Can someone recommend a good tic repentant? maybe something some what all natural?
Jim Rogers
Not all natural, but Permanone is hands down the best. You treat your clothes with it. It does not go on your skin. Working in the woods was pure misery before that product. I would remove hundreds per day. Now it is seldom that one makes it through the defenses. I don't leave home without it.
Wudman
I think we used to put kerosene on our pants legs as a kid to keep redbugs and maybe ticks off. Not sure which was worse the treatment or the ailment.
My grandfather stayed in the woods in central Fla his whole life and used to dust inside his shoes with sulfur which he felt was absorbed into his skin. He would even make a small pill of it by rolling it in syrup or honey and swallowing it. We used to get redbugs and Dad would give us Sulfur cream of tartar tablets to eat which may have helped. I see they are still available. We had a nearby community with an artesian well in the middle of a lot where everyone drank. It had a lot of sulfur in it. We'd go visit and at sunset we'd be fighting skeeters left and right while the people who lived there and drank the water daily did not seem to be bothered. At a minimum I'd try dusting some in my shoes - like chicken soup. Might help and can't hurt. Good luck.
I just looked and found one suggestion to mix 50/50 with baby powder, fill a sock and use it to dust your legs and feet. Be sure not to breathe in the baby powder. Try it and see. Let us know if it works.
Just get old fashion sulfur dust and dust your boots and pants legs keeps chiggers and ticks off, harmless to you. Reminds me of the time I was a college forestry intern for a summer in south miss. We were cruising timber damaged by Hurricane Camille , pines down and head high briars for miles. So this forester from Maine shows up to help and he is dressed out in some kind of German Leather breeches (really weird shorts) and no socks and little shoes and a goofy elf hat. So I told him dude you need man pants and boots and he said is fully capable of dressing himself. So about 3 hours in 100 degree 85 % humidity after beating a compass line through head high briars he ask what are all these itchy red spots he is seeing and feeling, I says it helps to have on man pants and boots and sulfur dust on when you meet the southern chigger!! Needless to say after a week of pure misery he learned to wear the big boy pants!
As I remember you could get pure sulfur (Flours of Sulfur) in little boxes at any pharmacy. Of course those were southern drug stores and you could probably get grits there too. Not sure if you can get it that easy in the frigid north. I am sure you can get it from Amazon if not locally handy. I'd say it is worth a shot. Cheap, environmentally friendly (or neutral), and no major health risks I can forsee (We will wait for our Resident ER doc @doc henderson (http://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=41041) to chime in on this).
guys, thanks for the tag. i knew a army kid in boyscouts on staff with me at camp brown. his dad was in the military and he had the paper books of matches that came in the C rations. he would chew the heads off and said that his dad told him this would repel mosquitoes. It had a little odor, or maybe that was him. ::) Well water can have a bacteria that at low pH breaks down nutrients and gives off a sulfide gas, smells like rotten eggs. I know sulfur is a nutrient, but not sure about any other additives for matches. not sure there are a lot of studies about if it is safe and if it works. Very interesting and appropriate topic, I will see what i can find. Some of what the old timers did really works, and some not so much! sorry old timers!
you can go to the cdc web page, and no one mentions sulfur. I can check with poison control to make sure it is safe, but still no idea on if it work.
Quote from: Wudman on April 18, 2019, 01:18:37 PM
Not all natural, but Permanone is hands down the best. You treat your clothes with it. It does not go on your skin. Working in the woods was pure misery before that product. I would remove hundreds per day. Now it is seldom that one makes it through the defenses. I don't leave home without it.
Wudman
Sort of natural in that the pyrethrum occurs in certain plants and is now synthesized. It is great, long term solution. Lots of manufacturers.
DEET is great too, proven to work. The strength of DEET is an indicator of the hours of protection, the more concentrated the longer it is going to work (100% is rated for 10 hours and 10% for 2 hours).
What is important to do with tick repellents is to apply to clothing, not body. Pyrethrum needs to set overnight. DEET is a repellant not going to kill them. You can actually spray backyard with pyrethrum if needed.
Don't fool around with "natural"solutions when something may kill you and there not any evidence that the "natural" solution is even healthy.
We stock Picaridin at work as well as the Pymetherine (sp)
The guys like the Picaridin.
D
Poison control faxed to me all the info on toxicity. I'm in Washington Iowa so do not have access at this time. I'll try to post it by Sunday.
Thanks Doc - looking forward to it, they are a massive problem here.
So I read the 5 pages of info on sulfur and it is really non toxic. Info came from the poison control at University of Kansas School of Medicine dept. of Pharmacology. All poison control data is usually from a university pharmacology group and the number is the same for the whole country. 1-800-222-1222. Post this and or memorize this. They are happy to take calls and can tell you if you need to seek help for many things like battery ingestions and tide pod consumption. The info sent to me was copied from the Extension Toxicology Network. Sulfur is assigned the lowest tox rating given to any chemical. It can cause irritation to eyes and mucus membranes, and occ. bronchitis if inhaled. Most things are self limited when sulfur is removed. Some miners of sulfur have developed a chronic bronchitis. It does not seem to cause cancer or birth defects. To kill a rat (in studies) you had to feed it 5 times its weight in sulfur to kill bout 1/2 the rats over repeated doses (no rats died with a single big dose). So in big boy terms a 150 # human would have to consume repeated doses of 750 # of sulfur to get to a 50% chance of toxicity and death. It makes up about 2% of the total mass of the earth, and is a nutrient in soil. It is in much of the water supply. but only gives off the rotten egg smell in acidic conditions where certain bacteria can flourish, the smell can be reduced by pumping bicarb, (baking soda) into the well to raise the pH. It will not hurt you, but hard to shower in or drink rotten egg smelly water if you are not used to it. (my brother-in-laws place near dripping springs texas, next door to Willie and Lance). It can have a laxative effect in people. It was first used in the 1880s and registered as a pesticide in 1920s. EPA registered as a pesticide, insecticide, fungicide, and rodenticide, used in fertilizer, and to reclaim alkaline soils. So updated summery, It may help with bugs(ticks not singled out) and it prob. will not kill you!!! I will add more info as I get it. Best Regards.
Aside from sulfur, plenty of things can help. I use the highest formulation of deet I can buy, and in high density areas, go with long pants and sleeves, as well as a hat that covers my ears and neck. then they fall off onto the ground. I cannot remember having a tick in the past 10 years.
Got some:
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10095/20190421_093707.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1555862174)
Jim Rogers
Jim, looking at that can, it looks great like a no-nonsence company. I like the stuff from farm stores because they assume you kinda know what you are doing, and they don't put a lot of pretty pics on the cans and sell watered down stuff. remember around your home you can also promote birds and bats to help eat insects, esp. mosquitoes. we have the big brown bats in Ks and put up bat houses. When my kids were little, we bought the propane thing to produce CO2 and trap and kill mosquitoes. Prob. did not put a dent in the population and cost a ton. keep water dumped and drained and that will help also so mosquitoes cannot hatch.
That will do it Jim. I normally just treat my pants and boots with it. I don't do my shirts. For mosquito control, I use DEET on the upper body (again on clothes). Sunshine and bug spray tends to be a little irritable to my bare skin.
Wudman
I use REPEL, Walmart carries it!
The last I got was in a 3-pack.
Repel contains Permethrin!
I spray my pants cuffs with it and any time I used it, I never got a tick on myself!
I got permethrin at cabalas.
Sprayed my boots and pants. The next day was out and about saw a tic crawling up my pant leg made it about 8 inches and fell off on the ground kicked a bit and was dead.
So if one was to make socks or boots for your dog and treat them, or like a bib or neck rag treated.
Jim,
Check the instruction on that real good. We used it some in Africa and Iraq where malaria a big issue and I seem to remember it said not to apply heat after application so you might want to air dry your clothes and not iron them after treatment. (Yeah, I know we don't iron much here in America but we had cheap maid service in Africa and they wanted to iron everything - including my expensive and hard to replace nylon dry-back shirts and pants. >:()
I've used DEET on my skin. The reading I've done indicates that higher concentrations tend to last longer, but concentrations over about 50% really do not increase it's effectiveness by much. I've had good results with 25-30% concentration.
I've also used Picardin on my skin with good results - with the added benefit that it does not damage synthetic fibers in clothing, the way that DEET can in higher concentrations
I've treated my own clothing with permethrin spray (the synthetic version of pyrethrum, which is derived from some type of flower - I can't remember which one), also with good results. The effectiveness lasts over 3 or 4 washings.
I've also had very good results with clothing which has been pre-treated by the manufacturer with permethrin. This is sold under the "Insect Shield" or "ElimiTick" treatment names (and there are probably other names as well). The big advantage of this is that the effectiveness is supposed to last through something like 70 washes. I started out with a couple of t-shirts that were on sale for something like $18. That was several years ago. My oldest ones have been through 2 or 3 dozen washes and still are working well.
I was impressed enough with the T-shirts that I bought some Insect Shield and ElimiTick treated socks. They have also worked well - a couple of pairs the material wore out way too quickly, but the tick protection kept working. (Not sure if the material giving out was poor quality or the fact that the socks were a bit on the small side - I did not realize that the size listing was sock size, not shoe size.) I've heard good things about the Farm to Feet No Fly Zone Socks (https://www.farmtofeet.com/pages/no-fly-zone): They are treated with Permethrin, and supposedly good through 70 washes. Quality of construction is reputed to be very good. I'm going to give these a try to see how they hold up. They are mostly Merino wool, a fabric I've found comfortable in a wide range of temperatures.
Today, while sitting at my desk, this bugger (tic) walked across the back of my hand.
He isn't walking any more:
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10095/20190501_144221.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1556741367)
Sliced in half by my pocket leather-man tool.
Jim Rogers
I never liked the idea of slicing a tic to kill them. I can just visualize the bacteria contamination on my pocket knife My preferred method is to wrap them in a short piece of scotch tape. Doesn't kill them but they aren't going anywhere and no mess.
Cutting is better than nipping their heads off with your front teeth. ;D :D
I cut an engorged tick off my back last year. I couldn't reach it, or even really see it, so I reached around with my knife, and scraped/cut it off. Pretty disgusting walking around with parasites attached :^S
Michelle had another run in with a tick last week and started to feel the symptoms again. She apparently can't tolerate doxy anymore, tried twice and blowing cookies in minutes. She went in today and they put her on amoxy till they know more from the blood work. I hate them little buggers >:(
Some folks get a headache and nausea from using DEET. I'm one but I didn't used to. Apparently DEET over time can cause a reaction in some people. I have a boat captain friend at the coast who has the same problem. He's the one that told about it. I quit using DEET and quit having the reaction.
Picaridin lotion is what I use now. It comes in a quart with dispenser pump. It repels ticks and all sorts of biting insects. I've tried the spray but it doesn't stay effective as long as the lotion.
I spent a month at Portsmouth Village on the Outer Banks last summer. Picaridin on my skin and Permetherin on my clothes kept the insects from being an issue.
Never heard of Picaridin lotion. Just looked it.walmart has Sawyer Picaridin lotion. ;D Gotta be good with a name like that. I will have to check there to see if they have it. Dick's Sporting Goods has it too.
JohnMc, Chrysanthemums, if I recollect, produce pyrethrum.
I found one on me last night. :(
Usually I only find less than 10 on me,and most times that is early in the season,as in now. I hope that stays true this year too. I am outside every day and live in the woods,but so far we do not get many ticks on us. Lucky!!!
Quote from: caveman on May 12, 2019, 10:03:53 PM
JohnMc, Chrysanthemums, if I recollect, produce pyrethrum.
Yes. I asked my wife about just putting mums in your pocket. She didn't think there would be enough to do anything and mentioned that she understood pyrethrum is a contact poison rather than a repellant.
Quote from: Don P on May 13, 2019, 07:39:13 AM
Quote from: caveman on May 12, 2019, 10:03:53 PM
JohnMc, Chrysanthemums, if I recollect, produce pyrethrum.
Yes. I asked my wife about just putting mums in your pocket. She didn't think there would be enough to do anything and mentioned that she understood pyrethrum is a contact poison rather than a repellant.
Yes. If I recall correctly, it's basically a neurotoxin that only effects insects. You treat your clothing, rather than put it on your skin, since it starts breaking down in contact with your skin and becomes ineffective.
I now have t-shirts (long and short sleeve), 2 pairs of pants, and several pairs of socks (of varying brands) all of which have the factory treatment. They have been working well for me so far. I went out the other day bushwhacking while marking for a new trail. I was wearing treated socks and pants, but an untreated shirt. When I got back home, I found 2 ticks crawling and a third attached all on my upper body, but none from my belt-line down.
@thecfarm (http://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=436) try Amazon for the Picaridin lotion. The lotion is better than the spray IMHO. A little bit goes a long way. My wife uses it as well. Yes it is a Sawyer product
Just about the way I hoped it was going to go. Had ticks the first part of summer than dropped off to none. Not saying the DanG ticks are not out there,just not finding the ticks on me.
Thanks for the tip SawyerTed. Looks like I will check that out next year.
I'm pretty sure it's a light tick year around here. I think I've found two this year, and I've spent a fair amount of time in the lowland woods they seem to love. Mosquitoes OTOH...
Same up here in Saskatchewan a couple of ticks that is all
my buddy had about 30 tic in the past few weeks, he has been sick and had a rash, but he said these were not deer ticks.
Certain areas seem to be worse than others here. I've tried to stay out of the heavy tick areas which seem to be moving north. I'm just putting a game camera out in one such area now where the infestation had lessened per the landowner's observations.
One of the guys at my campground swears by using a peppermint/coconut oil mix. It works but you smell like chewing gum.