Got Ticks?

Its Summer and a great time to be outdoors. One of the hazards of being outside during the summer is you might pick up some unwelcome travelers called ticks. Ticks are a small blood sucking parasites that can carry Lyme disease which can cause fever,headaches, and swollen lymph glands. Just because you find a tick on you, doesn't mean you are going to get Lyme disease, theres just a chance that you might, so don't freak out if you find one attached to your skin.If you happen to find one on you, do not attempt to pull it off with your fingers as most of the time this will break the body off at the neck leaving the head still in where it just grows a new body. The best way to remove ticks in the field is to light a match and blow it out and immediately touch the tick with the hot tip, this will cause the tick to back out and can then be scraped off. Another trick is to light a bic lighter and turn it sideways till the rim is real hot and touch that to the tick. If this fails, cover the tick with a liberal amount of mineral or some other heavy oil and wait a while. The oil will suffocate the tick and either kill it or cause it to remove itself in search of greener pastures. Its a good idea to apply an antiseptic as soon as you are able to as this helps to prevent any infection that might be in the affected area.