If you're climbing at Rumney, do a tick check

The ticks are really, really bad right now at Rumney. Highly recommend that you do a few tick checks throughout the day. Had several drop on me out of the trees yesterday (wtf?) and found one burrowing into my stomach at the end of the day.

Deer ticks or dog ticks?   I'm not afraid of the latter.  

you should be. The latest out of harvard is they all carry really nasty stuff. lymes and worse...... never used to be ticks at Rumny... :(

ward smith wrote:

Deer ticks or dog ticks?   I'm not afraid of the latter.  

I wouldn't know the difference on sight, but I'm told that deer tick populations are expected to be far above norms this year.

zswan wrote:

I wouldn't know the difference on sight, but I'm told that deer tick populations are expected to be far above norms this year.

Deer ticks are the small ones.

Dog ticks/wood ticks have larger bodies and legs.

When deer ticks hatch they are extremely extremely tiny. 

If you think Lyme is the only thing you have to worry about you are SORELY mistaken.

https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/diseases/

I hear Lyme can travel up the blood stream. When attacked it burrows through you blood vessels in retreat and finds a home in your muscles. 

There was a vaccine for it about a decade ago but thanks to anti-vaccine groups it is no longer available! SWEET!

There's a nice summary from a couple of years ago at Nature (pretty sure that counts a reliable source). With any luck there will be a vaccine on the market again in a few years -- a French company started phase 1 trials this year.

If you're climbing anywhere in New England, or even just outside, it is smart to do a daily check. Populations are high right now. They are always a threat, not just this year. All types of ticks carry disease. Lyme is the one we hear about. POW was just reported in MA. Nothing to be scared of, just check for ticks as I'm sure you always do being an outdoor enthusiast in New England.

nothing to be scared of untill you actually get sick and find out how bad it is and how difficult recovery can be....

Central and Western MA is very bad right now too... Just finished a 5 mile hike with the dog through Leominster and removed about 20 ticks from him. Mostly wood ticks but a few deer ticks as well... Worst I have ever seen them around here...

e-m-p wrote:

Ticks do not fall from trees, or jump from grass, in an attempt to feed. But definately do tick checks! they are nasty this year

Dhane Knakkergaard wrote:

Ticks do not fall from trees

Well then the magical tick fairy deposited it on my arm I guess.

Ticks do something called 'questing' which involves climbing up branches or grass and holding out their little forearms to embrace passersby. 

For a truly revolting experience, check out

http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/Faculty/Robert_B_Kimsey/Kimsey_Research/Tick_Biology/

and

http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/Faculty/Robert_B_Kimsey/Kimsey_Research/California_Ticks/

Two of the more fascinating tick-borne illnesses are a sudden-onset meat allergy and tick-borne paralysis. Unlike Lyme they are quite rare... but you can also get anaplasmosis, babeziosis, Powassan Virus, erlichiosis, and rickettsial diseases. 

Dhane Knakkergaard wrote:

Ticks do not fall from trees,

umm yeah OK, after pulling hundreds of them off my body I can say with certainty they come from the trees and the ground. maybe its  grammar you are trying to correct with this statement  and they dont necessarily "fall" often but they certainly latch on from branches all the time. 

zswan wrote:

Well then the magical tick fairy deposited it on my arm I guess.

Make sure you leave a blood clot under your pillow tonight then!

T Roper wrote:

umm yeah OK, after pulling hundreds of them off my body I can say with certainty they come from the trees and the ground. maybe its  grammar you are trying to correct with this statement  and they dont necessarily "fall" often but they certainly latch on from branches all the time. 

Yea, people are under the assumption that ticks will post up in the trees and leap after the passerby. Ticks cant jump, and as posted above they quest for food, its a funny lil dance. they WILL use trees to quest, but its an urban legend that they will use them as launch pad. 

Apparently you can lure them with dry ice- they like the CO2. I may start carrying a block to the crag.

Dhane Knakkergaard wrote:

Yea, people are under the assumption that ticks will post up in the trees and leap after the passerby. Ticks cant jump, and as posted above they quest for food, its a funny lil dance. they WILL use trees to quest, but its an urban legend that they will use them as launch pad. 

I was pretty clear in my post, they dropped on me. I even saw it happen the second time.

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

nothing to be scared of untill you actually get sick and find out how bad it is and how difficult recovery can be....

Are you scared of fried food? Driving on the highway? Probably not. Being scared of ticks sounds really silly to me. Eat healthy, drive safely and check for ticks. Leave the fear for the bears!