KayaKoyuOldBoy

Now that the "Tick Season" is well and truly underway, here's a short piece from the Daily Mail of 11th April 2008

The life and times of a tick

•Ticks are arthropods. Small black relatives of spiders, they feed only on liquids.
•They have acute senses which can detect the odour of a large mammal.
•They wait in grass, heather, bracken and trees for a host to brush past then attach themselves by burying a probe into the skin to suck blood.
•After gorging, they swell to the size of a pea before turning grey and dropping off their victim.
•Up to one in three ticks carries Lyme disease. Early symptoms include a "bull's-eye" rash and aching joints, which can be treated with antibiotics.
•Untreated, it can cause arthritis, meningitis, paralysis, blindness, psychotic episodes and death.
•The disease is on the increase in the UK due to warmer, wetter weather. In 2006, there were 768 reported cases, compared with 292 in 2003.

gren

Did you find all that out in the chatroom?

gren

No, seriously. Good info. Thanks!

shirleyanntr

looks like Grens taking the tick...
you have to tick him off

KayaKoyuOldBoy

Bookhimref!DoublepostingANDinsultinganothermember!

teresa

I had one crawling on my hand last week. These thinks really freak me out, you can't even kill them by stepping on them as they keep crawling. I got a hot poker and stabbed it, that did the trick.

I did consider frontlining myself.

bobthenob

What l do,when l see the odd one on my dog,l pull it off,chuck it on the floor,and stamp on it,it makes a popping sound,with the gurgitated blood shooting off in one direction,then you get the head of the predator between your finger and thumb nail,and press hard,you will hear the crunching sound of the head concaving,then you know its definitely dead.

RichnKim

Very Useful and Informative KayaKoyuOldBoy

Teresa we know what you mean they also freak us out - the thought that one could be on you and you might not even know is horrible. Apparently when they feed on people/animals blood you can't feel them because they release something into the skin...ergh

Richnkim

shirleyanntr

OOh Bob..im shocked..and you dont kill those bog things you showed us in the pic...so why discriminate against the poor tick...