It is definitely tick season where we live now. I just pulled one of the little bastards off my back left shoulder.
That is the third one that has attached itself to me in the last month. Most of the time I feel them when they are crawling on me and can scrape them off and kill them before they get embedded. But some of them are stealthier than others. Oddly enough, there was one crawling on me when I took a shower the other day. There was one crawling on my leg earlier today that I managed to catch and dispatch.
The ones that do attach to me have fortunately all been in places where I’ve been able to get them off me. I found one by accident on the back of my neck when I was pulling my hair back to put in a ponytail. And one made it to the back of my left thigh. I get tweezers and grab them as close to the head as possible, then gently tug on them with steady pressure until they let go. Then they get chopped in half with my knife and the bodies disposed of.
I suspect that the dogs are bringing them into the house. Every morning when I take them out for a walk, they have to go under or brush by the bushes on the street. That or they have to try and sniff after something in the tall grass. And usually they end up getting ticks on them.
Major always seems to get them most of the nasty little creatures on him. Or maybe they are just easier to see on him because he has white fur and they stand out against it. I think five is the most I’ve pulled off him on any given morning. Sirocco usually gets one or two. They are a little harder to find against his tan fur. Magdalena is the biggest challenge. She’s got black fur, grey fur and white fur. It’s easy to find them in her white fur, nearly impossible to find them in her black fur. And when they get on her, she is the most difficult one to get the ticks off since she won’t stop moving. I have to step on the leash so she can’t move, then try to keep her from prancing back and forth so I can scrape off the ticks. I use my pocket knife, placing it so the tick will crawl on to it, then knocking them off to the ground when they do and cutting them in half with the blade. They die and they die ugly.
The ticks are also quick to burrow into the fur. Unless I can get them while they are still on the fur’s surface they start crawling along the fur toward the body so they can attach themselves. It’s hard getting through the fur to scrape them off as they a hold on to it fairly tightly.
The dogs are never thrilled if I find one embedded in their skin. You would think they’d want the horrid bloodsuckers off of them but they don’t co-operate, most of the time growling at me. I think they don’t like having to roll on their backs and expose their bellies. They growl while I’m pulling the tick off them. I think it is more of a “I’m annoyed with you” growl than a “I’m going to bite your face off” growl. They can growl at me all they want just as long as we can get the ticks off them.
They are wicked nasty little creatures that should all be eradicated They carry diseases. I can find no useful purpose for them. Maybe they are around just as a food source for possums, who eat them. Unfortunately I don’t think possums are native to our current State.
Stay safe out there, my Hordeling, and I hope that ticks are not a part of your life.
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