Tick Repellant

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mrcharly

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 25, 2011
3,257
44
North Yorkshire, UK
I spent a few months living in a very heavily tick populated area, and removing ticks from dogs and people was a daily thing, I must have taken 10 or more out of my own legs and groin. We never used anything more advanced than tweezers but these are risky. The main worry is lymes disease, which I'm told can be chronic and really mess people up, though its not officially recognised everywhere as a cause. If the tick is found when it first bits and is removed clean the chance of catching lymes are very slim, even if they do have it to pass on. Apparently the biggest risk is leaving them in to suck away, or pulling them apart and leaving the head under the skin.

Actually the biggest risk is the tick disgorging its stomach contents into you. You really really shouldn't use tweezers.

Yank off with otom remover or similar. I guess you could make a lasso out of hair or thread to do the same.

The 'twist' thing is supposedly to get the tick's head out. Well, it doesn't always work, you have more chance of tick stomach contents going into you - just get the things off without squeezing them.

My step-daughter got lymes, very very young. Mum spotted it and had her on the right antibiotics dead quick. She's fine now.

Tick would most likely have been transferred from a cat or dog as she was too little to have been playing in the grass.
 

Gray

Full Member
Sep 18, 2008
2,091
10
Scouser living in Salford South UK
I'm usually irresistible to anything bug like and i use Deet all the time. If its not 95%, i dont buy it. I can honestly say I've never had a tick on me, might be just coincidence.

In fact, been at Giants Seat over the weekend and I've used Deet on arms,hands,head etc but kept it away from my watch...and guess what....

6a7e3e8e.jpg


Sorry, nothing to do with ticks.
 
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Bartooon

Nomad
Aug 1, 2007
265
0
68
New Forest
I was teaching shelter building over the weekend and if there is foolproof way of getting ticks it is picking up armfuls of leaf litter in a woods packed to the treetops with deer (figuratively speaking, of course!).

Sure enough, when I got home an itch on my calf revealed itself to be one of the little b*ggers. I got it off quickly before it had started to feed seriously, but the spot still itchs like crazy two days later.

I think Goatboy's patches are going to be the way I go. Only problem is that they apparently have to be attached to a hairless bit of skin. I'll have to ask my Good Lady if I can borrow her Veet. That should get her worried!
 

troutman

Nomad
May 14, 2012
273
4
North East (UK)
DEET should repel them, just depends if you want to use it-maybe just on your lower half. Have a bottle of lifesystems 50% that claims to repel them, never tried it for this, but worth a try if you don't want to use permethrin- which I suspect doesn't do technical fibres, DWR coatings etc much good.
 

Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland
I think Goatboy's patches are going to be the way I go. Only problem is that they apparently have to be attached to a hairless bit of skin. I'll have to ask my Good Lady if I can borrow her Veet. That should get her worried!

What ever you do don't let Turbogirl know you're wanting Veet... she's a demon that lassie.:lmao:

ATB,
GB.
 

xylaria

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Permethrin isn't a tick repellant. It is an contact active insecticide. It does not stop them getting on to you what it does do is (hopefully) kill them before they bite you.

Its a horrible nasty compound - been linked to all sorts of neurological issues and highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates & fish. The impact of one of the over the counter bottles flushed into the sewer is noticeable down river ie after sewage treatment.

I wouldnt use permethrin on my body[it doesnt work applied to the skin anyway], I have seen what it does to a cat. I would use it on clothing if I was going somewhere like dartmoor or the brecons which is heeving with the things. I wouldnt touch DEET either, it doesnt work very well at all for ticks, and it is nasty stuff. Permethrin at least works when used on clothing. Last time we when for a walk on the brecon i knocked up a soft cream with lemon eucalyptus which we applied to our legs and arms. None of us got any ticks, we didnt get hit by a bus either. Neem is what is used in animal herbal tick repellants, there are a few plants extracts that seem to stop them from wanting to bite.

Personally for seriously protecting myself I go for treated clothes and herbal repellant cream.
 
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Chris the Cat

Full Member
Jan 29, 2008
2,850
14
Exmoor
I wouldnt use permethrin on my body[it doesnt work applied to the skin anyway], I have seen what it does to a cat. I would use it on clothing if I was going somewhere like dartmoor or the brecons which is heeving with the things. I wouldnt touch DEET either, it doesnt work very well at all for ticks, and it is nasty stuff. Permethrin at least works when used on clothing. Last time we when for a walk on the brecon i knocked up a soft cream with lemon eucalyptus which we applied to our legs and arms. None of us got any ticks, we didnt get hit by a bus either. Neem is what is used in animal herbal tick repellants, there are a few plants extracts that seem to stop them from wanting to bite.

Personally for seriously protecting myself I go for treated clothes and herbal repellant cream.

Is there a herbal repellant out there for sale that does the job Fiona?
Yours, for instance?

Best.

Cat.
 

mrcharly

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 25, 2011
3,257
44
North Yorkshire, UK
I wouldnt use permethrin on my body[it doesnt work applied to the skin anyway], I have seen what it does to a cat.

Have you seen what chocolate does to dogs?
And aspirin? Kills cats.

Permethrin is a toxin but just because it is bad for cats doesn't mean you shouldn't use it on yourself.
 

xylaria

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Is there a herbal repellant out there for sale that does the job Fiona?
Yours, for instance?

Best.

Cat.

MyggA has been tested by the swedish army. The midge repel we make is not barrier cream/oil for creeping mites, it confuses the scent detection on flying insects. The midge cream in the little tins is made very hard so it lasts a long time and is used very sparingly it is not smothered over the skin.

The cream i used on the brecons was just coconut oil and lemon eucapyltus, because that is what I had in the cupboard. We plastered our legs in it. I have thought of doing a cream, but it could not be tested in any way safely. I dont think I would run through tick infested under growth to test my own product, and wouldn't ask anyone else to.
 
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troutman

Nomad
May 14, 2012
273
4
North East (UK)
Looks like there isn't many options for stopping ticks then! I'm always doubtful of natural based products, the theory of using natural oils etc which are safer does sound more appealing, but in reality I wouldn't like to use them to prevent mosquito's just a risk I'm not willing to take....
 

mrcharly

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 25, 2011
3,257
44
North Yorkshire, UK
The oils on human skin deactivate permethrin, it doesnt work applied to the skin. I like the idea of having clothes treated with it.
I don't know about that. I do know I spent the first 20 years of my life sprayed with Mortein; which used to use the natural version of permethrin. It kept off flies and mossies and hasn't had any deleterious effect on me. I've always had this twitch
 

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