The Minkey Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 In the eight or so years I've been living round here I've never encountered a tick or expected to until today when I found one firmly embedded on my chest. So, is it the case I've been living in a tick free dreamworld or is this a new thing for the area. I know Richmond Park is riddled with them but I thought that was due to the deer. Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dulwich Born And Bred Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Oh blimey !!! I have never seen one and hope I don't . How did you remove it ? Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-779763 Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Minkey Posted September 7, 2014 Author Share Posted September 7, 2014 Slow and gentle tugging using a pair of tweezers. Took a few goes and had my toes curling because I'm a tad phobic but it came off in one piece. It was a tiny one. I thought it looked about the same size as a deer tick but it may have been one of the larger species in a developmental stage. Horrible creatures! Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-779791 Share on other sites More sharing options...
hpsaucey Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Urgh - poor you! Where do you think you picked it up?HP Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-779810 Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidKruger Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 they must be in Dulwich woods, i pulled one out of my dog's chest in late March. Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-779835 Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiera Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Our first encounter with ticks was shortly after my family moved into their house in East Dulwich in the 1960s. As we had never seen ticks before, we didn't know what they were - one of our cats had what looked like lots of lumps on her skin and it was the vet who told us these were ticks. Nowadays it only happens very infrequently, but twice in the last few weeks I have had to remove a tick from the head of one or other of my cats (and they don't go in Dulwich Woods, so I don't know where they pick them up). I'm very glad that I have never had a tick attach itself to me. Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-779847 Share on other sites More sharing options...
KalamityKel Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 I friend of mine not so long a go had one emerge from is stomach (very much like THE alien scene) after he started prodding at what he thought was a skin tag... the video footage is amazing (minus the screaming)... ugly little thing.He's based in West Dulwich. I blame them - the West Dulwichers :-)) Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-779860 Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacks09 Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 I really want to see that video. Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-779874 Share on other sites More sharing options...
PennyDreadful Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Care needs to be taken when pulling ticks out because it's easy to either: (a) snap them, meaning you pull away the body but the mouthparts stay buried in your skin, causing horrible irritation, or (b) squeeze them so that they basically vomit their contents into you...which is dangerous, because they can carry awful diseases. (Believe me, Lyme Disease can really mess up your life good and proper.)There are cheap but brilliant little gadgets you can get which sort of twist the tick out (a bit like taking a cork out of a bottle). If it's getting ticky around here, might be worth tooling up! Here's a link - hope it works, I'm not very good at this - to the official UK Lyme Disease website page which has advice about tick removal with or without these wee gadgets:http://www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/about-ticks/tick-removal/Like they used to say on Hill Street Blues: 'Let's be careful out there'...! Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-779929 Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Minkey Posted September 8, 2014 Author Share Posted September 8, 2014 I found the tweezers worked fine, they were very fine tipped ones though. It was just a bit of an effort to maintain a gripping pressure sufficient to pull it out but not pull its body away from its head. I got it out on the fifth attempt.*shudders* Saw the doc today about something else and she volunteered me a bloodwork form to check for Lymes. Vet assts at Hankinsons said they do see them from time to time, and some friends who walk their dogs on One Tree Hill said they'd found a couple over the years. We both back on to the Aquarius. Reckon mine must have hitched a ride in on the cat - possibly via a fox - as I haven't been out walking anywhere green in a while. The boob tick Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-780053 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiddles Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 apparently you are meant to twist them out. Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-780061 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dulwich Born And Bred Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Arghhhhh!! I never want to come across a real life one ! Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-780074 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonniebird Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Ticks are harmful horrid things that can transmit lymes disease, so always seek medical advice, they are in the area, Peckham rye park dogs have been known to have them too, if you do remove the tick yourself don't handle it after, kill it Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-780079 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seabag Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 I keep my tick muzzled and on a lead, so no danger hereI just wish more tick owners wouldn't let theirs hop about, unsupervised Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-780109 Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnL Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Please don't tell me thatI have skin tags :( .... I think.KalamityKel Wrote:-------------------------------------------------------> I friend of mine not so long a go had one emerge> from is stomach (very much like THE alien scene)> after he started prodding at what he thought was a> skin tag... the video footage is amazing (minus> the screaming)... ugly little thing.> He's based in West Dulwich. I blame them - the> West Dulwichers :-)) Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-780245 Share on other sites More sharing options...
grabot Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Not entirely relevant, but in the general arachnid field. We have one of these in the front yard at the moment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segestria_florentina (tube web spider). Green fangs, nasty thing! After years of telling my child that there is no need to fear spiders in the UK, I am proven wrong. Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-780255 Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Minkey Posted September 9, 2014 Author Share Posted September 9, 2014 Eurgh KK, that sounds like an engorged lady tick ready to drop off. A greyish 'skin tag' that gets fatter over a few days may be suspect.. It's also quite possible to play host to a tick and never notice because they can be so tiny - the males don't inflate like the females - I initially mistook mine for a fleck of dirt on my skin. The distinctive bulls-eye rash is present in about 70% of Lyme infections. Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-780260 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustard Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 I had a tick bite and didn't know it until it was spotted by my then GP. I was seeing him about something else and showed him a mark on my upper arm I was worried about. He looked at it with a magnifying glass and confirmed it to be a tick bite. No idea how it got there. Never saw the tick. It was very small though. Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-780266 Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMFM Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 safest way to get a tick out is to rub alcohol or methylated spirits around the area and wait about 5/10 minutes - tick gets drunk, relaxes its legs and hey poresto, easy to pull out. Good old fashioned fly spray works too. Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-780587 Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnL Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 If you give the horrendous thing alcohol it might be sick :( Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-780639 Share on other sites More sharing options...
hpsaucey Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 We had these in our last flat. Nasty aggressive little buggers unlike your usual spider. Apparently been resident in the south east for a few decades now. There was apparently a colony at Denmark Hill station as well - the big bricked embankment. They like nooks and crannies in brickwork. HPgrabot Wrote:-------------------------------------------------------> Not entirely relevant, but in the general arachnid> field. We have one of these in the front yard at> the moment> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segestria_florentina> (tube web spider). Green fangs, nasty thing! > After years of telling my child that there is no> need to fear spiders in the UK, I am proven wrong. Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-780676 Share on other sites More sharing options...
grabot Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Yes, I'm normally live and let live when it comes to spiders. But on reading this, I hit it with a can of Raid. It's dead now...Mr Hine said: "In spider terms, it has to be said that this is an aggressive spider."If you approach it, it raises its legs and bares its fangs."Most spiders will back away - this one will jump at you and bite." Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-780700 Share on other sites More sharing options...
hpsaucey Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 grabot Wrote:-------------------------------------------------------> Yes, I'm normally live and let live when it comes> to spiders. But on reading this, I hit it with a> can of Raid. It's dead now...> > Mr Hine said: "In spider terms, it has to be said> that this is an aggressive spider.> "If you approach it, it raises its legs and bares> its fangs.> "Most spiders will back away - this one will jump> at you and bite."Sounds about right. The first one we found fell out of my trousers whilst I was putting them on - it wasn't very amused....Don't like killing bugs and spiders really but I'm afraid these ones we did. Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-780767 Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCRider Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Tics, in the grass & bushes, wait for a warm blooded creature to walk by, and they drop on you. they are very small and hard to spot.Best thing to do, after a walk in the woods, is put all yr clothes in the washing machine & have a shower, feeling all over, for something that should not be there.It takes 24 hrs from finding a spot, like an armpit or between the legs, for the tick to start sucking blood.Then the tiny lil thing, will swell to the size of a large pea, or even small baked bean.If it gets to that size, before you discover it, then yes, you should be checked for lyme disease, because it has had time to infect you.Yes some people say just spray your trouser legs & shoes with OFF or similar products,but as said tics can drop from tree branches and small bushes, so you would have to cover all your clothes and skin with some sort of repellent, for that to be effective.In the Army, we used to do a buddy buddy tick search, every 24 hrs,or near as possible, while on exercise, to get the ticks before they can infect you.......Ok its Supposedly Only 1 in 4 that carry the Lyme disease, but who wants to risk what amounts to a 6 month Influenza type illness, with lasting effects !! Link to comment https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/48800-ticks-in-the-area-eurgh/#findComment-787514 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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