<font color="ff0000">Ticks - a query to everyone</font>

[edward]

snip "OK so "all" you have to worry about with chiggers is the urge to itch? They're not in themselves harmful? "endsnip

Hi John,

I can relapse if I get bit by another infected tick and miss it... so I do worry about it a little.

Chiggers are far worse as
1) they bite you whereever your clothes are tight against your skin (waist band, socks, collers, shoes, etc
2) the itching doesn't go away in a short period of time, you can itch for up to two weeks (and are covered with little red bumps)
3) the itching is far far worse than any mosquito, black fly or no see um bite I have ever had.

Unless I am really bushwacking, I do not use a lot of repellant. Anymore I wear long pants, and either tuck my pants into my socks, or tape the end of my pants down to my socks/shoes. I then spray that area with a repellent and then add a band at the waist of my pants. This keeps usually keeps both the ticks and the chiggers off of me.

Justin, if you think you are tough, when you are back in the states remind me to introduce you to European Hornets (see http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/Urban/eurohornet.htm) (which are not quite as bad as the Japanese Hornets....

Ed

Ed

 

[justin]

John, no I have not had a Guinea worm, but I have plenty of internal parasites... maybe that is included. I spoke to a vet about self treatment with Ivermectin and I think I have myself dosed from dog size to me weight. As for Ed and his hornets, they sound terrible. I don't know how they compare to those we had a few days ago, but that was by far the worst sting/bite of my life. All my joints still hurt and the finger is swollen and black and blue. I also had a nasty ant bite a few weeks ago that is still swollen, but it turned black for about two weeks and was literally about a 1" thick bump for a few days. But regardless, I do not claim to be touch at all. I do worry about these ants we have at the study site as well, I believe Pseudomyrmex maybe (though not on Cecropia) and me building an allergic reaction to them. They are painful and the bites swell up for a day, then itch for another 2-3 days when the swelling is gone. My record was some 30 stings on my first day catching D. imitator. Since then I average only 5-10 daily. Regardless, I think I have hijacked this thread enough and thoroughly scared anyone away from going to the Neotropics... it's really not that bad though.
j

 

[nate]

I don't think you quite understand chiggers...

When I get chiggers, the itch is as intense as you can imagine and can last for several months depending on the location, as can the bite scar. We had a grad student from Iowa here who reacted very poorly to chiggers and ended up at the hospital...he got dime-sized, itching, necrotic sores. It really looked like some horrible, tropical parasite/disease. I get the feeling if you're reacting so allergic to mosquito bites, chiggers will quite literally be hellish.

As for Lyme Disease...eh...I'm blase I suppose. Just "know" I'll never get it.

 

[john]

Next time I get a mosquito bite, I'll take a photo. I have one I received 7-10 days ago that still is a large pink patch with a nasty centre. It still itches a bit. Not saying it's worse than anything but I want you to understand why I'm afraid of mosquitos now .

 

[richard]

besides chiggers, ticks, ants, internal parasites so on and so forth, you might want to watch out for some spiders int the tall grass. the name of a species has slipped my mind, but i walked into a web and had the misfortune of getting bitten by the mystery spider. please avoid any webs you may see(or feel), as i was unable to walk for 3 days after and the doctor who looked at my leg would not believe that it was not broken..... spiders

 

[jim]

You guys crack me up. I always just took all these bugs for granted. Growing up here we just learned ways of dealing with them. Chiggers are by far the worst in my opinion but speaking of itchy and inflamed who's ever had a bad case of poison ivy, oak, or sumac?

Ed- Isn't it great being the guy who has the last laugh when you finally pull your pants out of your socks while everyone who has been making fun of you all day is furiously scratching?

 

[TJ]

Didn't notice this thread until now...

I got ticks all the time while growing up in Colorado, during trips to the mountains. They can carry Rickettsia rickettsii, a species of bacteria that causes "Rocky Mountain spotted fever," which can be fatal.

I though mosquitos were bad until I encountered something called the "biting midge." I got bitten all over the arms and neck by these during a trip last month to Okinawa. The day I encountered these, I woke up in the middle of the night shivering cold and with nausea. But that was nothing compared with the unsightly, intensely itchy bumps that over the subsequent days gradually appeared over the exposed area, worsening over time, sometimes swelling up to a point where they leaked fluid. It took around 10 days for them to go away. The midges don't just pierce and such like mosquitos but they use tiny teeth to cut the skin to draw the blood. Truly disgusting creatures.

 

[john]

The mosquito bite I mentioned a few days ago actually burst open last night with copious amounts of blood (copious considering it was originally caused by a mosquito). Sucks having an allergy to a thing that other people sniff at. I used to get eaten alive when I was a kid. 28 years and I develop a seriously annoying allergy.

 

[TJ]

That sucks

The reason I had my hands, arms and neck exposed to begin with is that for some reason (the vegetarian diet?) I hardly ever get bitten by mosquitos -- especially if I'm with somebody else who is tastier with me.

These midges were something else altogether. I wouldn't be surprised if my travelmate at the time, Aki of Finland (who sometimes visits this site), has lasting scars, considering how badly he was bitten. Calamine lotion was soothing but I eventually sought help at a dermatologist and was prescribed a steriod-containing ointment that was effective. I was told they are especially bad around shallow water areas used by newts as these areas are also utilized by wild boar. The boar wallow around in the mud and water and leave behind their scent, which the midges are naturally attracted to.

As for ticks, I removed one from my dog last summer by applying a hot match tip to the bloodsucker's rump, as we used to do back home.

 

[ralf]

Hmmm, yet another reason not to smell like a wild boar.

 

[alan]

John,
I have the same problem if that's any consolation. My wife does not. One of my children does, the other doesnt!
I'm also allergic to bloodworms, especially the frozen ones which leak lots of juice.

 

[mike]

I occasionally "pick up" the odd tick from deer or possibly grey squirrels in my garden, with no adverse effects. Unfortunately a male snowy owl in one of my aviaries wasn't so lucky, it died from a tick bite. I look at my birds daily, and noticed a large tick on it's face, just below the eye, I removed the tick immediately from the bird. Within 2 hours the bird was dead!
It appears that it is only adult ticks that are 3-4 years old that have the ability to kill large birds, before this age they will attach themselves for a meal of blood and once full, drop off the host causing it no great harm and return to its hideout.
The current veterinary thinking is that probably it is the toxin injected by the tick to prevent the victims blood from clotting that kills the bird.

 

[edward]

Hi Jim,

It is..
I was speaking to another herpetologist who told me that if your pants are long enough, rolling your pant cuffs up does the same thing with teh chiggers and ticks.. As I know my system works, I have been hesitant to try that method...

Ed

 

[john]

Ralf that's very interesting. I have handled bloodworms for years and never had an issue, but the last time I handled them was about 2 months before I developed this allergy to mosquito bites. I think I might go and get some frozen bloodworms and see if I have a reaction.

 

[stewart]

I go through the bush and long grass here in summer but have never encounded ticks. Only meat eating ants locests and other dangerous spiders, scorpians and a few snakes. Just wach where you are going!

 

[dane]

ticks are'nt a big problem, I have been getting ticks pulled of me since i can remember

 

[sergé]

Just to add an European reaction; ticks are of big concern in the Netherlands for anyone going out in the field. Most of the ticks carry Borelia (which causes Lyme disease). Several herpetologists I know have been affected by Lyme disease over the past years because doctors didn't treat them accordingly. Especially in spring when the small ticks are around it is easy to over look them. I had several but if they are removed within 24 hours and in a 'gentile' way it is said you don't get affected. So we need to check the complete body after a field visit...

 

[TJ]

One thing I didn't see mentioned here, is that DEET is acutely lethal to amphibians if you handle them after applying it with your hands, even after washing. I very unfortunately found this out first hand, resulting in a bag of dead wood frogs. DO NOT use DEET if you intend to handle amphibians at all.
-Tim