Deer Tick, Black Legged Tick

The deer tick is all over Columbia County, NY in numbers I never saw anywhere else before. However, the primary carrier is not just deer, but mice! The ticks reside primarily on mice and in their dens. I use 100% strength Tea Tree Oil and soak the place where the tick's head is embedded, then wait a couple of minutes, and the tick is dead, and I can pull it out no problem at all. It is always good to wait 30 days and have a Lyme titre AND Antigen test at that point - the titre not always being accurate. Systemic Lyme disease wreaks havoc with the CNS. Also, you should all know that ALL the ticks in the east now carry Lyme, Babesiosis and Ehrlichia, as well as some ticks now carry a very deadly disease, Anaplasmosis, so keep your outdoor pets well protected as well as yourselves!

Well, I don't want to gross anyone out, but I've had over 40 dog and deer tick 'bites' in my life ( I spend a lot of time thrashing through the brush), though none were in for more than two days as far as I know. I'm hoping I've built up an immunity. When I was a teenager I was bitten on the side, and the bite got a 'bullseye' rash, which is supposed to be indicative of something. Anyway, the rash would come and go daily sometimes, and itch, for over a year. Finally I had to have the bite 'bump' cut out by my doctor, and ever since then I have not had any reactions to any other bites, over 20 since moving here to Arkansas just three years ago! But yeah, they're sickening-looking.

There is also a hotspot for lyme disease in central Minnesota - also includes most of the Twin Cities - I even found a tick in my backyard - it was on my socks - yuck - don't know where it came from. Some articles said that ticks may wait several years before a host comes along. That makes them even more tough than spiders - spiders can live without water for several months.