Seed ticks

“...about these little basties??

One person got a good dose on ankles and feet during our Shawnee weekend campout in southern Illinois. He sprayed a bunch of DEET thick on his legs, which took care of some of them, but not all.

I possibly got one on my ankle. There's a red bump of maybe 1/8-inch that itches.

What exactly are seed ticks?? Where are there? I recall one time Stikmon got into them when backpacking. Is it just a midwestern thing?”

“MANHATTAN, Kan. – "Seed ticks" are a case of mistaken identity, not an actual tiny pest.

"Basically, they’re the larval stage of any tick species," said Kansas State University entomologist Ludek Zurek. "In Kansas, that primarily means seed ticks are the larvae of lone star ticks."

As such, they deserve the same respect as their disease-transmitting parents.

"Lone star ticks – one of the most common species in Kansas – need a blood meal in every growth stage except the eggs," Zurek said. "Unlike most ticks, lone stars can and will bite people when they’re larvae and nymphs, as well as adults."

http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/news/sty/2003/tick_bits060503.htm Heres the link to the rest of the article,I hope it helps!I had Lyme Disease,trust me you dont want it!!”

“Every species of ticks go through this nymph stage. They need a blood meal to become adults. Gorging themselves, fall off, molt and begin looking for a new meal as adults. If you want to see millions of these things go to Arkansas in the spring...that state must be the tick capital of the world!

I do not quite understand the deet comment. If the little guys were already attached how did deet make them drop off? The red bump you got probably was a chigger, they are pretty prevailent in that part of the country too.”

“@ Savage Gulf last Sept. some of us were ate up by hundreds of seed ticks.....I am not exagerating........hundreds.......”

“Div, so what happens then? Do they just stay on for so long and fall off? Or how do you get rid of them?”

“Also,is there concern over getting them into sleeping bags, etc? Will they move around and make themselves a nuisance until at some point they die?

It was car camping, so I had a big ole Slumberjack rectangular bag, with fleece lining. Do I need to worry that until I wash it, seed ticks on there from "the incident" may be getting on everything?”

“I had 30 little bity, teeny, tiny ticks on one ankle on a hike. I figured they were the smaller deer tick. I wonder if they were seed ticks? Nearly 25 of the little puckers were already in me. This was last summer and I still have a bunch of tiny scars on my ankle.

I’ve been meaning to get some of the permethian(SP?) spray that KILLS them on your clothes. Spray it on your shoes, socks and lower legs and it lasts for two weeks even when washed twice. Doesn’t repel them but kills them. CVS carries it.”

“Right. I've got that stuff. But, if you're not thinking (DOH!!! LOL!)... well, you do need to spray it on ahead of time and let it dry.

So, Nige, how long did the ticks bother? Did you just have to let it run its course?

Also, I don't know that the DEET helped at all, it was just a measure we took.”

“Deet helps some but I find DEET weakens a lot due to sweat. I tried spraying them down with bug dope in hopes they’d pull out (this has worked on the larger wood ticks before)then I even put Tiger Balm on the area hoping that’d get them out. Nothing. I used the tweezers from my pocket knife to pull them out. A few heads did come off and stay in. The red bumps did stay red for quite a while and they did scar.”

“The whole family ran into a nest of seed ticks in 2002. Man what a mess, we used ductape to remove most of them . Even in our @ss cracks.

We only had to little kids then and every one got them. We also bathed with Tick killer for dogs, hehe.
You may want to get checked for Lime Disease. Most Lime problems come from the seed tick stage rather than an adult tick.”

“If'n I was a self-respecting seed tick, I'd stay the hell away from pink thingies!”

“Dang Prowler! I haven't had my ass crack duct taped sense I was in jr. high!”

“LOL, she taoed mine I taped hers, lol”

“TMI, TMI, bad visuals, bad visuals....”

“it was better than nothing”

“A friend came home a day trip to Savage Gulf with 200 bites about 2 weeks ago. He said that they all turned into what looked about like an ant bit and then turned red and are now pretty much healed. He didn't get any halo's on the wounds, thank goodness. Didn't sound like a pretty sight.”