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Comment by mike_red5hift | Hacker News Reader

When you know what to look for, a questing tick is not too hard to spot.

If you are in an area that you suspect might have a lot of ticks. Look at the tips of any grass stems for a little brown/black spot. They climb as high as they can and then kinda "stand up" and put their "arms" up and out and wait for something to touch them. Then it's off to the races to climb as high as they can... on you. They stop once they hit an obstacle they can't easily get around and dig in.

I spray my shoes with permethrin. That seems to almost totally eliminate climbers as I'm not walking through tall grass. You know they've gotten a deadly dose when they start walking in circles. I don't feel bad for them. My doctor told me that 85% of ticks in my area are positive for Lyme.

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trying to spot ticks in heavy brush as you are walking seems like a inefficient approach. They take a while to attach so if you do a thorough review after your activity you should be good. It's also a lot easier to strip down to your birthday suit in the privacy of your own home.

Stripping down has massive 'corner' cases. If you are alone, good luck find one on your back, between ass cheeks and few other places. Also if you do full day activity (or god forbid multiday out in the wild), not so good.

Once they reach your hair (unless you shave clean), even good luck may not be enough, very hard to spot and almost impossible alone

Where I grew up we called that Redneck Foreplay. When you'd get home and have the significant other do a tick check.

"Stripping down has massive 'corner' cases. If you are alone, good luck find one on your back, between ass cheeks and few other places."

Mirrors or camera phones are handy.

Yes of course but not good enough, imagine darker not ultra short hair, how do you spot one on the back of your greasy hair.

I live in places where lyme is barely 5% incidence, and even that not everywhere. If it would be like 80% like some mention, doing week-long hikes alone would be outright suicidal. Better chances for retirement in base jumping.

You can feel your head for them. Even if you have one attach, Lyme is really only concern after 72 hours of attachment (other things can be an immediate concern). You should be quite itchy and notice it before then. A single dose of antibiotics is a highly effective post exposure prophylactic. Lyme is a concern, but not as bad as many in the media make it out to be.

Lyme is not the worst thing from ticks. Tick-borne encephalitis is much worse and can effectively leave a person disabled. There's just no treatment for it.

That's why I said there are other concerns that can be more immediate. The point was that lyme is not an inevitably or death sentence. Encephalitis is one of the more rare ones.

Yeah, still gotta enjoy nature without a crick in the neck.

“permethrin“ is the stuff that kills ticks. My brother works outside and got Lyme disease. It was awful so his crew wear permethrin soaked clothing. I think they buy it pre treated.

I found two deer ticks (one attached) last fall. I always wear long pants and they’d just climb up till past my waist. They’re quite small.

They gave me one dose of antibiotics as a preventative. I worry about our dog. She got the vaccine and has some medicine that kills then, but I still found three on her.

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