This is part two of our two-part article about ticks, the disease-carrying insects we love to hate. If you missed part one in our June 30 printed edition, look for it online at: Arachnophobia 2.0: Tick, Tock. Part One.
Story by Judy Cools. Images courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control.
Coming Home
If you’re driving home from an adventure, do a tick check before getting into your car. Otherwise, you may find yourself driving home with a hungry tick. They are attracted to carbon dioxide (your breath) and sweat, so they’ll know right where to find you.
Let’s talk a minute about not bringing ticks into your home. Some people use lint rollers or whisk brooms outside the door before they enter the house. While a whisk broom may get a tick off your body, it can also fling a tick into your yard — where it will continue to look for a meal. I recommend a lint roller or duct tape. Once inside your home, undress over a light-colored sheet, piling the clothing there and nowhere else. Kill any ticks you see on yourself, the clothes or the sheet. Try using pliers or rolling over them with the back of a spoon against a hard surface. Flush the bodies, once you’re sure they’re dead. Wash whatever you use in soap and water when you’re done.
Run a fine comb through your hair, either over that sheet or in a shower stall or tub. Kill any ticks you find. Shower and shampoo, lathering up everywhere, especially those dark, damp places that ticks like. Loose ticks will fall off. If you find a bump, it may be an attached tick, so don’t pick at it; wait for help. Ticks can be maddeningly small – the size of a sesame seed or smaller. It may look like a bit of dirt or a sliver stuck on you. Look for legs.
Have someone else look you over for embedded ticks you may have missed or to help you with any you found.
To remove them, the safest method is to get as close as you can with fine-pointed tweezers. Press into your flesh with the sides of the tweezers above and below the tick’s mouth parts. Once you’re as close as you can get, firmly grasp the tick and slowly but firmly pull straight away from the skin. Do not squeeze or crush the tick, as that increases the risk of contracting a disease if that tick is a carrier. In Michigan, 40% of ticks test positive for Lyme, and 1 in 3 ticks carry transmittable disease. Put any ticks found into a container. Wash the skin with soap and water where the bite is. Apply disinfecting/antibiotic liquid on the bite and sterilize the tweezers. Then wash your hands.
Check anyone who went out with you, including dogs. Either crush every tick in your container or add alcohol to the container and kill them. Then close the container and throw it away or flush the dead ticks. Make certain they are dead. You don’t want a Twilight Zone episode unfolding in your bathroom. They can survive being flushed and crawl back out.
Monitor any tick bites for redness or infection. Look for signs of a rash anywhere on the body. If those appear, or you have any symptoms such as blood pressure changes, general malaise, dizziness, etc., seek medical help and be certain to mention you’ve had a tick bite.
Ticks, wicked little things that they are, can survive in the washing machine, even with hot water and detergent. More effective is to throw all those clothes and the sheet into the dryer on high heat for 20 minutes or more. This will likely kill any ticks that rode inside on your clothes. You’ll still want to wash them, of course, but roast the ticks to death first.
Be careful, be sensible, be safe, and you’ll still be able to enjoy the outdoors.
Judy Cools was a columnist, web designer, feature and business writer, and an editor for nearly 30 years. She and her husband made their home in the woods near Ludington. She left her tick cares behind her when she left planet Earth in December 2021.
