Ticks

[Dwain]

I have never been Rving, so forgive me if this is a silly question.


I and my wife are excited about the possibility of retiring and seeing the country RVing. I am particularly interested in the Northeast, and would be traveling probably July-October. Looking at a map of the US, the Northeast seems to be where there is a concentration of ticks and the diseases they spread.



With this said, I know people who are suffering from lyme disease, etc...and I was wondering if those who RV in Northeastern states have had any problems with ticks etc... I read some of the precautions to take to keep from getting bitten, but was wondering if they can get in RV's etc..... I also have a dog and was wondering about if this is an issue.



Anyway, thanks for any info!


Dwain

[moosetags]

We have been Airstreaming for twelve years, and have logged almost 1,900 nights of Airstream camping. We have camped extensively all over New England. We have have never experienced any problems with ticks, nor have we taken any particular precautions. We hike in the woods regularly, and use some Deep Woods Off.


Brian

[A W Warn]

I've been living in tick country all of my life. I have always been active outdoors, spending a lot of time in the woods, especially as a child. Over the years, I've had many attached to my skin. I have not contracted any disease. I personally do not know anyone who has, but I suppose the threat is real since I see a lot of stuff on the news. When I see this in the news I have always remembered, the news reporters are selling their story through their advertisers, so the story is inflated to keep interest high.

If you have not already, read here:
https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/index.html

There are a few tricks I've learned, but the most important is use a repellant with DEET. I use Deep Wood Off.

If I'm going to be in a tick infested area wearing shorts I'll use tick/flea repellant pet collars, one on each ankle over a sock, so that it does not contact my skin. Most websites tell people to cover up and tuck clothes in, but that is not a real option in the summer heat.

In the northeast the problem is much less than the southeast. I doubt you will even see a tick.
Where I live in NC, they are everywhere outside. We occasionally bring one inside on our clothing. They do not come inside on their own.

add edit:
A few tips:
If hiking, stay on the path. Do not rub against low hanging limbs or tall grass. This is where the ticks wait on a passing host.
Check a couple times a day around your waist. Ticks crawl upward from ankles/legs and seem to like the restricted area of the waistband of clothing.
If the tick get onto your arms it will crawl upward into the head/hairline. Check often by feeling with fingers.

I usually feel them on my skin before they get attached.

[Hiho Silver]

Another option, that we use, is Permethrin, which you can treat your clothes with, and some people spray it on their skin, but we just treat our clothes and it works great.
As far as your dog, we use a tablet form of protection for our border/aussie. So the ticks don't die until they bite her. And yes, if your dogs are out in the woods and then come back inside your Airstream, there may still be ticks on them that are alive because they haven't bitten your dog yet.
Still not a problem for us, and if you do get bitten and you remove the tick as soon as possible you should be okay, I know that from experience.

[Mollysdad]

I've had one tick and it was after a hike in the Florida wilderness.
I was taking a shower and thought, "I don't remember a freckle there."
Well, it was a tick. I tried all the home remedies, match, alcohol, and nothing worked. I finally pulled and it came out. Pulled harder than I expected! I suffered no ill effects, thankfully.
BTW, it was on an area that was well covered, so it must have dug around until it got to skin.

[kendrick.l.j]

Your bigger concern should be doing lots of research on the QUALITY of whatever RV you choose to purchase which may not be an Airstream. Just a little warning that ticks are the least of you problems. As the above post mentioned, I too have live in tick country my entire 60 years. I, nor anyone I have ever known ever contracted Lyme disease. I was an RN working in the same region and in 40 years I never knew of a single patient to be dx with Lyme disease. Yes, people do get that diagnosis but it is fairly rare despite what the news reports would lead one to believe.
If you happen to head to the southeast, fire ants are a real issue and they hurt like heck, I have data on this.

[Hiho Silver]

Yes agreed, I think it is rare to contact any diseases from ticks. We too live in tick country and we also have a 45 acre farm with lots of woods where we store our Airstream and sometimes camp. Permethrin is your friend. I treat my clothes and one application lasts a long time. Only times I've been bitten is when I wasn't properly protected because I got lazy.
Two of my friends and neighbors near our farm DID contact Lyme Disease, and it was not good. Just stay protected and do a tick check on your body so they can be removed quickly if found.

[Wayne&Sam]

Here in NY State my wife and I walk in our woods daily and have been doing so for 40 years. We get ticks all the time. The dogs get ticks all the time.

Get them off you within 24 hours (even if attached, using a proper method) and there is low risk of disease. Nontheless we've both had to take antibiotics several times over the years. It's just part of life. Treat lyme early and it's no big deal.

If you have a dog there are some very good meds (Bravecto) that ensures all the ticks they collect are dead. I wish I could take it.

I've had very good luck with LL Bean's permethrin treated pants and socks. They really work.

[Martee]

I am camping and hiking in the Adirondacks right now. Just got done with a 17.5 mile hike around Indian Lake, and not a single tick bite. Good awareness, proper clothing and use of permethrin all go along way to reducing your risk. So do not let tick risk control your Camping and RV lifestyle anywhere in the USA.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[OTRA15]

Lyme Disease is a serious and debilitating disease. Left un-diagnosed, it can actually lead to death in the long run. Good comments so far, but folks who don't live in the NE often downplay the risks.



The more rural campgrounds on Long Island, and presumably elsewhere, are epicenters for intense concentrations of Deer Ticks, as well as Lone Star Ticks, which can lead to the Alpha-Gal allergy. We have family members who have been afflicted with this allergy, and it is not fun!

Further info here:

https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/index.html
http://www.suffolkcountyny.gov/Porta...gy%20Flyer.pdf
https://www.google.com/search?q=cdc+...nt=firefox-b-1
http://www.suffolkcountyny.gov/Depar...ram/Ticks.aspx
http://www.suffolkcountyny.gov/Porta...g_2018_ADA.pdf


The risks are real. One family member developed Lyme Carditis which caused her heart rate to go down to 26 beats per minute, requiring an immediate trip to the ER, and the implantation of a pacemaker ASAP.

No fun . . . caution advised . . .


PS -- All the state and county campgrounds are aware of the risks, and can give you the best local advice for each location.

[CruizinDux]

In the 80's/90/s I lived on the sonoma coast...dear country and so tick country. I would run the trails with my Irish Setter. I fared much better as I was wearing running shorts and so would generally see the rascally guys upon the end of run inspection.


My dog was the tick magnet, that even with spray and a post run brush at she managed to get her share, usually in the brows where she ran into the grass leaning on to the trail.


The local vet sold these https://tickinfo.com/protickremedy


I cannot recollect a time when I could not remove a tick easily. Very slick tool and highly recommend it. I will say an ounce of prevention....as they say, but there are no fool proof methods and I didn't like the possible build up of off/deet.


Bob

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by CruizinDux

. . .
The local vet sold these https://tickinfo.com/protickremedy
. . .

Thanks for that great link, Bob! A good explanation in the text, and the tool looks like it works well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pid-...ature=youtu.be

We have also found that a good pair of expensive fine-tipped tweezers might be necessary if the tick has dug in a bit, because you don't want to remove just a partial tick. Like in the old carpentry days of removing deep splinters before they can fester, tweezers with sharp corners on the tip, can be used to "dig out" the skin a little in order to remove the entire tick. You need good lighting of course and direct access to the site [unlike the video where the tick was up near the guy's armpit, and he did the removal ASAP himself, using the mirror to see the action -- sorry TMI maybe for some readers ].

No fun -- kinda ticks me off . . .



Have a great Fourth!

Peter

PS -- Possible good tweezers FYI: https://www.amazon.com/Tweezees-Prec...00LYLJJO2?th=1

[OTRA15]

PS2 -- Another possibility -- Swiss and expensive, but may be the right tool for some "surgical" jobs IMO:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0777T4623...8e9b0c892&th=1

[Wayne&Sam]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

PS2 -- Another possibility -- Swiss and expensive, but may be the right tool for some "surgical" jobs IMO:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0777T4623...8e9b0c892&th=1

Our County Health Department gave out tick kits that included a similar tweezer. They work very well.

[OTRA15]

And here is what a fine pair of tweezers can extricate.

Happy Fourth of July!

Peter

[CruizinDux]

Yup. All the more reason for a follow inspection/brush. The first pass is blind luck.

Thanks peter...that's one precession instrument, thx.

[Overstreet]

I grew up battling the little bugs (filtered translation)...…..The females will attach themselves to your dog. The dog will bring them inside the trailer. If you don't check the dog and remove them sooner or later they will be engorged and fall off the dog in a corner. In the woods it would be at the base of a tree, bush or tall grass. In your trailer think baseboards. There the momma lays a small smear of reddish eggs. They hatch. The little "seed" ticks crawl up the tree, bush, grass, wall or furniture looking to get into position to drop, crawl or grab a passing warm or cold blooded creature. Better to check for the little creatures when you go into the woods. Check the dog every day. Most camp grounds don't have them in the RV site area.

On a lighter side...………..there is a country song about checking for ticks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OctrGD4JW8U

[McDave]

I'm a traditional bowhunter, and being out in the weeds and blinds and tree stands makes it about 1,000 times more likely to have tick problems than RV campgrounds. As mentioned, the northeast and southeast are the hot spots, but I will occasionally bring one home here in California too, as will the dog. Those who bowhunt in tick infested areas wouldn't think of going out without first spraying clothes with permethrin, which they consider more effective than big repellents that contain deet. We keep a tick collar recommended by our vet on Lupe year-round, which seems to work better than the behind the neck drops. She is much more prone to ticks than I am, as she likes to root around in weeds and brush where they hang out, while I walk around those areas and avoid walking under low hanging trees. Here in California, they are rare enough that I don't spray myself with anything, and normally find any ticks before they can latch on. Reading stories about tick infested areas, hunters may come back with hundreds of them either attached or wandering around on their clothes, while people who have sprayed their clothes with permethrin typically come back with none.

The important thing is safe tick removal, as illustrated in the video at the top of these posts. Once a tick is attached, if you squeeze the body to pull it off, you are using the tick like a syringe to inject its bodily fluids into your body. If you pry it off from underneath, its bodily fluids stay inside the tick where they belong. Evidently anything you spray on the tick to remove it also causes it to regurgitate into your body. This is much more important than what happens with the head of the tick, which is already stuck in your body anyway. Normally your body will reject a tick head that is left in your body in a few days without further problems, or if there is an infection, you can treat it locally. Hunters sometimes let their fingernails grow longer on the thumb and forefinger and wedge them under a tick, as a natural replacement for the tick removal tool shown in the video.

[SeeMore]

This is just a reminder... We have been in Maine for two weeks now and it is certainly bug time here. The black flys, mosquitoes, and other flying brethren are all emerging and I believe they outnumber the oxygen molecules in some places. The ticks are also prevalent and I have found at least one (mostly more) each day we walk the woods with our dog. Everybody should have one of these devices for tick removal: they work effortlessly and efficiently, plus fit on your key ring. Variants are available via the web:

https://petsgurus.com/products/tickc...FQmOswodxSMLAw

[Mollysdad]

Just got this. Tip from LoLoHo.
It's a handle with a small set of prongs that snag the tick and supposedly remove the tick intact.
Long ago I found a tick after a walk in the forest. None of the home remedies worked. Match, alcohol. Finally, I pulled it out. No ill effects, but this looks easier.