rebnatoli

We spend quite a bit on tick protection for our dog and check her regularly but should have been looking after my 7 year old instead Driving to school this morning he says he has a flap of skin on his head and I immediately think tick - stop at traffic lights and sure enough it was. I really wanted to be sick but dropped DD at school and headed to Drs with son, it took 15 minutes to remove so I'm glad I didn't try it myself. We have it at home now in a jar! DS is fine we just have to keep wound clean - just as well they are less dangerous to kids than dogs.

margy

OMG!

Does your son play out a lot in tall grass or bushes?

I remember years ago in the UK our daughter had a small tick attach itself to the back of her neck, just on her hair line. But that was nothing compared to this.

Good job you knew what it was. Hope your son isn't too freaked by it.

Thanks.

M

rebnatoli

Yes he does - also we live in a pretty tick infested area, 2 dogs I know have died in the last couple of months. Being a boy he is now quite proud of the tick trying to show it to everyone!

Safin

my 3 yr old got one on his stomach on tambourine mountain last month, its left a small red lump even though to start with it looked fine and didn't apear to have any infection.

OH had one at the same time on his inner upper thigh - just tooo close according to him. He made loads more fuss than my toddler convinced he was going to be paralysed - what about our poor baby i asked him

Both fine now.

rebnatoli

We were camping on Tambourine Mountain at the weekend - but he was complaining of an itchy head before we went as I checked him for nits so I'm not sure where he picked it up. Can see why your OH was concerned though

Kooky.

Ugh. A visiting friend got one attached to the cartilage just in front of his ear, but nowhere near as juicy as that one He thought it was just a bite until his partner said he thought he could see legs sticking out - ended up getting it removed in A&E as we were worried about breaking it off.

I hadn't even realised ticks liked humans.

macy

We went to the Bunya Mountains and applied RID to the kids every couple of hours and we had no problems, must admit I was a bit paranoid about it but that RID seemed to do the trick, just bought it at the local chemist, apparently TICK season is at its worst from September to December.

jad n rich

Our neighbour, 40 ish woman 2 kids, reckons she has never been so sick, thought it was flu, then found the tic on back of her arm.

Safin

Apparently the knack is to use tweezers making sure you've got the head and twist and pull fairly sharply. Infections happen when the head gets let behind/in the skin. Doing it quickly lessens the chance of them injecting more saliva'y uck into you. That info is as a result of frantic websearching before performing surgury at the campsite...

Have to say when I pulled OH's off it wouldn't come quickly and it was a long slow steady tug. A long thin white strand came out of his leg like a piece of cotton - no idea what that was? A piece of flesh the tick wouldn't let go of maybe?

Also they get bigger the longer they've been sucking your blood

And I think Tambourine is renowned for them

ShoreyM

Yuk, I feel sick by those photos. Don't know if the same applies to humans but when my cat had one on her head a vet suggested I cover the tick with vaseline. This stops them breathing and suffocates them, they then drop off, whole.

Safin

yeah read that , and kerosene, but apparently it can cause them to inject more stuff into you that way. I think it's one of those things that has lots of old wives tales about and I am sure some do work but I went with a medical study that researched different methods.

rebnatoli

The Dr said to use meths/alcohol or insect repellent/Mortein (sprayed into a lid then put over tick) to try and get it to come out willingly! That said it took ages for the Dr who has removed quite a few and being so close to the brain I didn't want to take any chances of bits left in!

rebnatoli

He has been a bit unwell all week but probably a cold as he has had a runny nose - I think there are different types of ticks and apparently the bigger ones are less harmful???

jad n rich

If its on your kid, you really need to go to docs to get it removed. If you break the tic and leave the mouth/head in it can keep injecting the poison! Dont take the chance. Any Doc/nurse with a tic patient will see you straight away, and if its a kid its probably going to be bulk billed.

With pets, the poison is often fatal, if you dont think you can get the entire tick or break it trying, sorry its a vet job ASAP.

Gjn200