to keep ticks out. Really?!! Hate the cold but hey if it knocks’em dead in the winter, bring on the cold weather next winter! It at least won’t be the -40 as it is here in the winter!
Are tics one of the things a Bounce sheet in your pocket repels? I don’t know, but this might be helpful: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:22786
Not according to the CDC.
We get them at our cabin BAD, and having three dogs running around through the brush doesn’t help. This year will be especially bad due to the mild winter. In the past, my husband has sprayed the perimeter of the yard with some kind of tick killer and that cut them back a lot, but if it rains frequently it has to be reapplied. Normally I’m not a huge fan of pesticides, but in this case I put up with it because I hate ticks more.
I don’t like putting on the bug spray with DEET (especially on my 2 year old) but supposedly that’s the only thing that really repels them. When you’re outside, try wearing light colored clothing, wear a hat and tuck your pant legs into your socks (looks dorky but it does keep them from crawling up your pant legs! Ewww!). We also use Frontline on the dogs and have them vaccinated for Lyme disease. Good luck, I HATE ticks too!
I am very sad to see how much you don’t take ticks bites seriously.
I have chronic lyme disease with bartonella because of a tick I never saw and never had a rash from.
I have spent thousands upon thousands getting well again and that was after damn near a year of more then 30+ doctors trying to figure out what was wrong with me.
I don’t even step foot with deet on. Lyme Disease is no joke and I hope you have been fortunate so far, but luck does run out eventually.
Please watch Under our Skin on Hulu.. that will be a great eye opener.
BTW folks – please DO NOT follow the CDC guidelines. It’s a joke and their testing is DESIGNED for most to test negative to lyme disease. For real info about lyme disease, please see ILADS.org
Hi Sandra…love your blog…you’re a very talented woman…thanks for sharing your skills with us wanna be’s
I checked for a natural remedy for ticks & found that lavender is a good repellent…I’d get a lightweight oil (like coconut oil…and put 4 to 5 drops of lavender in it)…rub that all over your body when going out. to get it into your system so that it will naturally will begin repelling…put 2 drops into an 8 oz glass of water & injest daily…this will put it into your blood supply and you should begin repelling the ticks naturally….you can check out this information at aromatools.com
Just make sure any lavender you ingest is therapeutic grade like Young Living Oils.
Natural predators are chickens, wild turkey and pheasants. They all eat more than 20 ticks daily and can help keep the tick population down. I never get bit by bugs except lady bugs when I move them around, no ticks, no fleas and it is said to be because of my chemical make-up, diet and very low pulse rate. I was told that using wormwood helps keep sucking bugs away from you and your dog. You should only use wild crafted or organic wormwood products. You eat it and then the bugs can smell it in your skin and stay away from you.