BBC 1 - The One Show - Ticks

[Trev Sawyer]

Just seen today's "The One Show" on BBC 1, where they were talking about ticks and Lyme's disease...
I know it's a bit early in the season yet, but with the recent increase in the deer population and with all of us butterfly fans keen to get out into the countryside in the spring sunshine, it might be a good time to revisit last year's thread and familiarise ourselves with the enemy

See: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB2/v ... ick#p11495


Trev

[Sylvie_h]

Ticks are everywhere in Europe also and carry the dangerous 'tick borne encephalitis' in countries of Eastern Europe (from Slovenia to Russia) and some parts of the Alps.
You can not avoid them if you walk in the fields, chasing butterflies. The best advice I can give is to wear long trousers tucked into your socks (very important), long sleeve shirts and a hat (ticks can fall from trees also). Put some lice killer cream into your day pack along with a very strong DTC (jungle formula is the best stuff) and a pair of tweezers. Inspect your trousers if you can during the day. Light coloured trousers are better to see them crawling.
When you come back home in the evening, you should inspect yourself very carefully especially under the arm pitts, joints areas but also your legs and your arms and hair, your clothes should also be checked. If you find one that has already gripped on your skin, then use the Jungle formula (one spray should be enough to kill it) and wait a few minutes before removing the bugger with the tweezers and make sure that the head is removed, after this, apply a disinfecting cream.
Anyway one should not panick as one has 1 out of 1000 chances of getting the disease but I would not risk it anyway, and taking the necessary precautions really help. I have removed several ticks from my legs (I had not tucked my trousers in my socks that day) and until now have not been ill.
Do not be put off by them and enjoy nature as much as you can!!
Sylvie

[Denise]

You know Sylvie, my pre-holiday instructions make sense now
I wondered why the hell they said 'bring tweezers' in your first aid kit. The rest I could understand.
What is lice killer cream, and where would I get some? By disinfecting cream, do you mean Germoline or TCP etc?
Thanks for the tip on long trousers tucked into socks and long sleeves. I always wear vests in the field, so i'll have to treat myself to some new tops.
Most helpful info.
Thanks
Denise

[Sylvie_h]

Hi Denise,

I will have to come back to you on the name of the cream I bought, it was very effective for killing a very resistant tick once who did not want to die with the Jungle Formula spray so I put this cream on it and it died very quickly.
I bought this cream in Boots and although it is quite expensive about £10.00,it is a good item to carry with you. I will also recommend that you take a Jungle formula spray with you which you can get from supermarkets or Boots also, you can spray your trousers and shirts before putting them on in the morning. This will deter them. I am not sure how efficient this is as I have never done it though and you may have to spray your clothes again during the day.
You can disinfect the bite with TCP or any other strong disinfectants. One more advice: if the bite gets very itchy and the redness is spreading even after removing the tick, I would suggest that you seek medical advice as these are the signs of an infection. This is however very unlikely to happen, especially if you kill the tick as soon as you see it and is more likely to happen when the tick has been there a few days. In Slovakia last year, I saw them crawling on my trousers but they did not manage to grip on my bare skin as I was well protected, so don't worry too much when you go to Hungary!.
As I said, just be aware and enjoy your holidays!!
Sylvie

[Bill S]

Please make sure that anything you use for tick control, in particular repellents which you spray over clothes and skin (most of which are insecticides), is compatibile with going looking for populations of insects!

Cheers

Bill

[Gruditch]

This is a group of the horrible little beggars, taken today. The big red ones, are in the last stage of development, you can usually feel these going into you, so they are easier to find. The smaller black ones, resemble a freckle, or a mole on the skin, so can be very hard to detect. I've removed as many as ten ticks in one day, after a visit to Bentley Wood.

Gruditch

Ticks.jpg (65.49 KiB) Viewed 613 times

[Denise]

Oh dear god, their vile
I am defo getting lice killer cream. I don't want them setting up home on me.
If there was a smilie for shivering, I would use it a lot right now.

Denise

[Dave McCormick]

wow, nasty looking things . I have never had ticks on me, thank goodness, hope it stays like that, but somehow, a few times being out in the forests and fields gave me fleas which is not great to find, but I just try and be careful, but does not stop these things finding you

[Sylvie_h]

Name of the cream is Lyclear.
If you spray some Jungle Formula on your clothes, try to do this outside the field as this could harm local insects.
I would recommend that you spray them in the bathroom before putting them on in the morning and ventilate the bathroom as much as you can.
Sylvie