Mate acquired a tick from the Q's on Sunday. Probably as we sat on the grass near Triscombe DH tracks.

Do you get Lyme disease off of them?

you can do, look for a 'target' ring of red death spreading from the bite.

This sounds nice: In rare cases, the disease may become chronic, with a slowly developing destruction of the nervous system, numbing, partial hearing impairment and the development of dementia.

I now hate the countryside.

i've been building trails the last few weeks, several crawlers flicked off before they bite every time i've been in the woods and 6 proper biters so far. it's not got to the worst of last year when i had to deal with around 30 ticks from one day building on the hill.

Found one on my dog after walking up Snowdon the other week.. **** horrible things..

Is it a case of having to pull them out with tweezers or is there a less painful method? 😯

get a tick-hook from a chemist's shop

don't use grease/vaseline/burning/alcohol etc (I mean, they're all great, but not for getting ticks off)

tick twizzler gets them off without stressing them or you which mostly avoids the risk of infection.

30! bloomin eck.

scaredypants – Member
get a tick-hook from a chemist's shop

That sounds painful 😯

My Springer tends to pick them up quite a lot.

Touch wood, I seem to have escaped

That's far from being the first tick of the season. I had the "pleasure" of 2 weeks antibiotics about a month ago after getting a tick and (incorrectly) brushing it off and subsequently getting "that rash". The reason you use the fine toothed tweezers is that they can carry a bug called Borrelia in their gut and if you mash them, they regurgitate their gut contents into your bloodstream and give you the infection. If you grasp the mouthpiece with fine toothed tweezers it stops the gut contents from chucking up into you. Charming, I'm sure you'll agree. If you want to know what the rash looks like there's a useful blog on this at this medical website

Oh, and the antibiotics make you throw up and feel like $hite, but far better than the consequences of Borrelia infection. How many mountainbikers on here feel worn out and tired all the time and lots of odd "unnaccountable" symptoms after unknowingly getting bitten in the past, I wonder?

I had a lyme disease topic come up in Uni.

Can be sorted by simple antibiotics at the beginning.

Its mode of action is really interesting unless you're a patient.

Often misdiagnosed easily.

I've got to ask – what is its mode of action? [gulp]

amplebrew – Member
…My Springer tends to pick them up quite a lot.

Touch wood, I seem to have escaped

That third testicle you grew recently may not be what it seems….

Are they arractied to certain people? I mean I know a few people who;ve had them and also who have got Lymes disease but touch wood, as far as I know I;ve never had a tick bite.

They're partial to a bit of warm flesh, by all accounts and not too choosy whether animal of human. Brushing against the undergrowth seems to do it. Because their mouthpieces carry a sort of anaesthetic, you don't feel any discomfort when they latch on and the only way you find them is by actively checking yourself over after each ride (or getting somebody else todo it). They're the size of a poppy seed when empty but can remain latched on for days and engorge themselve with your blood until they are the size of a split pea. During this time they puke borrelia into your system. Sleep well.

Other things to note:

Not all ticks carry the disease.
Only 50% of infected people develop a rash
The standard test for lyme in the UK is only 50% reliable
Borreliosis, if not treated can be as severe and as difficult to treat as CFS and ME. (the yanks use chemotherapy!)
Most UK GPs are not Lyme aware, so insist on precautionary antibiotics.

Got my first few ticks on Mendip a few weeks ago. Repellent for me from now until the longs go on for next winter. I'd rather not take the risk since its got the potential to be bloody horrid.

See here: http://www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/leaflets/lda002.htm

Rarely get them and when I do I use the good old method my shepherd Grandfather showed me, hot match in the back of their heads and life off with tweezers.

Lyme's disease is very low in this area.

I picked one up today . The little blitter was drilled into my shin !

Disease carrying ones are common here in Northern Switzerland. I have the FSME vacination that protects against some of the nasties but not all.

Here are a couple of pics (different to what I normally get from Mozzies etc:

I find the best thing to do is cover yourself up. This isn't easy in the summer when it's hot but it's the only way. They usually crawl up your legs looking for a nice place to feed. I check myself thoroughly when I get home and put my clothes in the wash. Be aware that there could be lots of them on your clothes waiting to bite you.

We get issued plastic tick removal tools at work which are of no use for smaller ticks. Most of the ones I get I just pull out but this isn't recommended by the medical expert people.

THis is what I use on me and the dug (just pulled 5 off him)

http://www.otom.com/

most vets will have them for a few pounds, I keep one set in the cart and one at home.

ive had hundreds of ticks over the years and to be honest id rather take the chance than alter my life worrying about it.
The important thing in my opinion is to check yourself every night, if you get em off quick before theyve stared to fill theres less chance of them regurgitating infected blood into you.

I now hate the countryside.

Flatten it.

Concrete it.

Only answer.

I'm reminded of this:

Anyway, I live & cycle in Australia.
End of.

Anyway, I live & cycle in Australia.
End of.

I was working with an Aussie recently in Scotland and he said that he hates our ticks more than the stuff he comes across in Australia. I think I would be more scared of the snakes and spiders the size of dinner plates hiding in my wellies than anything else though.

Another vote for the O'Tom Tick Twister. Dead simple to use.

I have two OToms of different sizes in my riding toolbag. Slightly puzzled that half the vids show removal by clockwise rotation, half anti-clockwise.

found one on the 'old fella' last year. It's the most disturbed I've ever felt about anything sucking on that part of me!

The direction of rotation is urban myth. There is no 'thread' on the barb of tick.

Rotation helps to ease the barb out like anything that's stuck, but it doesn't really matter which way you do it.

Last year the ticks even got into the garden (we live on the Mendip) and its a matter of checking yourself every night. Those otom twister things are great and as said earlier can be bought from the local vets. Not all chemists understand what your asking for.

I am a vet and work in a Diagnostic Lab. We have had samples from dog with tick bites for about 3-4 weeks now 🙂 They emerge when the weather warms up!!

I think I would be more scared of the snakes and spiders the size of dinner plates hiding in my wellies than anything else though

Actually I've not seen a snake whilst out riding – creaking seatposts are good for that…
Anyway, have seen dinner plate sized turtles and a few lizards/monitors that are around 2m long, they're impressive.

I use one of these, find it can remove even the smallest ticks.
http://shop.welltravelledclinics.co.uk/Products/Trix_Tick_Lasso_tick_remover.aspx

thanks for the link seanodav. might get one of those.

If you don't have a proper tick removal tool, the tweezers that you get on a Swiss Army Knife are pretty good for removing ticks (while they are still small and haven't consumed too much of your blood). These type of tweezers angle in at the end, so you can remove without squashing.

But I would say get the proper tool when you can – in fact get several and keep one in each of your riding/walking/camping/etc kit.