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Bad Year for Ticks

Ted Calver

Ted Calver

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Yorktown, Virginia
As my son just found out. Lime disease has kicked his butt. Classic bulls-eye rash high temp, fatigue. He's on antibiotics, but been laid up for several days. If you live in a tick area don't forget those tick checks,


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I was out Thursday working on my bow hunting trails. Pulled a Star tick off my neck and 2 deer ticks off. You have basically 24 hours to get the deer ticks off before lime will set in. Hope your son recovers well.
Brown recluse can give the same systems but with greater swelling. I use a sharpes to mark the swelling.
 
Thanks for the tips, Dave. He and his family are living in a refurbished farm house surrounded by tall grass and lots of critters. We just talked to them last week about cutting down the tall grass and establishing a defensible perimeter around the house and garden where the kids and pets could hang out with a better chance of not collecting ticks. Tough to find a spray that is effective but still kid/pet safe.
 
I didn't think to say this earlier. I live on 35 acres and it is all trees and grass and so on. The living area I figger is about 2 1/2 acres and the rest I don't worry about too much. I spray about every two months the "living area" with a mixture of plain blue Dawn and white vinegar. I rarely have fleas and I have had no ticks on me or my dogs. It works here is all I can say and relatively inexpensive. Just a suggestion.
 
I'm on 16 acres here in Arkansas. Mostly woods and a pond, but I do have about 3 acres around the house that I mow with a bush hog. This area is tic city. Dave, I'd like to know your mixing ratio. Does the mixture spray with a normal garden sprayer? We breed and show English Setters. Tics can be a real problem with their long hair.
 
Norm, I'm sure it would work in a hose sprayer but I don't know what that ratio would be. I mix it up in a 50 gallon PTO powered sprayer. For that I use 3 large bottles of Dawn and 3 gallons of white vinegar. As I was told is if the spray coming out has bubbles and you smell vinegar you got it right. Never was taught an exact formula. The vinegar helps with the ants as well. And as you know the Dawn acts as a surfactant (sp?) as well as kills fleas on contact and kills the ticks in a few minutes or so. Hope all of this helps. I was going to spray again today but have rains moving in again tonight. Supposedly.
 
Ticks you can see. Hate to see 'em but they don't bother me like chiggers do. Those are itch city with raised welte and oozing. Had one several years ago that the doc finally cut it out saying pre cancerous skin lesion. All those little critters are bad.
Daid
 
Free range chickens give probably the best eggs one could taste. But, I have too many wild critters around here. Bobcats, coyotes, etc.. Just don't think those chickens will survive long. Those chiggers are pretty mean, too. That Dawn and vinegar I use seems to keep them at bay, too.
 
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