Does anyone have any suggestions for getting rid of ticks. I have found probably 8 ticks in the last 4 weeks on myself. Luckily enough, they apparently do not like my kids! I do a lot of work outside on my yard and plants, but am getting tired of having to fine tooth myself everytime I come back in before picking up my 5 month old.....HELP!!

* * * *


Bote and Babe's World

Permanon is by far the best to keep them off your clothes. (they don't advise putting on your skin) You can treat the clothes you are going to wear, socks, shoes, pants ,shirts, and I have put in on my skin in heavely infested areas. You can get it at any hunting/outdoor store. YOu should be cautious about Lyme Disease and getting those ticks off immediately.

Unfortunately the tree huggers took away the best thing in the arsenal against ticks, when they pushed for the ban on organophosphates such as Diazinon and Dursban. I think about the best thing that you could do is contact one of your local lawn care companies and ask if they do tick spraying. Treating for ticks is very difficult for the homeowner to do effectively. In most cases you will just wind up taking out a bunch of good insects and not really get the control you want on your ticks.
The one bad point about DEET is the fact that it can soften plastics such as watch and cell phone faces, so it would be a good idea to remove them when applying.

Using tick sprays like DEET or Avon's Skin So Soft are great when you are in the ticks area, but I do believe if you have a problem with ticks you should spray because they so easily invade our area. They are carried inside our homes on cats, dogs, and mice, and can still get us when we are not protected.
As far as "chemicals" go DEET is NOT an insecticide. It works the same way as SSS does. It is actually just a cover scent which blocks the scent of carbon dioxcide as it exudes from our bodies. The ticks pick up on this scent and fall off the brush on to us. This is also the same scent that skeeters home in on.
Both the CDC and the AMA have both stated DEET is safe for use on children over the age of 2 and recommend its use if you are going to be in areas where ticks or skeeters are a problem.
Deet has received a really bad name in the past by people who knew nothing of which they were talking about, and it is really too bad since it is so effective.

* * * *

Mike Maier
aka
The Plant Doc

I have some camping spray that has a really high DEET content...I will use that for now! I don't know why I hadn't thought of that before! Thanks Mike!

* * * *


Bote and Babe's World

Interesting thread, as we, too, have ticks here. They have attached to Amy a few times, but we were lucky enough to be able to pull the whole thing out.

Skin So Soft gives me violent headaches for some reason!
My mom used to poor it on when they'd go golfing - I coudn't be near her til she showered it off. I had bought a bottle because I read that it's good to use on glass shower doors to get rid of hard water stains - boy was that a mistake. I just cannot be around those fumes!

We do use the products with DEET, but try and only spray it on our clothes instead of skin.

* * * *


Lynne's knitting journal
"I'm spayed, declawed, and housebound - how's YOUR day going???"