Dave Smith > wrote:
>On 05/07/2011 9:32 PM, Cheryl wrote:
>> Can I just eat them? No answer required. I sat here reading the group
>> and reading a book and kept feeling a pinch on my shoulder. Felt like a
>> bug bite but I couldn't find a bug. Finally after about 4 bites I found
>> the culprit in my shirt. Some little 1/4" thing with what must be
>> mandibles to match. I sliced it in half with my fingernails and damned
>> if the thing wasn't still moving.
>
>Earwig?
I've never been pinched by one-- but apparently they will if trapped.
That would be my bet, too, if the pinchers were so pronounced.
>
>For years I had been seeing pet products for treating fleas and ticks.
>I always wondered why they bothered with the tick component. We didn't
>have ticks. I had never seen one and had no idea what they were. I had
>seen pictures of them but didn't know how big they were. Then about 7
>years ago I started seeing them. I have been more diligent with the
>flea and tick treatment for the dog. I started this year's treatment in
>June, as per the vet's instructions. Two days later he had a tick on his
>side. They are nasty looking creatures, and darned near impossible to kill.
I had hunting dogs for a decade or so 30 years ago. Never saw a
tick- and those dogs spent most of their lives in 'ticky' places.
Now I live in the burbs and have a pug. If I go a week over his
monthly tick repellent treatment, we get ticks. I've gotten 3-4
myself in the past couple years.
They are more than just a nuisance, too. Lyme is not the only tick
spread disease on the block these days. There is Babesiosis,
Ehrlichiosis , and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. [that's NY's line-up-
your state might have something else] Babesiosis is a good one.
The tick leaves no particular rash like the Lyme infected ones
*usually* do. You get the flu. Then, if you've already got a
weakened immune system, you can die.
http://www.health.state.ny.us/diseas...unicable/lyme/
Best tool we've found to remove them without leaving parts behind, or
squeezing someone else's blood into the host is the Tick Twister-
http://www.amazon.com/ProCollar-Tick...dp/B000OH6D96/
Looks like a crowbar, but you spin it and get the entire tick. Which
you can then explode with a match or cigarette.<g>
Jim