seed ticks: the devil’s spawn
Lest anyone [re: city folk] think living in the country is all sweetness and light, let me disabuse those folk of that notion in one word: seed ticks.
Okay, it was two words. Sue me. But really, seed ticks are disgusting, horrible, nasty, annoying, and gross. Now, let me tell you how I really feel.
I HATE SEED TICKS.
And we live in Tick Central. This is the Tick Ranch. Our main crop is, you guessed it, TICKS. It’s just a fact of life in central NC.
What? You don’t know what a seed tick is?
A seed tick is the larval stage of a tick. They sit in masses of hundreds, if not thousands, in grass, or maybe in some alternate tick dimension where they phase into existence just as one of the kids walks by. Innocently brushing said grass/inter-dimensional portal, hundreds of tiny, teeny seed ticks glom on and begin swarming up the leg or arm at near superluminal speeds. When you notice it, you look down and see this massing army of what looks like moving dirt spreading up your leg and generally what happens next is you freak the fuck out.
Here, look:
Can you see those little dots? Those are about a hundred baby ticks crawling across my hand and up my arm. This is actually a small tick bomb, as a big one can look like mud on your hand, the tick mass is so large. Can you believe I had the presence of mind to stop and take a picture before I washed those mother fuckers off? I can’t.
When this happens, we call it a Tick Bomb, as in, “Mom! I just got tick bombed!”
If you don’t get the ticks off, they bite in, leaving tiny, blister-like bites that itch for weeks, months even. Seed ticks supposedly are too small to spread Lyme Disease or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, so there is that in their favor I guess. I don’t know—if someone introduced me as “At least she doesn’t carry any major diseases,” I don’t think it would be a huge compliment. Just saying.
When we were looking at this land to buy, we hired a semi-realtor dude to come out and handle the paperwork for us. He came out to walk the land with us with the seller’s realtor—I guess this is normal, like having your lawyer present or something. Anyway, we warned him about the ticks. We told him to take preventative measures. But he totally dismissed this and showed up in slacks and loafers. He later told me that no amount of money from the sale of that land could make up for the torture-by-itching that he experienced from all the tick bites he got on that walk.
So what ARE preventative measures? Well, some people use the chemical method, some people use the barrier method. For the ticks, I mean. For example, people try to keep the ticks away with tall boots, sprayed down with poisonous toxins. This can do all right, unless you get ticks on your arms. And if you spray your whole self, there you are, covered in poison. No thank you. Other people say to tuck in your clothes tightly, putting your pants into your socks, that sort of thing, in an attempt to keep the ticks on the clothes and off your skin. They they toss the clothes in the washer. But I’ve seen ticks come out of the washer alive (obviously they are the scourge of the earth, a mix of nuclear waste and the Undead), and one or two or ten always seem to get through anyway and bite you in the armpit, or along the elastic of your underwear. I HATE that.
Here’s a weird one: I used to put a super thick layer of lotion or vaseline around my ankles. The ticks couldn’t climb any higher than the lotion (they would get stuck in it) and I could just wash my feet after the walk and be done with it. I did this until one summer I got about 200 bites on my left foot and decided even localizing the torture wasn’t good enough.
What to do?
The first thing is when you see this:
Don’t Panic!
And the second thing to do is pull out some TAPE.
Because look:
Tape pulls those ticks right up! I’ve gotten tick bombed so bad at times that the tape has been wall-to-wall ticks. DISGUSTING! We NEVER go on walks in the woods around here without tape.
Look at what the macro feature on my camera does to that tape:
Can you see their evil little legs??? They are about the size of the head of a pin. Smaller. There have been a couple of times where we have been out on a walk and forgotten the tape. Someone gets bombed and we just run for the yurt, yelling. It’s pretty funny. “Tick Bomb! ARRRGGGG!!!” We make a joke about it, to stave off the horror and panic. And I buy lots and lots of tape. It never hurts to have extra.
You can pop seed ticks between your fingernails if you’re feeling vengeful, or you can burn the tape, maybe, and maybe do a little victory dance around the flames.
I knew a gal who lived a couple of miles from here who thought she had a spider infestation in her carpets—you could run your hand across the shag and a little hail of tiny bugs would spring up out of them. SEED TICKS. The exterminator was so grossed out he went home to take a shower. She was from the north and had never seen ticks before. Her dogs had brought them in. NASTY. Don’t worry, every one lived. And they didn’t even have to burn down the house.
Moral: don’t give up walks in the beautiful woods. Don’t live in fear! Just don’t leave home without your tape.
Finally, although this post is about ticks, look at what a yellow jacket did to little Sophie’s hand:
Poor baby! It swelled up so much she couldn’t make a fist. Mean old yellow jacket.
There are a few advantages to living in town. Not getting Tick Bombed is one of them.
ETA: There is quite a discussion in the comments section on this post. Including a longish reply from me that talks about how to get them off, once they have bitten in. Scroll down to find it—look for the bold print if you don’t want to read the other comments—especially if you’re googling because you’ve got ticks on you and you are freaking out. 
Category: honeymilk farm
Oh my gosh! I HATE ticks! Good idea about the tape!!!
OOO I hate the Ticks also grrrr great idea with the tape I am off to get some now!
I am itching everywhere now! All anyone has to say is ticks. There are MORE ticks than usual this year because of having more rain. Every time I go outside, I get them. Bleh. We don’t have the seed ticks, thanks. But I’m GETTING more tape just in case they migrate south! Off to take a shower now.
Oh man, I was JUST going to go outside with my boys! I don’t know whether you remember my questions to you a few posts back about how you manage to LIVE with all those… critters? You had revived my ability to go outside! Well, two days ago a tiny baby snake slithered right past the boys and I as we played in the driveway, and went directly INTO THE GARAGE! I got out the bug spray poison and started spraying frantically while Xie (my 4 1/2 year old) informed me that that poison kills bugs, not snakes. And my ankles have been itching for weeks now while I’m skeeved-out every night at the thought of little insects burrowed beneath my skin (and that of my boys). And now THIS?! Your tick bombs?! Aaaaaagh! Get me into therapy. Or the city. Whichever is more affordable…
I hate ticks and fleas. Belle has fleas no matter what I put on her, she still has fleas. Her fleas like me a lot. During the summer I have numerous bites all the time. Love Sophie’s picture and the pictures that Luc took. Kiss the kids for me. I love you. Mom
Of course, I TOTALLY know what you’re talking about. I have a couple of adaptations you haven’t tried. Tom and I do the tuck-pants-in-socks move. Like you, we don’t put DEET on our skin. However, we do spray it on our shoes and then on our socks outside the pants. That slows down the ground-up attacks. And that’s mostly what we have, because we just flat don’t walk anywhere where brush can touch us until after a killing frost or three.
And one variation on the tape-removal methodology: a lint roller. These handy rolls of masking tape on a roller with a handle allow you to rapidly roll the wide tape up and down and all around. Pull off the outer layer of tape and inspect for ticks. Roll again with a fresh tape until no more ticks are captured. All ticky tapes get put in a plastic bag with alcohol-soaked tissue to make them DIE! DIE! DIE!
Sorry….where was I? Oh yes, ticks evil. Very, very evil.
Give Sophie my sympathies. A few years back one summer, I was multiply stung two different times by paper wasps. My hand stayed bigger than hers for over a week.
Frost, oh killing frost, where are you?
Wow, so many comments on ticks! They really do inspire strong emotions. Thanks everyone for stopping by!
Deborah, I do remember, and I thought of you when I was writing this post. I thought, “that gal will never go outside again if she reads this.”
Just remember, don’t live in fear! Obviously the threat of seed ticks isn’t keeping us inside, at any rate.
Cathy, yes, the lint roller variation on the tape, very snazzy! I can NEVER remember to buy those! I have been driving along and seen folk on the side of the road, joggers for example, lint-rolling their bare legs in summer, and nodded sympathetically. Only in NC, right? They’ve figured out the tape thing, too.
Down with ticks!
Wow! Just got tick bombed a few days ago and wish I had known about the tape. I jumped into the shower and used the hottest water I could stand. Then I scraped them off with a large knife into the sink! There were so many I couldn’t believe it! My back and underarm got it the worst, but the stragglers also found my legs arms, scalp and a few other unmentionable areas! I’m off to the doctor tomorrow. I look like I have a bad case of chicken pox, but thousand times more itchy!
Yuck, that sounds like a bad one. I’m curious what the doctor is for…anti-itching stuff? Try a little tea tree oil, a tiny bit neat, right on a bite (if the location is non-sensitive skin). This can work wonders. Or dilute a few drops in a couple teaspoons of oil, almond is nice, but olive, grapeseed, sesame, avacado, whatever you’ve got (aside from some half-rancid bottle of wesson or something, haha), and smear all over. Tea tree and lavender essential oils in a bath can work miracles.
I’m going nuts with itching! Went hiking at the Eno River State Park in Durham, NC last week (now back home in California) and I’m still up a couple times at night itching. There’s some disagreement as to whether I’ve got seed ticks or chiggers: what’s the difference? I don’t think we have either in California so this is all new to me.
I’ve tried cortizone cream (OTC), Gold Bong anti-itch cream and now am squeezing out the last bit of my Benadryl cream. They all work about the same (a few minutes or an hour of relief until the next hot-spot errupts!). Ice packs seem to help but not practical when I’m at work!
Today someone recommended taking an epsom salt bath – will try that tonight.
Any other treatment recommendations? How long will this itching last? I’m on day 5 now!
Oops, that was Gold Bond, not Bong. Although a bong might be the next treatment of choice!!!
Patience? I mentioned tea tree and lavender oil. Epsom salt sounds like a good idea. I think you just try to survive. They do last a while. Also, chiggers and ticks are different bugs. When I was a kid they said chiggers burrowed under the skin and the treatment was to put a dab of fingernail polish on the bite to suffocate them. If your mom didn’t have clear, you walked around with bright red, coral, bubble gum pink, whatever her style was, circles all over. Hilarious! Thirty years later, I doubt this is still what they do for chiggers. They really do itch. Sorry for your pain!
Thanks, Maya. I’ll try the oils – and more patience. The epsom salt bath lat night provided, like the creams and lotions, about an hour of relief.
Take a look at the website above. It sounds like you are describing the “Lone Star Tick”, which can transmit disease also. It is called which includes a severe headache, possible rash, fever, aches and pains like the flue. It is treated with antibiotics. My dog was full of them and they got on me. They itch like he..!
I have had chiggers before. Clear nail polish is the only way to get rid of them. In 19 years of real estate development in Middle TN, I have never had seed ticks, unitl now. They are awful. The itching is unreal. One of our real estate agents said to use RID (for lice) to kill the critters. I have tried this remedy which I think killed quite a few. Another person told me to take an alcohol bath (treatment mentioned on the net). I tried this also. This gave the longest relief of itching. I have also used Calgel and Ivarest to help with the itching (poison ivy treatments for itching) Any other remedies welcomed.
Let me tell you what happens if you don’t remove a seed tick. This is the voice of experience. A seed tick is not just a baby tick, it’s actually the larval stage looking for a warm, juicy place to molt. It imbeds itself under your skin and forms a cocoon. Looks sort of like a zit or an ingrown hair. It stays there about 10 days, while it molts. When it’s done molting, it is an adult tick and it eats its way out of your body, leaving a small, bleeding, infected crater. I can’t tell you what it’s like to have an itch and look at it and watch a critter come crawling out of your skin, sort of like a baby chick breaking out of an egg. I had an infestation of about 30 like that a few years ago. It takes several weeks for the craters to heal. So, if you do get “tick bombed,” do everything you can to get rid of all of them. Your spouse/partner will become very familiar with those nooks and crannies in your bod that you can’t get to!
Okay that is just GROSSSSSSSSSSS. EWWWWW!!!!! [running to shower in boiling hot water now!!!!!]
Thank goodness for good ole packing tape.
ugh! Seed ticks are my sworn enemies. I went hiking a few days ago outside St Louis and got eaten alive. When I got home and took my socks off I flipped out. The sight of dozens of tiny parasites latched onto my ankles will always haunt me…and this itching is maddening!
You know, Fred, actually, we may not be talking about the same thing. Because these little things I’m talking about bite in, and you can scrape their bitten-in body off the bite. I’ve never seen this burrowing in [shudder!] thing you’re talking about. Maybe I’m getting them off before that happens, but we haven’t had any craters around here. Just itchy bites.
Eric, no kidding! One’s first tick bomb is haunting, for sure.
OMG! Being a northerner – I just had my first experience with Seed Ticks. I was in Virginia for two weeks.. I had to go for my sister’s funeral and she was quite the free spirit – so one afternoon a bunch of us went on a walk in a state park to clear our heads. We all came home with them. Ugh. A few days later I had to flea bomb her house. I flew home a week later. I was home two days and pulled out a pair of socks that were in my suitcase (can you see where this is heading) – and this morning I am COVERED in small red itchy dots!! I am going to treat all my cats and the house first thing, and commence with the washing of my laundry
You brought ticks back home from Virginia? You transported Virginia ticks across state lines?!? Isn’t there a LAW against that?
Maya,
I believe we’re talking about the same thing. Since my post, I spoke with a retired Army doctor who dealt with these things frequently with soldiers who’d been training in the field. He said I had been “bombed” by both seed ticks and adults. The adults had laid eggs in my skin, which are what formed the craters. Anyway, his surf fire cure for getting rid of them is to soak in a chlorinated swimming pool or hot tub for at least 45 minutes. The chlorine kills them and they fall off. I got bombed last week. I lost count after 80 on the only part of one leg that I can see, so I must have 200 bites! I got the advice from the doc too late. However, I am at the beach and found that salt water and sun is making the bites heal up much faster–and without a whole lot of itching. Of course, I’ve always felt that salt water is a magic cure for many ills–from poison ivy to hangovers!
I have also found some relief by taking hot baths with lots of baking soda. I’m on day 17 following my seed tick attack and I’m still awakened at night by itching. But at least the inflammation has gone way down and I’m not itching as much – day or night. Misery loves company – it’s good to hear the accounts from you other folks suffering like me.
What do people think of steroidal anti-itch/anti-inflammation cream like Topicort or Cortaid? I have not tried them.
Holy Crap is all i can say about seed ticks. I went bow hunting this weekend in north Georgia and when i got back from one of my hunts i took a shower and set down on the couch and my skin felt as if it were crawling. so i went back in the bathroom and it was to late. i removed about 40-50 of them from my neck to my feet. freaked me out. first time. unfortunately i did not get them all i have probably 150 bites on me from my back to my feet. the worse itching ever. poison oak and ivey have nothing on the bastards! hot baths and long sits in a pool are the only relief i have found. good luck to all.
I wouldn’t wish these on my worst enemy. My husband and son returned home to Atlanta from a trip to Virginia this past Saturday. So, Sunday night I’m giving my 3 1/2 year old a bath and notice little dirt specks on this back, behind his ear, torso and heavily concentrated on his private parts…I’m itching my head as I write this. Initially, I’m calm thinking these may be tiny scabs from possible flea bites from the 2 house cats my in-laws have..so I decide to get out my super powered magnifying head gear.. Looks like the kind a welder might wear that magnifies 75-100X. I pull one off with my tweezerman tweezers( a must) and look at it, while my son calls me Doctor Mommy, which I didn’t think was funny at the time.. and sure enough, I tell my husband, these look like tiny ticks. So, I freak out and call his pediatrician who believes me and tells me her son had the same experience last year..Well, we had to remove all 40+ ticks with tweezers..Not a fun experience and very traumatic for a toddler. I then took him to get a check up with another pediatrician who thought I was crazy…she said she had never heard of seed ticks. I told her she needed some high powered glasses or else she wouldn’t be able to see them..I found 3 more on his scalp but she picked them off and discarded them without taking an intrust in looking at them very closely. Now, I’m just hoping I got them all. To all parents who read this, don’t freak out like I did, these seed tick do not carry disease. just make sure you wash everything and vaccum the carpets and throw out the bag afterwards..
You nawtherners are so cute with your doctor appointments for the tick bites!
Melissa, that’s hilarious, the image of you with your welder magnifiers. I get it, you’ve never seen them before so it’s like you’ve been invaded by an alien species. But breathe. It’s okay. It’s just a bug.
Now listen to this: we hardly ever actually get tick bites these days, even though we play in the woods and get ticks on us almost every day. One or two bites every now and then. The reason is that we are very good about getting the ticks OFF before they bite, a skill we have cultivated from much practice and experience. It’s much MUCH easier to slap some tape on a tick bomb before it has spread and get a hundred of them off in one or two seconds, then it is to get individual ticks off once they’ve spread all over you, or, heaven forbid, once they’ve bitten in. Next time you see seed ticks on you, don’t delay, get them off, and you’ll be fine.
) often helps the tick just scrape right off. They are so tiny that they really aren’t bitten in DEEP. A shallow scrape is usually sufficient, but sometimes you have to press fairly hard. Still, no tweezers required. The exception is if the tick is in a place where the skin is very loose and you can’t get a good scrape, and then tweezers can help. Also, if you’ve got a bunch in one broad spot, like a leg, a butter knife (with some lube like water or one time I used peanut butter, haha, don’t knock it, it worked) will sometimes get a bunch off at once, or a really rough loofa and some soap (though I’ve had less luck with that). Sometimes strong tape (hello duct tape!) will get them off even if they are bit in, if the bites are new. (They get in deeper if they’ve been on a while.) But really, the thumbnail scrape is the best method.
HOW TO GET THEM OFF IF THEY ARE BITTEN IN: If you can’t do that, or you miss a couple, and they’ve bitten in, I suggest just scraping them off with a thumb nail. A little moisture (water, or a bit of spit if we aren’t at a sink…its just like a mom-spit bath, not a big deal, don’t freak,
But again, we hardly ever get tick BITES. Seed ticks like to crawl for a while before they settle on a spot, so you’ve got time to get them off before they bite. Next time you seen them swarming up your leg, don’t panic! Just tape them off, or brush them off as best you can if you don’t have tape, before they spread too far, and before they bite, and wash your clothes when you get home. Then go on with your happy, forest-filled, life.
Nicely written! There are seasons for chiggers too. This summer was especially bad for chiggers in Tennessee.
Glad I found this site. My husband was out in a filed in Lynchburg VA recently and returned home covered in seed ticks. We had never heard of them before but the friend he was with grew up in this area of Virginia and told him to take a hot shower and scrape them off with a knife. He did take a hot shower and we scraped off as many as we could find then I went to the store and got the rid shampoo for lice and he showered again with that. The next day he woke up completely covered in red bites from his chest down to his feet. Massive welts and very itchy. He did go to the doctor(typical notherners)who thought he had chigger bites and she had him get a lotion meant for scabies and rub in on himself from head to toe and keep it on for 12 hours to ensure the bugs were all dead. He was also given an antibiotic to take for 10 days becaue the bites were so inflamed and was told to take benedryl for the itching. His friend by the way ended up with only a few (less than 10) bites on him. My husband is still dealing with the itching and it looks like the bites might cause scarring on his legs. These bugs are definetally evil and I hope never to see them again. I did take some pictures of his legs but I don’t see a way to post them on this site. Anyway I think the medical professionals in Virginia need to do their homework on these little bugs since it seems like they are becoming a big problem here.
Oh my gosh! That sounds terrible. I am really sorry for you husband! The trick really is to get them off before they bite. Not much help to y’all new to the tick scene, I’m afraid. They should hand out a pamphlet to incoming Nawtherners. It’s like the first time a Mainlander goes to Hawaii and gets an eyeful of one of those centipedes that are eight inches long and as big around as my finger–and STING. The kid who lived next to me in Honolulu stepped on one with his flipflop and it wrapped around the shoe and stung the top of his foot. Which then swelled up to the size of a basketball. He couldn’t walk for weeks. If you live in Hawaii, you check your sheets before you slide into bed, believe me.
Very interesting – and timely since my foster dog came in covered in black specks that were moving and the size of sesame seeds and smaller. What do you do for your dogs when they get them? My foster is a golden and putting tape on him won’t get down to the skin. After the Frontline only took a slight edge off, I’ve been bathing him in Dawn (I heard that breaks down the exoskeleton of ticks) and treated the yard and picking them off by hand but still the ticks seem to survive. Help!
Hello again, from the Nawtherner livin as a Southerner…My last comment was 9/16 and a lot has happened since then. My toddler broke out in red spots about 8 days after coming in contact with the dreaded seed ticks. I then, like a Nawtherner took him to the Doctor, again! The nice lady Doctor directed me to the nearest hospital for blood test for Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Lyme disease. The test came back positive.,,Now, you can image my surprise when every medical website has indicated that seed ticks don’t carry the disease. Long story short, after 14 days of amoxicillin he has developed Erythema Multiforme…Google that one. The Doc could hardly pronounce it, a skin rash that is thought to be brought on by an allergic reaction to antibiotics. Remember back in Biology class looking at Sickle Cells, well, that is what this rash looks like. So, I retract the last sentence of my previous post. If you or someone you know has symptoms after plucking off these little B#$%@&&8 then go to your Doc and have a blood test.. because they can cause diseases. I’m glad I took my toddler when I did . A tidbit of research out of UVA stated that some people that have been bitten by seedticks may then develop an allergy to meat. Wouldn’t that suck for us carnivores? Hope this helps those people sitting on the fence of whether or not to go to the Doctor.
Melissa in Atlanta
Wow, Melissa, I’m so sorry to hear about your little guy! The antibiotic-related illness on top of everything else. Poor little dude! That’s interesting about RMSF. I, too, have always heard that seed ticks don’t carry the diseases, but there you go. When fate has your number, you just can’t get a break.
I got about 50 seed tick bites after hiking at the Land Between the Lakes about a month ago. I have suffered through the worst of it, but I keep getting new little itchy spots even now? What’s up with that?
OK read all the information, now what can I do about the ticks on my dogs, chemicals suck, I’ve removed over 100 on one of my girls. Help
You know, I don’t have dogs, so I don’t know. My goats get them sometimes when we go on walks in the woods with them. The ticks seem to like the goat’s tender ears, so the next morning there will be dozens of them on the ears. We mostly leave them and let them fall off, rather than pull them off and possible not get the whole thing and leave an infected site. They fall off after a day or so. But the goats don’t come inside, so with dogs it’s different. Our cat doesn’t seem to get them—or it’s more rare. I think she grooms them off herself. We put frontline on her, for fleas, which is supposed to work for ticks as well, so maybe it’s that. Sorry I can’t be more help on the dog front. Good luck!
Well,you are not alone. I live in the city, in Phoenix, AZ and I have a really bad,bad infestation of these seed ticks. I never saw them before, thought they were weed seeds. Don’t know if I got any on myself, but my dog was covered with them. That’s how I found out what they were. My dog groomer knew.
I am rather pleased I came across this sit. I am fron the very North Eastern part of MA so much so Half my street is New Hampshire. May seem irralivant but let me go on first.
I grew up with my mom from NC and my dad from Nova Scotia going each year to each place and spending a lot of time in the woods here. *side note just took a break too pee found my 3rd dog tick house roamin* Back to the morale of this post… I am a dog walkers. In this corner of the world I live Dog Ticks, and Deer Ticks are a major health concern as well as Mosquito’s. While RMSF is low we almost have a pandemic of Lyme. Everyone of the 9 dogs I care for has had the Lyme Vaccine everyone of the dogs has had lyme. This does not include the 1 I lost to lyme. In my small neighborhood 1/3 of the families have had one of if not all of the household come down with Lyme and some have had life long disablites come with there disease. We also have a strong West Nile and EEE epidemic. A girl just 6 miles was killed by EEE and she was a teen. Bugs are a big deal.
I am going to MO end of the week to visit my husband with my son. We were hoping to get into a national wildlife preserve as something to do for fun. Now me being the girlscout I was and having a background of going to the south and north am so glad I did my homework. Never seen seed ticks which seems odd given the amount of ticks I pluck daily. Sometimes 30 a dog. Eeewwwww. But they freak me out less than spiders belive it or not. Keep a bottle of Doxicicline around not that most of my dogs don’t take it daily anyhow… So 5 types of venomous snakes and 3 poisonous spiders wern’t bad enough now I have to worry about being tick bombed. Have any of you used the poison that you spray only upon clothing and gear days before you wear they say is 100% safe once it’s dry? I ask because if I venture into your wildness I would now bring a tape lint roller and be using the barrier method and maybe this stuff as well. It works well here. Except with deer and horse flies havn’t found anything to keep them at bay.
As a side note just for some inter cultural understanding. I am a northern country girl. Diffrent breed then the Northern city girl but given the swarm of mosquitoes that can kill you from an areial assult and the ground troops of ticks that can permenatly disable if not kill you Yeah we may go to the doctor for a bug bite but it’s not always just because we’ve never seen a bug.
Again I am so greatful for this blog and these posts. Never have I seen a swam of seed ticks. Though I have seen them in the pin head larve stage never in numbers like your talking.
Hello Crystak,
No, we’ve never used the poison you spray on. Just the tape for quick removal before they bite in. We have sprayed an essential oil mix that is supposed to be a deterrent, I think it has things like tea tree and lavender and maybe pennyroyal or something like that in it. It doesn’t smell awful and it fades quick, but it definitely helps a lot with mosquitoes and might help with ticks a bit. Shoo-fly oil from Fiasco Farm (it’s in my blog roll) is great for this. It’s made to keep flies off goats, but it works great on humans too, just dilute with water and spray on. Have fun on your trip!
You sound like you’re going into war!
Holy shit. I thought the ticks were bad here in Maine… that picture of the tape with all the babies on it? My worst fear realized. That is absolutely terrifying, I give you major props for being able to deal with them without completely freaking out. Sooooo disgusting… I can’t stop cringing!
OMG…the horror!! I just took my teenage daughter blueberry picking last evening. (It’s opening week of the pick-your-own at the farm down the road.) Now I’ve lived in Virginia practically all of my life and have frequented this farm in prior years. We had a blast and picked about 4 pounds of blueberries in 30 minutes. Well we picked up more than blueberries but we didn’t know until we were driving home. Tick bombed and driving is a deadly combination.
Now growing up in the south I’d seen regular ticks before. But these are truly Devil’s Spawn. My teen noticed them first and proclaimed, “Mom!!!! There’s something crawling on me!!!!” They were too small to see and almost clear so I didn’t immediately lose my mind. As soon as I realized what the hell was on my kid (in massive quantity) we ran for the showers. These horrible things DO NOT wash off but just hung on despite soap, warm water and scrubbing. I ended up grabbing them off of her one by one with tweezers while they were running from me and tossing them into a cup of rubbing alcohol. Then she had to grab them off of me. I was dousing us both in rubbing alcohol before and after removal of the ticks.
Thank goodness for the author who posted about the tape. God Bless You!! I found the article while I was still freaked and the tape really works. It removes them even if they are biting. Unfortunately the battle continues because the @#%$@!!*&^%$# are in MY CAR. Now I sprayed my car with insect poison last night but it didn’t work. After I got to work this morning, I found some more of them on my ankles. I checked before I dressed so they are in my car. If they are in my house too (and some probably dropped off as we ran screaming up the stairs for the laundry room and shower) I will lose it. I’ve washed the clothes we had on 3 times in hot water but scared to put them in the dryer to keep from spreading them. Scared those little blood suckers are still alive and waiting for me to reach my hands into the washing machine. They are Evil!!!! I can’t stop feeling like something is crawling/biting on me.
Any ideas for getting them out of a car? My plan is to buy an insect bomb, let it sit for two days sealed up and then shampoo the seats and carpets with lots of vaccuuming. If that doesn’t work, I am not sure what to try next.
Happy 4th of July to all!!
:laughing: Seed ticks really do inspire strong feelings, don’t they? I TOTALLY understand. Well, I would guess that in a few days they’ll die out in your car without the poison bomb. Maybe you could vacuum it out. If it were me, I wouldn’t poison the car, you don’t want to breathe that stuff. If you have a pet that has anti-tick stuff on them, frontline or whatever, you could put them in the car and let the ticks get on them and die…? That’s only if you’re desperate. I’m really glad the tape worked for you! Don’t give up blueberries, just bring tape next time.
i have had strange, itchy bites all over for about a week, but have yet to see a seed tick on myself. But today, I saw several on my dog. Wondering if my itchy bites could be caused by the seed ticks? But why don’t I SEE them on me?
went blackberry pickin with my nephew last night here in MO. Didn’t see anything on me last night as I was getting ready for bed. This am I woke up with just a few bites on the back of my knees, with in a few minutes the bites had spread up my thighs. I took 2 benadryl, and coated myself with calamine lotion. Within a few hours I was in such horrid pain and they had spread into areas we won’t mention and kept traveling north. I had my sister take me to the drs, as I thought I had the chicken poxs. The dr said it is def. not chiggers, not a rash, ie, poison ivy, etc, not sure what it is, but thinks it is Seed Tick bites, since it is traveling upward. He gave me a shot of steroids and a cream. I am still in a lot of pain and the cream sucks!! I have taken 2 more benadryl and I may as well of taken a tic tac for all the help they were. They are all red in color, roughly the same size, but do vary, all have white dots in the middle, some, but not all have a pimple like pus spot that looks like it could ooze out. Does anyone have any ideas what this could be? I have tried everything. Benadryl, creams, steroid shot, Jewel weed potion, you name it.
Wow! That is not like any seed ticks bites I ever had. If you’re seeing the bites spread that fast, that sounds like something else. Seed ticks themselves spread fast, but they don’t bite all that much, at least ours don’t, and you’re not seeing the bugs themselves it sounds like. Maybe some kind of mite? Maybe try body oil, a nice thick coat, if you are still getting fresh bites—might suffocate the bugs.
My first experience with seed ticks was last night. I have two little boys ages 3 and 4 who love to go hunting with their papaw. After one of thier hunting excurtions I loaded them in thier carseats for our travel home. Half way home my four year old is screaming saying his has ticks all over him. I pull in to the first parking lot I come to, get out of the car, open his door, and sure enough he has what looks like millions of ticks on his arms, legs, face, everywhere. I’m trying to pick them off, which is nearly impossible to do. Then my three year old becomes frantic saying he has bugs on him too. I then jump back in the car, race home, strip them down in the garage and put them into the bath tub where i begin picking ticks off of their little bodies. I’m not kidding when I say that it took hours to get them all off. This morning they have little itchy bites all over them. Poor babies they are miserable.
Awww. Poor things. The kids, not the ticks. Try the tape next time. You can get a hundred off at one go, and it’s fast.