My deer tick encounter early spring'16

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charlie g
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My deer tick encounter early spring'16

#1 Post by charlie g » Wed Oct 26, 2016 5:47 pm

Mid 3/16 I found this gal attached to my inner arm...yuck! The deeply wrinkled abdomen gave me hope the feeding attachment was less than 24 hours. I still went to the doctor...I was given doxycycline 100 mg.
Last edited by charlie g on Sun Dec 04, 2016 3:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

charlie g
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Re: My deer tick encounter early spring'16

#2 Post by charlie g » Wed Oct 26, 2016 5:52 pm

These images are of the live tick mind you. These deer-ticks take two years to complete their life cycle, so this tick which I tweeser plucked from my skin...well this tick is disapointed with my reaction to it.
Last edited by charlie g on Sun Dec 04, 2016 3:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

charlie g
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Re: My deer tick encounter early spring'16

#3 Post by charlie g » Wed Oct 26, 2016 6:06 pm

Please note the hypostome (barbed mouth part) of the tick has backward facing barbs...secures a better attachment to our skin upon feeding. Please note this tick secretes a 'cement' to further secure attachment during feeding.

The tick saliva has properties (bioactive substances) which mask pain signals from the bite, which prevent blood coagulation,which hamper an immune response from the mammal (me in this case!) the tick feeds upon.


It takes more than 24 hours of attachment for a tick nymph to transmit bacterial diseases, it takes more than 48 hours of attachment for an adult tick to transmit bacterial diseases...but always best to contact medical doctor to advise you should you have an encounter with a skin-attached tick.

Ticks grow as they blood feed..increase more than 10X in size, increase more than 100X in weight.

Please visit the excellent tick resource: http://www.tickencounter.org/tick_ident ... ick_adults

charlie guevara, finger lakes/US
Last edited by charlie g on Sun Dec 04, 2016 3:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

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billben74
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Re: My deer tick encounter early spring'16

#4 Post by billben74 » Wed Oct 26, 2016 9:38 pm

Its a fairly intense way to pick a subject :-)
Thanks for sharing though.

charlie g
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Re: My deer tick encounter early spring'16

#5 Post by charlie g » Wed Oct 26, 2016 10:11 pm

Hi, billben74, I was responding to a few excellent tick postings in forum recently...I thought it instructive to view very alive and active tick...with the KOH treated tick images recently posted.

I do agree with Halloween and vampires on the telly nightly...I'd prefer actor Chris Lee as Dracula to this tick I err..encountered.

the best thing (if you live in 'tick country') is to please visit the link I posted. charlie guevara

JimT
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Re: My deer tick encounter early spring'16

#6 Post by JimT » Wed Oct 26, 2016 10:25 pm

I'd prefer actor Chris Lee as Dracula
:o :o :o

Are you kidding? Nobody can compare to Bela Lugosi.

Anyway, interesting images and yes, the head has reversed barbs and once inside should not just be pulled out because it could detach and still be in the skin.

As an aside.... I grew up in Louisiana and we had lots of ticks. As kids we would put fingernail polish on the tick and it would back out. As we got older we would burn it with a cigarette end and it would squirm out.

You are right about how their bodies swell up with blood. We couldn't find them on our dog until after the ticks were swollen.


Enough about ticks :)

apochronaut
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Re: My deer tick encounter early spring'16

#7 Post by apochronaut » Thu Oct 27, 2016 1:22 am

Unfortunately, it isn't that easy, as there are probably 500,000 new cases of tick borne diseases occurring in N.A. each year. Over the course of time, some of these cases will end up fatal. Borelliosis in particular, is increasingly being seen as a "sleeper" infection, not dissimilar to syphilis in its ability to debilitate the brain and nervous system over time.
Using the term " deer tick" gives a false impression. It makes it sound as though, deer spread them. Although they do, it is no more than any other animal exposed to them , in the environment. The species is actually the black legged tick, Ixodes Scapularis and it has a complex life cycle in which it feeds off of many other animals, in it's larval, nymph or adult stage; mice, squirrels,birds of all kinds, rabbits, lizards...basically anything with blood. In my area, which is on a central flyway and only about 150 mi. on that fly, north of Charlie g, ticks took a huge jump in incidence around 2007. Since the increase was seen in the spring and fall migratory periods primarily, and became lessened in summer, the preponderant theory is that something has taken place to load the migrating bird population with Ixodes Scapularis nymphs. Nymph ticks dropping off such hosts are the primary source of ticks, capable of infesting deer and humans alike. We don't get very many mature ticks from deer. We both get them from other carriers, although humans are essentially a dead end host , and deer release females capable of laying eggs and entering the cycle.

Rodney
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Re: My deer tick encounter early spring'16

#8 Post by Rodney » Thu Oct 27, 2016 2:19 am

Sometimes I think I live in tick capitol of the world, I have removed several off of me over the years. Ticks can and will leave a nasty rad bite around the infected area. Our mostly out door cat would bring ticks into our house at times which could be most of the year in my area except possibly dead winter. So far I think I have lucked out.
Wild hogs also can carry ticks, I have seen plenty of ticks on wild hogs but usually the larger species. Statesboro University in Georgia has or had the largest tick collection available, I took a glimpse of this tick collection years ago and it was amazing.
Rodney

charlie g
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Re: My deer tick encounter early spring'16

#9 Post by charlie g » Thu Oct 27, 2016 4:41 pm

Hi all, and yes, yes, thanks for 'fleshing out' the myriad of hosts which our NA 'deer ticks' feed off of in their life cycle (eggs,larvae,nymphs (sp?),adults), indeed apochronaut ,these ticks are correctly called: deer-ticks...to state that white tail deer are the 'reproductive essential hosts' for this species. If a region is devoid of white tail deer...you do not have populations of 'deer ticks' after a time....despite what birds may import.

I cheer Jim T's choice of Bella Lagousie (sp?) over Chris Lee...but I enjoyed so many excellent science fiction/horror flics which Chris Lee stars in ( You Tube visit:"Horror Express"....fantastic scifi plot far ahead of major treatments of this aspect of scifi...and actor Telly Savales is great as a Kosack inspector who boards the train...and quickly establishes the culprit of all the horrid murders on the train!)..(.oh yes...a great scene of use of a classic microscope in this flick.).

As with Rodney...I'm awed by the number of organisms waiting for us...eegads...just wait till Zeeka virus southern mosquitoes establish in NYC subway systems constant rivlets and pools of subterrainean warm waters 24/7...year round....gulp! The bright red reaction often occurring at a tick attachment...it's an allergic reaction to the tick saliva..in a person exposed to the tick saliva at an earlier time.

There is quite a dependable way to pluck skin attached ticks from our bodies..simple device for this is given out at health pavillions at state fairs. It's when the tick is attached to your back areas...that you must depend upon a credible friend or family member...'to pluck it out properly'. Cigg burning these ticks out is now deemed a risky way to dislodge the tick.

Terrific shared microscopy from all of you..thanks yet again. I started this post simply for viewer enjoyment of a healthy active tick...vrs. KOH 'cleared' tick recent posts. all the best..please look up:"Horror Express" and enjoy Telly Savales politically incorrect swagger and comentary! charlie guevara, finger lakes /US

BTW, apochronaut...we have snow 'sticking' this morning...how are you for snow today?

apochronaut
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Re: My deer tick encounter early spring'16

#10 Post by apochronaut » Thu Oct 27, 2016 10:41 pm

charlie g wrote:Hi all, and yes, yes, thanks for 'fleshing out' the myriad of hosts which our NA 'deer ticks' feed off of in their life cycle (eggs,larvae,nymphs (sp?),adults), indeed apochronaut ,these ticks are correctly called: deer-ticks...to state that white tail deer are the 'reproductive essential hosts' for this species. If a region is devoid of white tail deer...you do not have populations of 'deer ticks' after a time....despite what birds may import

BTW, apochronaut...we have snow 'sticking' this morning...how are you for snow today?
I suppose, if deer are the only large animals in an area, then black legged ticks would be somewhat dependent on that population to proliferate within that environment. Where there are many Coyotes, Moose , Bear, Fishers, Foxes etc., not to mention grazing Sheep and Cattle, there are no deer needed to keep the population happy and healthy, only a sufficient population of blood carrying carcasses. Yes, the winter tick( dermacentor albipictus) completes most of it's life cycle locally and therefore is dependent on a population of large warm blooded animals, and disappear if there are none but the black legged tick emigrates nicely by many modes of conveyance.
I've been here for almost 40 years and the concentration of Ixodes Scapularis has taken a dramatic step forward in the past 10 years or so, a thousand fold , while the deer population over the same period has declined by 90%.

No snow, just rain . we are close to the lake, so miss a bit of the early winter weather. I still have tomatoes and cucurbits blooming but those are the optimists.

Rodney
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Re: My deer tick encounter early spring'16

#11 Post by Rodney » Fri Oct 28, 2016 2:28 am

For me I have to live with ticks at least 10 or 11 months out of the year and with a good winter 12 months. Ticks are a very interesting subject but do not photograph all that good under the microscope for me, I have tried many, but may try a few more.
I continue to roam the woods so I will not be confined into the house, our cat my best friend that collected ticks died recently, vet said he died from some time of neurological condition or possibly cancer, he really had no idea. We cleaned many ticks off and from inside his ears over many years.
The worst part was bringing him home and digging the hole.
Rodney

charlie g
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Re: My deer tick encounter early spring'16

#12 Post by charlie g » Fri Oct 28, 2016 4:02 am

Congrats, Rodney on burrying your family cat at your home...I hope it had many years with family and you. Apochronaunt...to my understanding...deer-ticks must have white tail deer to complete their life cycle...it's not a matter of how many other mamals exist in the area of these deer-ticks. I guess I.m insisting that white tail deer are the: 'definitive host'/ the reproductive essential host for deer-ticks.

Good that you did not have a sticking snow yet, apochronaut.

all the best, and thanks for this shared forum microscopy, charlie guevara

apochronaut
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Re: My deer tick encounter early spring'16

#13 Post by apochronaut » Fri Oct 28, 2016 12:46 pm

charlie g wrote:Congrats, Rodney on burrying your family cat at your home...I hope it had many years with family and you. Apochronaunt...to my understanding...deer-ticks must have white tail deer to complete their life cycle...it's not a matter of how many other mamals exist in the area of these deer-ticks. I guess I.m insisting that white tail deer are the: 'definitive host'/ the reproductive essential host for deer-ticks.

Good that you did not have a sticking snow yet, apochronaut.

all the best, and thanks for this shared forum microscopy, charlie guevara

Yea, that gets bandied around in the wikipedia era but it's not easily studied in a complex environment, where there are multiple large species of animals, mixed in with a large number of roaming livestock. The observations in Connecticut, with micro populations of deer in tiny environments, don't exactly hold up to critical scrutiny. It's like saying that because you can grow human brain cells on mice in a lab, therefore you can do it on mice in the wild. . The Connecticut studies just as easily indicate that tick populations increase proportionate to the median income of humans. Hit 100,000/yr. and you are damn sure of finding ticks in your back yard on Long Island sound. Whittle it down to 20,000 and all of a sudden, you're not living in Connecticut
anymore.

Rodney
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Re: My deer tick encounter early spring'16

#14 Post by Rodney » Fri Oct 28, 2016 1:00 pm

Ticks five cents each, bring a container, at this low price a container will not be provided. Now this red hot tip device will take care of ticks if you get stuck by one.
Sometimes they will fall off but I have found out many times they will not if you are really stuck. The amount of time is the big factor.
Rodney
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