Fallacies and Facts about Ticks – by Barbara Baker

 

‘Tis the season for ticks - those tiny ground-dwelling bugs who hang out in the grass so they can attach themselves to a host, hitchhike a ride and … suck your blood. Why I’ve never related them to Dracula and vampires I’ll never know. 

Growing up in the Rocky Mountains around Banff, I thought I knew all the facts about ticks. Boy, was I wrong.

Google was quick to point out that my youthful tick knowledge was based on hearsay, fallacies and a healthy dose of imagination. For instance, I was sure a tick could bury its entire body under my skin. Wrong. Only their head goes in. I also believed if a tick was stuck under my skin, I should find someone (preferably a smoker with a steady hand) to burn it’s sticking-out-butt with a hot match head or lit cigarette and the tick would back out slowly. Also wrong. Not only is this dangerous but it's ineffective. Did you know tick’s nostrils aren’t in their butt? I was positive I learned that in science class. Anyways, it's not true so putting nail polish remover or Vaseline on their backside to suffocate them is pointless. Ticks don’t jump and they seldom drop from tree branches. Since when?

Now that my grandkids are old enough to go hiking, I figured it’s time I get the facts straight for the health and safety of all concerned.

Here we go:

• Ticks are arachnids and have been around for 100 million years.

   

tick                                   spider

• Once on its host, a tick searches for a warm, dark and moist place such as behind ears, under armpits, navel, the groin area, in your hair and behind the knees. Behind the knees baffles me. I checked - it’s not dark or moist behind my knees.

  

• There’s a substance in their saliva which they inject when they bite. It helps to numb the area and prevents the host from realizing they’ve been bitten. How clever and sneaky.

• They have small openings on their sides called spiracles which they breathe through. Ticks also have an alternate respirator system called a plastron. It allows them to survive underwater for extended periods because they absorb oxygen from the water. That's sure to impress the grandkids.

• Ticks breathe a few times every hour and live for two years.

• To remove a tick use tweezers, grab the tick as close to the skin as possible and gently pull it straight out. Do not squeeze their body.

• Canada’s Public Health Agency works with provincial programs to collect and analyze ticks because they can transmit Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever to humans. Can you imagine coming to work each day to find your desk lined with vials of ticks?

A neat trick I heard about on a hiking Facebook post is to tuck your pant legs into your socks when you go hiking. Then wrap duct tape, sticky side out, at the sock/pant margin. A dorkish look, yes. But it has a purpose. This keeps the ticks from crawling up your legs into your nether regions or behind your knees. The added sticky-side-out method allows you to catch any tick hitchhikers. Or you could just spray your ankles with bug repellant. Also effective and not as dorky looking.

I will have to admit, youthful knowledge based on hearsay, fallacies and creative imagination is fun and funnier than reality at times

Here's one last detail:

•      Ticks need to have a blood meal to reproduce. After they feast the female can lay from 1,500 to 5,000 eggs.

Are you itchy yet?

To wrap it up, here’s a country song that might make you smile while you itch – Brad Paisley - Ticks (Live)

 

 

Baker, Barbara - BWL Publishing Inc. (bookswelove.net)