Jump to content

ticks in washington


TheCacheSeeker

Recommended Posts

Years ago, I went into my doctor's in Seattle and told them I had a tick that I would like them to remove. (having previously scarred myself during tick removal). They informed me that there weren't ticks in Western Washington. I told them I knew what a tick was, but they were welcome to check. Whadayaknow? It was a tick.

 

And since this place had a mess of interns that had never seen a tick or tick removal, the nurse called them all in to witness the tick removal.... sigh...

 

So, part of the answer is: "If you are a tick magnet, there are ticks in Western Washington"

Link to comment

I have had to remove a couple ticks from my dogs over the years, but never had one myself.

I have only seen one tick on a person here in Western Washington. That was on my son, and the doctor that saw him wasn't sure what to do with it. He had not seen one before, and had to ask someone for advice. From what I know, they are rare around here, but there are some.

Link to comment

I've not seen a tick on the West side of the Cascades since we moved here in 1983. In fact, I haven't seen a tick since I left Kansas in 1972.

 

Now, if you really want to see ticks, or chiggers, or any of those sort of critters, go caching with my brother...anywhere....even at the South Pole.

 

He is the original bug magnet. Has been since we were kids. TTUMS calls him the Chigger King. I prefer the Tick Whisperer.

Link to comment

In 30 years, I'd not seen a tick in Washington - even with many trips over to the east side. Then about 3 years ago, on our way to Pullman, I was caching on Steptoe Butte and had hundreds crawling up my pants legs - ewww. Haven't seen any since.

Link to comment

Western Washington has them. Ironman had one crawling on him after an HOTM last year and my puppy Penny had one between the eyes from the same hike on South Mountain. I have also seen a tick questing off a long strand of grass in Monroe at Lord Hill. If it has deer living around, you can bet there are ticks. Now the big question is; Do they have Lyme Disease or not? You'll know it does if the tick bite ends up looking like a bullseye target. Get it treated asap.

Link to comment

Some surprising replies here.

 

We hike a LOT with our dogs. During the 2009 and 2010 Spring and Summer hiking seasons we removed literally dozens of ticks from both ourselves and our dogs. These ticks were picked up in the Cascades, the Olympics, and even in city parks within the Puget Sound area and our own back yard. We treated our dogs and it helped but we still got some ticks during those two years after treatment.

 

This year we have hiked more than we ever have and we haven't found one tick yet. So like many pest populations, it's cyclical. There will be years where the ticks will be much worse than others. But there is no question that ticks are in Western Washington.

Link to comment

"Only 0 to 3 Lyme disease cases per year are reported to be infected in Washington. Lyme disease is caused by the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, which can be transmitted through the bite of a western black-legged tick, Ixodes pacificus. Western black-legged ticks pick up the bacteria after feeding on infected rodents. These ticks live in forested or brushy areas of western Washington."

 

Recent tends are 7 - 16 reports, most, if not all of these were aquired out of state.

 

I have read that the tick must be in place 24 hours for the Lyme disease to infect someone.

 

Also I have read the type of ticks we have in western Washington are not much of a problem for humans, but for dogs, yes.

Having lived in Western Washington all my life and hiked about most of it, I have never seen a tick in Western Washington, but have seen a number of them in Eastern Washington.

Edited by EraSeek
Link to comment

I live on Vancouver Island (close enough...check a map :anibad: ) I never even thought of ticks until I was biking and saw a sign that said "Warning: Ticks in this area" I actually had to go online later to actually see what a tick exactly was ... I've never seen a tick in my life

Link to comment

I spent several years living in Tennessee and ticks were everywhere there. Dont pull them out. All you'll do is seperate the body from the head and the head will be much harder to remove. Take a needle, get it hot with a lighter or something else, put the needle tip to the ticks back side and it will find its reverse gear and come out. Now, Im not telling this from experience, but that was what everyone said to do do yonder in Tennessee.

 

Tennessee: Chiggers, Ticks, Diamondback Rattlers, Cottonmouth Rattlers, assorted garden variety snakes, fireflys, junebugs, bats, Oh yea and that mason jar full of Black Widow Spiders that me and the neighbor collected. Growing up in the south was fun?

Link to comment

I spent several years living in Tennessee and ticks were everywhere there. Dont pull them out. All you'll do is seperate the body from the head and the head will be much harder to remove. Take a needle, get it hot with a lighter or something else, put the needle tip to the ticks back side and it will find its reverse gear and come out. Now, Im not telling this from experience, but that was what everyone said to do do yonder in Tennessee.

 

Tennessee: Chiggers, Ticks, Diamondback Rattlers, Cottonmouth Rattlers, assorted garden variety snakes, fireflys, junebugs, bats, Oh yea and that mason jar full of Black Widow Spiders that me and the neighbor collected. Growing up in the south was fun?

 

The first time I found a tick on one of my dogs, I went on line to see if I could find out what to do.

 

There is a whole bunch of places that will give advice, but the advice I felt was best was from several different Vets in tick country. They all recommended carefully pulling the thing out with a pair of tweesers or tick remover. Plus they all said it shouldn't leave parts of the tick in. But if it did it was still better then the risks with other ways of removing them.

Link to comment

I spent several years living in Tennessee and ticks were everywhere there. Dont pull them out. All you'll do is seperate the body from the head and the head will be much harder to remove. Take a needle, get it hot with a lighter or something else, put the needle tip to the ticks back side and it will find its reverse gear and come out. Now, Im not telling this from experience, but that was what everyone said to do do yonder in Tennessee.

 

Tennessee: Chiggers, Ticks, Diamondback Rattlers, Cottonmouth Rattlers, assorted garden variety snakes, fireflys, junebugs, bats, Oh yea and that mason jar full of Black Widow Spiders that me and the neighbor collected. Growing up in the south was fun?

 

The first time I found a tick on one of my dogs, I went on line to see if I could find out what to do.

 

There is a whole bunch of places that will give advice, but the advice I felt was best was from several different Vets in tick country. They all recommended carefully pulling the thing out with a pair of tweesers or tick remover. Plus they all said it shouldn't leave parts of the tick in. But if it did it was still better then the risks with other ways of removing them.

 

Yeah, I used to get them all the time in Virginia. Never seen one out here, but sounds like I have just been lucky. Anyway, I used to pull them out. It can be done, but you have to be very careful to pull straight back, and even tension so the head doesn't break off. Often, we put Vaseline on the body to block the breathing and then pulled it out. Bleck, icky memories of pulling full ticks off my dog :blink:

Link to comment

I spent several years living in Tennessee and ticks were everywhere there. Dont pull them out. All you'll do is seperate the body from the head and the head will be much harder to remove. Take a needle, get it hot with a lighter or something else, put the needle tip to the ticks back side and it will find its reverse gear and come out. Now, Im not telling this from experience, but that was what everyone said to do do yonder in Tennessee.

 

Tennessee: Chiggers, Ticks, Diamondback Rattlers, Cottonmouth Rattlers, assorted garden variety snakes, fireflys, junebugs, bats, Oh yea and that mason jar full of Black Widow Spiders that me and the neighbor collected. Growing up in the south was fun?

 

The first time I found a tick on one of my dogs, I went on line to see if I could find out what to do.

 

There is a whole bunch of places that will give advice, but the advice I felt was best was from several different Vets in tick country. They all recommended carefully pulling the thing out with a pair of tweesers or tick remover. Plus they all said it shouldn't leave parts of the tick in. But if it did it was still better then the risks with other ways of removing them.

 

Yeah, I used to get them all the time in Virginia. Never seen one out here, but sounds like I have just been lucky. Anyway, I used to pull them out. It can be done, but you have to be very careful to pull straight back, and even tension so the head doesn't break off. Often, we put Vaseline on the body to block the breathing and then pulled it out. Bleck, icky memories of pulling full ticks off my dog :blink:

 

Really? I thought vaseline can cause the Tick to regurgitate its contents into its host.

Link to comment

I spent several years living in Tennessee and ticks were everywhere there. Dont pull them out. All you'll do is seperate the body from the head and the head will be much harder to remove. Take a needle, get it hot with a lighter or something else, put the needle tip to the ticks back side and it will find its reverse gear and come out. Now, Im not telling this from experience, but that was what everyone said to do do yonder in Tennessee.

 

Tennessee: Chiggers, Ticks, Diamondback Rattlers, Cottonmouth Rattlers, assorted garden variety snakes, fireflys, junebugs, bats, Oh yea and that mason jar full of Black Widow Spiders that me and the neighbor collected. Growing up in the south was fun?

What they said, although they forgot cicadas, copperhead snakes, and brown recluse spiders. I also grew up in Tennessee/Alabama, and the critters there are numerous and relentless. I just got back from a visit, and two nights ago pulled a tick off my leg (with tweezers); last time I cached back there, it was two ticks. Fortunately, no chiggers this time. I've never seen a tick in western WA (altho I believe those who say they exist), but I have seen them in eastern WA, particularly on dogs. But the livestock here doesn't begin to compare to Dixie. Well, except for the wasps; I nearly got stung by a swarm while, yes, looking for an LPC. I do miss lightning bugs, tho.

Edited by hydnsek
Link to comment

I spent several years living in Tennessee and ticks were everywhere there. Dont pull them out. All you'll do is seperate the body from the head and the head will be much harder to remove. Take a needle, get it hot with a lighter or something else, put the needle tip to the ticks back side and it will find its reverse gear and come out. Now, Im not telling this from experience, but that was what everyone said to do do yonder in Tennessee.

 

Tennessee: Chiggers, Ticks, Diamondback Rattlers, Cottonmouth Rattlers, assorted garden variety snakes, fireflys, junebugs, bats, Oh yea and that mason jar full of Black Widow Spiders that me and the neighbor collected. Growing up in the south was fun?

What they said, although they forgot cicadas, copperhead snakes, and brown recluse spiders. I also grew up in Tennessee/Alabama, and the critters there are numerous and relentless. I just got back from a visit, and two nights ago pulled a tick off my leg (with tweezers); last time I cached back there, it was two ticks. Fortunately, no chiggers this time. I've never seen a tick in western WA (altho I believe those who say they exist), but I have seen them in eastern WA, particularly on dogs. But the livestock here doesn't begin to compare to Dixie. Well, except for the wasps; I nearly got stung by a swarm while, yes, looking for an LPC. I do miss lightning bugs, tho.

 

We moved to Bremerton from Nebraska 52 years ago about this time of year. We rented in a housing unit and our kids were still kids and we had lightning bugs that they caught and put in mason jars. We bought our home in 1961 and have never seen any since.

Our home towns are in Southern Illinois and have all the great things that are in Nashville and you left out Cuckleburrs.

Edited by W7WT
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...