How a Tick Digs Its Hooks In | Hacker News Reader

How a Tick Digs Its Hooks In

npr.org

The article doesn't mention permethrine, a chemical derived from an oil found in chrysanthemums that is deadly to ticks and other creepy crawlies.

Spray your clothes with permethrine--pants, shirts, socks, hats--and let them dry. It kills the ticks as soon as they land on you.

Repellent is also a good idea, and tuck your pants into your socks. Don't screw around; Lyme disease isn't something you want to get. It's rampant in the Northeast, and is spreading.

Ticks in their nymph stage latch onto mice, so if you are at risk of ticks in your yard, fill some cardboard tubes with permethrine-laced cotton or dryer lint and toss them under bushes, woodpiles, etc. -- anywhere that mice might hang out. Mice will take the lint back to their holes and line their nests with it, and the permethrine will wipe out the baby ticks. Permethrine is said to be harmless to humans and other mammals, but still, be careful with it.

>Permethrine is said to be harmless to humans and other mammals, but still, be careful with it.

Except for cats. If you have cats, be careful using this substance.

Some dogs as well. Permethrin based flea prevention caused my healthy dog to become lethargic, labored breathing and over salivation. I washed it off, and he recovered in a few hours, but I've avoided giving him flea control since then. Luckily he has avoided ticks and fleas but I would bring him to the vet if he did pick any up.

https://m.petmd.com/dog/conditions/neurological/c_multi_pyre...

Careful, if you read the label on a permethrin bottle, it will specifically say not to apply it to anything that has direct contact on your body. Specifically -- hats, socks and underwear. You really don't want this stuff on your hat.

It also says not to spray it indoors, to not breath in the spray, and to let your garments rest for at least 4 hours indoors or 2 hours outdoor before putting them on.

Permethrin is powerful enough to still work after 50+ washes, be careful how you're using it.

Please be sparing with its use: Permethrin is extremely toxic to bees. Severe losses may be expected if bees are present at treatment time, or within a day thereafter (7, 12). Permethrin is also toxic to wildlife (9). It should not be applied, or allowed to drift, to crops or weeds in which active foraging takes place (4).

http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/metiram-propox...

So something like this is not advisable? Check out the reviews on this. https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Products-Permethrin-Clothing-R...

> In California, adult ticks carry Lyme bacteria less often than nymphs because of a biological quirk in the region. Ticks that carry Lyme bacteria and feed on the western fence lizard lose their infection in the process. The lizard's blood actually clears the infection, said Andrea Swei, who studies ticks and disease transmission at San Francisco State University.

That’s a new one for me. Any idea why the lizard blood cleans out the ticks?

Their immune systems are pretty great at killing viruses and bacteria. Alligator serum is tough against: HIV, West Nile, and Herpes.

A long, but good read, on lizard immune systems can be found here[0].

[0]http://jeb.biologists.org/content/213/5/661

Yet weirdly the Komodo Dragon lizard has so much bacteria in its mouth that is how it kills its prey. It just bites, and then waits around for the prey to die of infection.

I was under the impression this wasn’t really believed anymore. The only discussion I can find for it is here though:

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/06/27/the-myth-...

Wow interesting that's the first I had heard that the bacteria theory was discredited.

You see? You thought this was a cool FACT but turns out it's just a theory. Be careful about theories people have in biology or zoology.

I suppose their immune system also doesn't kill off their gut bacteria.

Yeah, same here. If Lyme disease is incurable, seems like we should be studying the western fence lizard.

Lyme disease is curable, at least in early stages. Encephalitis is the nasty one you're probably thinking about.

Source: had Lyme twice, caught early, fully cured after a run of antibiotics.

I’ve usually removed ticks from pets with a tick hook[1]: slide it under the tick then spin it and they come straight off. Makes sense when looking at the mouthparts here, but slightly odd that the article doesn’t mention it. Gripping the tick and pulling up risks squeezing infected blood back into the body.

[1] https://www.otom.com/en/

>Gripping the tick and pulling up risks squeezing infected blood back into the body

Not if you grip at the bottom.

>slide it under the tick then spin it

Spinning is exactly what can cause the fangs to detach and stay under the skin.

https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/removing_a_tick.html

It does say "don't twist or jerk the tick"

What does "groip at the bottom" mean?

I think this device can be used to remove the tick without rotating.

Which of you is right?

>What does "grip at the bottom" mean?

As close to the skin as possible. The way I've always removed ticks is to grab a pair of tweezers, use them to grab the tick at the skin, lift gently.

>I think this device can be used to remove the tick without rotating.

Its instructions show using the device to grip the tick as close to skin as possible and spinning a few times with the expected result being that the tick detaches on it's own so I don't think you'd want to do that. It appears that the device is designed to hold the body and the mouth in place so pulling up will have the effect of squeezing the body, the one thing you _do not_ want to do. Here, I found this from a different website which is pretty helpful.

When using tweezers / forceps, the tick is grabbed close to the skin, gripping the tick at the base of its mouth parts. Twisting the tick then exerts pressure to its mouth parts, which can cause them to break off. You should NEVER twist with tweezers.

The O’Tom Tick Twister cradles the body of the tick and doesn’t exert pressure to either its mouth parts or its abdomen. It can therefore be safely twisted in one direction (either clockwise or counter-clockwise – the tick is not screw-threaded), which allows the barbs on the tick’s proboscis to be freed from the surrounding tissue. The twisting action also helps to crack the special saliva cement that most hard-tick species secrete to fix themselves in. Because the tool doesn’t cause any compression to the body of the tick, it minimises the risk of back-flow of the tick’s saliva and gut contents, and therefore helps to avoid disease transmission.

If you use this tool to lever (like a crow bar) the mouth parts are likely to break off. If you twist the tick one way and then the other, the mouth parts are likely to break off. Twist in one direction only.

http://www.ticktwister.co.uk/why-is-it-safe-to-twist-with-th...

>Which of you is right?

It probably depends on whether this statement is correct:

It can therefore be safely twisted in one direction (either clockwise or counter-clockwise – the tick is not screw-threaded), which allows the barbs on the tick’s proboscis to be freed from the surrounding tissue.

and in my bit of searching I wasn't able to find proof one way or another, just general advice not to twist.

>What does "groip at the bottom" mean?

Exactly what the example images show. Move the tweezers as close to the skin as possible, then grab and pull the tick out with steady force.

>Which of you is right?

Most fragile objects break much easier when you twist them, because the twisting causes micro fractures by itself. I don't see why it would be different for the head of a tick.

German and Austrian authorities and independent sources give the same advice [1][2] as the CDC.

So it's pretty much common sense and the advice of several researchers against the advice of someone who wants to sell a product.

[1] https://www.zecken.de/de/zecken-entfernen

[2] https://www.gesundheit.gv.at/krankheiten/immunsystem/zecken-...

If by “bottom” you mean ‘head’ then yes. You grab the tick as close to your skin as you can get.

There is a special wand tick removal device. It spins the entire tick without changing the axis of the spin. The tick’s mouth stays intact as it is detached. If you do not have this device, use tweezers grab head close to skin, and gently pull straight out without bending or twisting the tick.

disclosure: I live 60 miles from Lyme, Connecticut... ticks are part of my daily life

I was doing some trail assessment work a few summers ago and while walking under tree cover heard a tiny something land on my hat, right above the back of my neck. I took my hat off and there was a tick. So apparently a full-brim hat is also a good idea.

My dad, an avid hunter/outdoorsman, has told me for years ticks drop from trees.

He's also told stories of ticks on deer the size of golfballs. This is why I stay indoors! [shudder]

Yeah ticks will really swell up on an animal that can't get rid of them. You see them on outdoor dogs sometimes too, they look like grapes they're so full of blood.

More often than not ticks are hanging out on long grass waiting for you to brush up against it.

I believe it's a common (and unproven) myth[1] that 'falling from trees' is the primary way that ticks seek out targets...

1. http://medent.usyd.edu.au/fact/ticks.htm

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