Yes, tree ticks can hang out on a tree branch waiting for a warm bodied creature to stroll underneath, drop down and latch onto their new host. The nice thing about ticks (if there is anything nice to be said about them) is, they are big enough to see. At times Lice and fleas can sure be troublesome to spot, they’re so tiny.
Let me tell you a story. It isn’t about ticks on a pet, but rather on a human, my husband! This one day, we had been out walking through some taller grass around our country home and doing a little clean-up in the bush at the edge of our Saskatchewan property. We had had a great time together that day, and were just crawling into bed for some well deserved rest when the calamity struck.
My husband having gone to bed a few minutes earlier, lay sprawled out on his back with arms stretched up and hands tucked behind his head. I crawled in beside him and rolled over to lay my head on his chest (real cozy, I know). But just as my head was about to touch his chest, out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a little black lump sitting in the center of his armpit. I jerked my head up to get a better look. There sitting in the middle of my husband’s armpit, a nasty big old tree tick was burying into what was going to be a tasty feast. I screeched and leaped right back out of the bed. I think that my husband may have even let out a yell or two while I was busy leaping around the room.
Finally we calmed down and after a closer examination, realized the tick was not buried too deeply yet. Ticks do burrow deeper the longer they are attached to their host. So my husband every carefully took hold of the tick’s backside and gently pulled the tick free from his armpit. Great relief washed over us, but it took us a long time to get to sleep. And the rest of the night, we kept feeling imaginary ticks trying to latch onto us.
But just so you know, it’s not always so simple to rid yourself of ticks. If the tick has buried itself to deeply into the host, pulling or plucking it off is not the answer. You will only succeed in pulling the tick’s body from its head. Then you will really have a problem. The head will just continue to work itself deeper and deeper into the flesh and will cause an infection. The key here is to get the tick’s mouth to release its hold on the flesh.
When my younger brother was a little boy, we encountered this problem when we lived in the United States in Pennsylvania. He had been out playing in the trees all day. When he got into the bath that night, there was a wood tick making itself at home on his leg. This tree tick had gotten a good hold and wasn’t about to let loose. My parents tried several ways to try and get the tick to release its hold. Pouring a big glob of shampoo on top of the tick in an attempt to smother it did not affect the tick in the least.
The final removal solution was this: My dad held a sharp needle by a pair of pliers and placed the sharp or pointed end of the needle into the flame of a candle till the needle was hot. Then very carefully, he poked the body of the tick (not my brother) with the needle. The tree tick immediately was motivated for removing him self and let go of my brother’s skin and my mom had a handy pair of tweezers ready to pick the wood tick up and throw it away. Please be very careful if attempting this to remove ticks. This is not something for children to try. You definitely don’t want to burn or let the hot needle touch the person’s skin who has the tick. And it is always dangerous when working around a burning candle. If you can first go to the doctor and he will remove the tick for you, but some times that is not the answered if you are a three day drive up the side of a mountain. I might add that my dad was an ambulance attendant so this kind of stuff did not bother him. Diseases that ticks carry should not be taken lightly and you should consult a doctor, because of this and if the head of the tick gets stuck inside your flesh, again consult a doctor. Yes, wood ticks are gross but thankfully we don’t come across them every often in our part of Saskatchewan, Canada.
© Copying 2009-2010 All Rights Reserved Content and photos. Nakia Mast www.tickflea.com Privacy Policy
Tick Removal Safety: Removing The Tick’s Body From the Head is Not Good
Friendly wood, sheep, or tree ticks, I don’t think so! Don’t you just hate removing them? Even just the thought of those little ticks makes me feel all creepy-crawly.
Whenever walking in the woods, I think safety first, I am aware of what is hanging above my head and watching for what might just be looming in wait, ready to attack, and land down on me.
