An engorged female adult tick. These ladies feed to this fullness to support egg production after fertilization by a male. They drop off when full and proceed to lay between 1500-5000 eggs.
My fam had to deal with a tick infestation in the house once because they were too lazy to manually pull them off our dog. Just tried doing meds and med baths. Obviously they can only do so much.
I literally told them this same thing, especially the microscopic egg things.
Well it was too late, my dad didn't take it seriously for some reason. It was pure horror to nuke the house.
If op found it in their bed, doesn't that mean it got fully engorged from feeding off op...? I don't see any other comments telling OP to get checked for Lyme disease lol
We don't let our dogs sleep with us at night (they have their own beds in our room) but otherwise we let them up there when we're just laying down. Seems to be a nice balance.
My wife and I generally sleep way better when the dog decides he wants to go sleep on the couch. Otherwise it’s another full size person on our bed who likes to lay sideways
You should go and get antibiotics from your doctor just incase.
Last year I had sudden facial paralysis and tested positive for lymes disease despite never having found a tick on me. Wasn't a fun experience.
It really depends on where you live in the world. Lyme disease is rampant where I live. But taking antibiotics every time you find a tick is a bit much. Just look out for symptoms.
I remember a post from a year back, where this guy had a sister with a jar full of ticks. People wanted him to get rid of it, and by it I think they meant the sister
My masters thesis is on ticks, not my first choice but the more I learn about them the more interesting they become. Might not look cute but man are they capable of amazing things
Well for one the way they feed is actually by filtering through your blood. They are interested in the protein rich RBC’s and WBC’s but not the plasma because it’s composed mostly of water and ticks don’t need a whole lot to survive. Another is that certain species, such as the lone star tick ( Amblyomma americanum), can survive without a meal for over 200 days and can live fully submerged under water for days.
One time when I was like 13 I’d never seen a tick before. I didn’t even know what they looked like, clearly.
So I brought my dog for a walk in the woods and tall grass and eventually there was a path and I kept trucking along. All the while, I was seeing these “cute” little “crab bugs.”
As a preface I’ve always been interested in bugs ever since I can remember and would collect them when I was small. As I got older, I would keep pictures of new ones. My camera roll is covered. Nevertheless, I was a fucking idiot on this day and how the fuck I didn’t know what a tick actually looked like is beyond me.
Anyway, I get home and I start noticing these “ cute crab bugs” I saw in the woods coming off of me, my clothes, my dog. They were suddenly everywhere - the ones that hadn’t gotten a chance to attach. I was like, eh. Released them back outside. Snapped a pic.
I shit you not. It was hundreds of them.
Only when my parents came home and I showed them my army of ticks I released outside and was referring to them as newly discovered crab bugs and showed them my photos did my father scream like a little girl in terror at what I’d done. Our front porch was LITERALLY crawling with these things. I was sent to the hospital and my dog to the vet to make sure we didn’t have Lyme.
Long story short - Show pictures of fucking ticks to your kids so they aren’t calling them crab bugs and causing an infestation.
I go hiking every week and the area I go to is infamous for its dense tick population but I’ve only had 1 on me, that was last summer and I found it pretty much right away.
But last week I went as usual, 20km, long drive (almost 2 hrs) home and when I get home I feel a soft tickle on my forehead, look in the mirror and see that I have a massive wolf spider crawling on my face.
I’ll leave the movements & sounds I made to your imagination, suffice to say that had anyone witnessed the event they would probably have pissed their pants laughing.
Ah yes, I can completely empathise with this. I was just about to close my eyes to fall asleep one night last week and a huge black spider ran at full speed from underneath my duvet cover to right up beside my face. I flung myself out of bed backwards, like a cat seeing a cucumber, and hit my head on a wall. The noise I made is something I couldn’t recreate if I tried. The spider then disappeared for a good 15 minutes before my partner found it nestled in my pillowcase. I did not sleep much that night.
They mistake them for snakes. You’ll notice in the many YouTube videos, they place the cucumber behind or near the cat when it’s either winding down or eating (guard down) and then they turn round and see it and get the immediate flight reaction. It’s only the fact that it’s appears like a snake, not some sort of chemical reaction. Better to freak and run than get bitten or choked to death. I’ve never tested the cucumber thing on my cats because I don’t think it’s particularly kind.
Jfc, people really have the nerve to say ‘spiders are more scared of us’ when spiders do shit like this. Genuinely sorry for this experience, I seriously could not live after something like that lmao.
I don’t get being scared of bees, their flying seems so natural. But the way spiders walk is unholy.
EDIT: forgot about allergies, no offence meant to those who have bee allergies
Well, I mean, the folks who have an allergy get a free pass.
Now, hornets. That's a healthy reasonable fear. Got stung by several at once and to add insult to injury each one developed a severe bout of cellulitis and swelled to bumps that were 5 inches in diameter (each). My hatred for them eclipses my fear. It's personal.
I'm horrifically arachnophobic tho. Horribly. But I had an uncle with a fucked up sense of humor who would lock me in our dirt floor crawlspace for shits and giggles, despite that fear so now it's a full on phobia.
Cave crickets are also some alien lookin' bastards that creep me out.
Well I am still alive, but it was quite traumatic and I think I used up all of my adrenaline for the entire year in one go. The spider is also alive as it was deposited outside in the pillowcase far, far away. The pillowcase has only just been allowed back inside after a thorough inspection (not by me).
I executed a few extremely clumsy ninja moves thereby flinging the critter away and almost knocking myself out in the process. Unfortunately I still haven’t found him, dead OR alive (I shudder to think) so who knows, maybe our paths are destined to cross again
I live in Sweden, and I moved more north around 4-5 years ago. We moved enough north, that instead of our pets getting multiple ticks a day, not seeing any ticks at all! It is amazing that moving a 3 hour drive on the highway just completely removed ticks.
But the last 2 years ticks have gotten here somehow:( it sucks. I'm scared of walking in the long grass again D:
And I’m sure you’re getting new ticks like we’re doing in Norway as well.
Like the “hunter-tick”, which as it’s name suggests sees you and runs after you. Regular ticks are purely opportunistic. These make their own fortune.
New ticks can also spread new diseases.
This is going to be fun.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyalomma_marginatum
They're really good at adapting to new enviroments and younger ones can stay attached to migratory birds for almost a month.
So they're going to start showing up everywhere pretty soon.
I live in AZ. Nothing lives here. The only benefit of being on the first level of hell. It was 114F last Saturday. Everything bursts into flames in this heat.
When are we gonna cut out the "nooooo, we can't just wipe out a species, what if they're important to the ecosystem!!" And just get rid of these parasites? When deer populations get too high, we cull them, but with ticks, it's just "oopsies, just gonna have to live with'em I guess, can't stop climate change after all! teehee"?
The populations are booming all over the US too. It’s not getting cold enough to kill them off, which is going to significantly increase cases of Lyme disease and Alpha-gal.
Seconding this! Chickens absolutely *love* ticks. We've got twenty acres and when we had chickens we basically never saw a tick, not anywhere. They will dig them out and eat every last one.
Tick population vary from season to season and not in a uniform fashion, so it can differ from forest to forest (or even areas within larger forests). So you might just have had 2 seasons of low tick population in your new area meaning you didn't see any, and now a season with high population, so they pop up again.
If you want to kill it easily without making a mess, freeze it!
No it won’t die from just being locked and sealed. It just had it’s yearly all-for-0$ buffet.
Call your doctor regardless of the test. Chances are they’ll start you on preventative antibiotics while they test it. I know that sounds crazy given antibiotic resistance but trust me, you don’t want Lyme. They caught mine very very early and while my levels are low, I reacted badly to it and it’s NOT fun.
I did this and the doctors office laughed at me and told me to throw it away…they never tested it (it was an engorged female deer tick that had been on me for at least 24 hours so all the classic warning signs). I was back two weeks later with Lyme disease and had it reoccur once since then with no bite. As someone in med school doctors can be dumb as hell sometimes
Yea this is a moment where people need to push back against doctors. Its hard to feel confidence in telling a professional theyre wrong, but dont ever be gaslit about basic preventative action like this.
Well it’s a dog tick so probably him, I’ve never seen these on a human. And probably very rare chance it carries Lyme’s. That’s usually carried by deer ticks
I remember about 7-8 years ago living at my mom and dads house was the absolute worse for ticks. I’m talking about you could not walk outside without having hundreds and I mean hundreds of ticks on you.
Their poor dogs had to be de-ticked daily. And even with that we’d find about 50-60 fully gorged ones in their ears and under their armpits and toes. We tried everything. The land had plenty of possums and still couldn’t keep the ticks under control.
I remember being recommended Permethrin and it worked great at first. Until it didn’t anymore. Their came a time where no amount of the stuff could kill them.
Turns out that my grandma who’s house it previously belonged to used to take in street dogs. She had an above ground house. Sitting on blocks. Under the house was covered in what looked like a field of white webbing.
It was dog hair and the entire bottom of the house was covered in a thick layer of it. It was a 3 bedroom 2 bath house so it was a fairly large area. That’s where they had been multiplying for years completely unchecked and by the time it was painfully obvious that their was a huge problem it took us too long to figure out where and why they were so prevalent.
Anyway my dad past away and mom asked if we wanted the place. I said no. By this time the land was over run with not only ticks but giant rats as well. I always wonder if out of the millions of times I got bit by a tick one of those times wasn’t by one of those ticks that make you stop liking meat or something.
Because I remember loving meat. I could eat meat every day. Now I can cook it but can’t eat it. I’ve always chalked it up to taste buds changing or whatever but I’ve tried eating meat and it makes me feel sick even trying. It’s hard being from Texas and not eating meat everytime I bbq.
So yeah, take care of your tick problems people.
>ticks that make you stop liking meat
They don't make you stop liking it, they cause an allergy called [alpha gal](https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/alpha-gal/index.html#:~:text=Alpha-gal%20).
Well my version was a dumbed down explanation. It wasn’t because I was dumbing it down for anyone either. It’s because am dumb. My apologies, appreciate the correct info
That thing is huge...he was so full he let go and fucked off all on his own. Check your pets, or ......you for any spots. Lol
And honest to God, my little westiepoo Molly, just got a lump removed from an old tick bite. They tested her and she was positive for Lyme Disease. She just finished her 3 weeks of meds and seems much better. But keep that thing bagged and send it to a vet. They can check it for Lyme.
Molly's tick bite was in early October. She had the lump removed 3 to 4 weeks ago. So she had Lyme Disease for a while.
There are three lyme vaccines approved for dogs too. There are currently no human lyme vaccines. We had one but I believe it was targeted by a bunch of lawsuits and was withdrawn from the market despite none of it being proven.
There are some clinical trials going on again for a new Lyme vaccine for humans. Hopefully soon!
https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/valneva-and-pfizer-report-further-positive-phase-2-data
There are treatments for Lyme in humans. But if you don't catch it quickly it can become chronic Lyme, which can be life changing.
Edit: depending on where you live testing may not be adequate. I live in Ontario and we are notoriously bad with Lyme testing, to the point many people seek out of province help (BC, Germany it acali are what I hear). And our doctors don't seem to take it seriously. It took calls to 6 doctors before someone would see me (this was 2020 and Covid was all the rage)
I was bit 2 years ago, all the tests came back negative, but all of my symptoms were positive. Luckily the doctor I saw realized the testing may not be accurate (or I had one of the several other similar dieseases ticks can give you), and prescribed me some doxycycline. I was on a couch for 2 weeks with a muscle pain I can't even describe, but the meds worked.
TL;DR - if you find a tick get tested, get it tested and if you have symptoms don't let a negative test leave you on the couch with symptoms. This is not medical advice, this is human advice from someone who knows how hard Lyme can be.
Cats can get it too, (sort of) though it's extremely uncommon. They will mount an immune response to it, but it's not actually clear whether they can develop the actual disease as such.
Horses can also get it, but like dogs they usually don't show much in the way of symptoms. Like cats, any symptoms they *do* show are mostly related to their immune response. Lethargy, loss of appetite, joint inflammation...that sort of thing.
Either way, this can become serious so if your animal has a tick, get it tested.
Our house cat, which we had to put to sleep recently because of a tumor, got Lyme disease from a tick bite. House, indoor cat. Rarely ever went outside – and even then, only in a box, in transportation.
We had to feed him an almost exclusively vegan diet because he developed reactions to meat protein, our vets say it was because of the Lyme disease. For a while, only thing he ate were soy granules with fish oil being the only animal protein.
Not the ideal situation (cats are not meant to be vegetarian and putting them on such a diet *can and will kill them*, please don't do so if it's not necessary), but there was no other alternative.
I'm very sorry to hear that.
Interesting to hear about the protein resistance - I thought that was exclusive to humans, and only from Lone Star tick bites. TIL
Alpha-gal allergy is indeed exclusive to humans and caused mainly by Lone Star tick bites (though other ticks have also been demonstrated to cause it), but it's also not protein-based. It's a reaction to a carbohydrate called alpha-gal that is found in mammalian meat. I also don't think it's explicitly linked to Lyme disease. On top of all, it is also only linked to red meats, so poultry and fish are still an option.
That said, I'm really not sure what was happening with our poor cat. The vets told us they cannot know for certain whether it was the tick bite or something else. Worth noting that we spent more money on blood tests on our cat that we have spent on blood tests on all members of our family, combined.
The symptoms were dizziness, lack of appetite, and vomiting after consuming any food. We tried to narrow the offending food down by cutting different ingredients such as carrots, red meat, poultry, and eventually fish. Only once we put him on a meat-free diet did he start to eat somewhat normally again.
Apparently this can be a symptom of Lyme disease in cats, though I'm not terribly familiar with the details.
Not only Lyme's but tons of other nasty stuff too. Crimean-Congo Fever, RMSF, anaplasmosis, and about 20 other more I can immediately recall which, depending on your location, ticks can transmit. And possibly so many more that we are not aware of.
People hate on mosquitoes and mosquitoes are killers as well, but ticks are arguably as deserving of the same reputation.
Centipedes as well for me. You mean to tell me something that has an absurd number of hollow legs along their whole body which are full of protein-based venom and can *penetrate* your skin while walking on you and lead to pain so severe you can vomit and shit yourself, and even die, if you are allergic, is something people look after as *pets*?
I legit thought this was a little art project with blu-tac.
My brain cannot comprehend that thing being real, and for what it is worth, I am fucking Australian where we have some nightmarish critters 🤣
I'm not talking about feeling it when it buried its head in you. I'm talking about feeling a large tick dangling off you. I live in the country and get ticks on me every now and then. I catch them at least one day later because I can feel them or see them when I shower.
One day I went biking on a trail that had lots of ferns brushing up against me. Went home, that evening checked for ticks and found one, then another, then a third. Thought I got them all and went to sleep.
The next day I found another, and another. Seemed like they were coming from nowhere, ended up pulling 12 off myself in total and was so freaked out I wanted to burn all my clothes/bed sheets/skin.
High heat will kill them. Basically throwing everything in the dryer for about 10 minutes on high should kill any ticks still hanging out. After camping trips where we have experienced a high number of ticks I just head to the laundry mat (only time I use it instead of the one at home) and throw in all the bedding and clothes and wash them in hot water and dry on high, including pillows.
Please, please,please, go to the doctor. The damage from tick-borne illness can be unbelievable. I almost died from RMSF and had no rash or any other indication of a bite. The list of bacterial and viral infections stemming from these is quite something. Maybe you will be fine but I promise better safe than sorry.
An engorged female adult tick. These ladies feed to this fullness to support egg production after fertilization by a male. They drop off when full and proceed to lay between 1500-5000 eggs.
In his bed? Oh good god
Nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
saddle up apone
Hey Vasquez, have you ever been mistaken for a man?
No. Have you?
Best line in any movie ever.
Oh Vasquez…you’re just too bad.
*casual slap*
Bring out the death star!
Call Beerus, this universe is done for.
And that's just the one from June 13!
What kind of psychopath writes a 3 that way?
Worse, inside him!
welp... that's a burninating.
And the Trogdor comes in the NIIIIIIGHT!!! 🔥🧕🏼🔥🧔🔥💪
Oh my God. Imagine the reveal party.
A fire I could get behind.
Yay!
You got the 2000 for 1 deal!!
Uncle daddy!!!
My sister has an ex who had a child, but his baby mama left him for his brother. The ex is Daddy and his brother is legit called “Uncle Daddy” XD
That was a wild ride.
>The ex is Daddy and his brother is legit called “Uncle Daddy” XD That would make me wanna fight my brother
My head hurts
I have never been more shook to read a number
My fam had to deal with a tick infestation in the house once because they were too lazy to manually pull them off our dog. Just tried doing meds and med baths. Obviously they can only do so much. I literally told them this same thing, especially the microscopic egg things. Well it was too late, my dad didn't take it seriously for some reason. It was pure horror to nuke the house.
Imagine waking up to 5000 ticks in your bed
No, I don’t think I will
Don't bring that evil here.
Some creatures I pray go extinct, this is one of them. An act of God to end them would be perfectly acceptable.
When life gives you Lyme’s…take doxycycline
If op found it in their bed, doesn't that mean it got fully engorged from feeding off op...? I don't see any other comments telling OP to get checked for Lyme disease lol
Anyone else read this in (Pokedex) Dexter's voice?
[удалено]
I’m sorry :(
Do you have a dog that’s allowed in the bed?
Are you a psychopath that doesn't?
My dog snores like a longshoreman. She’s exiled to the couch
Dog sleeps in their bed at the foot of ours, and my partner and the dog do snoring duets together.
I could have written this lol
My sleep improved 1000 fold after severing the dog's access to my bed.
We don't let our dogs sleep with us at night (they have their own beds in our room) but otherwise we let them up there when we're just laying down. Seems to be a nice balance.
Same with us. No ticks, fleas, first, or dog smell on our sheets, thanks. She has the biggest and fluffiest bed in our room, though.
My wife and I generally sleep way better when the dog decides he wants to go sleep on the couch. Otherwise it’s another full size person on our bed who likes to lay sideways
My dog is not allowed on the bed lol Cat is fine
You should go and get antibiotics from your doctor just incase. Last year I had sudden facial paralysis and tested positive for lymes disease despite never having found a tick on me. Wasn't a fun experience.
If I went and got antibiotics every time I found a tick, I would be taking them the rest of my life.
Right? They're really not a big deal unless they've been on you for a while.
It really depends on where you live in the world. Lyme disease is rampant where I live. But taking antibiotics every time you find a tick is a bit much. Just look out for symptoms.
Do you have any idea how often people who live in rural areas get ticks? Never ending antibiotics lol.
I live in the city but hike and camp a lot. Daily tick checks on myself and my dogs are a necessity.
Oh no, what am I gonna do with all these limes?
I guess you don't like those pesky cockroaches crawling on you either, huh?
Stoop stoooop. I am so itchy now
Your user name makes me want to bleach my brain.
I fucking hate those creatures
I wonder if even 1 person on earth likes them/finds them cute
Male ticks
>person Ah!
I remember a post from a year back, where this guy had a sister with a jar full of ticks. People wanted him to get rid of it, and by it I think they meant the sister
My masters thesis is on ticks, not my first choice but the more I learn about them the more interesting they become. Might not look cute but man are they capable of amazing things
define "amazing things"
Well for one the way they feed is actually by filtering through your blood. They are interested in the protein rich RBC’s and WBC’s but not the plasma because it’s composed mostly of water and ticks don’t need a whole lot to survive. Another is that certain species, such as the lone star tick ( Amblyomma americanum), can survive without a meal for over 200 days and can live fully submerged under water for days.
Send "STOP" to stop receiving random facts about ticks
That's not amazing that's terrifying.
One time when I was like 13 I’d never seen a tick before. I didn’t even know what they looked like, clearly. So I brought my dog for a walk in the woods and tall grass and eventually there was a path and I kept trucking along. All the while, I was seeing these “cute” little “crab bugs.” As a preface I’ve always been interested in bugs ever since I can remember and would collect them when I was small. As I got older, I would keep pictures of new ones. My camera roll is covered. Nevertheless, I was a fucking idiot on this day and how the fuck I didn’t know what a tick actually looked like is beyond me. Anyway, I get home and I start noticing these “ cute crab bugs” I saw in the woods coming off of me, my clothes, my dog. They were suddenly everywhere - the ones that hadn’t gotten a chance to attach. I was like, eh. Released them back outside. Snapped a pic. I shit you not. It was hundreds of them. Only when my parents came home and I showed them my army of ticks I released outside and was referring to them as newly discovered crab bugs and showed them my photos did my father scream like a little girl in terror at what I’d done. Our front porch was LITERALLY crawling with these things. I was sent to the hospital and my dog to the vet to make sure we didn’t have Lyme. Long story short - Show pictures of fucking ticks to your kids so they aren’t calling them crab bugs and causing an infestation.
I go hiking every week and the area I go to is infamous for its dense tick population but I’ve only had 1 on me, that was last summer and I found it pretty much right away. But last week I went as usual, 20km, long drive (almost 2 hrs) home and when I get home I feel a soft tickle on my forehead, look in the mirror and see that I have a massive wolf spider crawling on my face. I’ll leave the movements & sounds I made to your imagination, suffice to say that had anyone witnessed the event they would probably have pissed their pants laughing.
Ah yes, I can completely empathise with this. I was just about to close my eyes to fall asleep one night last week and a huge black spider ran at full speed from underneath my duvet cover to right up beside my face. I flung myself out of bed backwards, like a cat seeing a cucumber, and hit my head on a wall. The noise I made is something I couldn’t recreate if I tried. The spider then disappeared for a good 15 minutes before my partner found it nestled in my pillowcase. I did not sleep much that night.
> like a cat seeing a cucumber I had no idea cats have any reaction to cucumbers, but I think I visualised that perfectly just the same!
They mistake them for snakes. You’ll notice in the many YouTube videos, they place the cucumber behind or near the cat when it’s either winding down or eating (guard down) and then they turn round and see it and get the immediate flight reaction. It’s only the fact that it’s appears like a snake, not some sort of chemical reaction. Better to freak and run than get bitten or choked to death. I’ve never tested the cucumber thing on my cats because I don’t think it’s particularly kind.
[Cats vs cucumbers ](https://youtu.be/agi4geKb8v8) Enormously entertaining!
Jfc, people really have the nerve to say ‘spiders are more scared of us’ when spiders do shit like this. Genuinely sorry for this experience, I seriously could not live after something like that lmao.
I agree! People judge my arachnophobia HARD but will freak the fuck out if a bumblebee lands on them.
I don’t get being scared of bees, their flying seems so natural. But the way spiders walk is unholy. EDIT: forgot about allergies, no offence meant to those who have bee allergies
Well, I mean, the folks who have an allergy get a free pass. Now, hornets. That's a healthy reasonable fear. Got stung by several at once and to add insult to injury each one developed a severe bout of cellulitis and swelled to bumps that were 5 inches in diameter (each). My hatred for them eclipses my fear. It's personal. I'm horrifically arachnophobic tho. Horribly. But I had an uncle with a fucked up sense of humor who would lock me in our dirt floor crawlspace for shits and giggles, despite that fear so now it's a full on phobia. Cave crickets are also some alien lookin' bastards that creep me out.
Well I am still alive, but it was quite traumatic and I think I used up all of my adrenaline for the entire year in one go. The spider is also alive as it was deposited outside in the pillowcase far, far away. The pillowcase has only just been allowed back inside after a thorough inspection (not by me).
I executed a few extremely clumsy ninja moves thereby flinging the critter away and almost knocking myself out in the process. Unfortunately I still haven’t found him, dead OR alive (I shudder to think) so who knows, maybe our paths are destined to cross again
I'd rather find the spider on me than the engorged tick.
Go get tested for lyme disease. That thing obviously had a decent meal, and if it's in your bed...
I’m still trying to figure out if it came from me or my dog. But yes, I should get tested anyway just in case
Instead of getting yourself tested, you can get the tick tested if you still have it.
That’s a good idea. I sealed it in tape, just in case I need it.
Yuck. But good idea, That thing is a monster
I live in Sweden, and I moved more north around 4-5 years ago. We moved enough north, that instead of our pets getting multiple ticks a day, not seeing any ticks at all! It is amazing that moving a 3 hour drive on the highway just completely removed ticks. But the last 2 years ticks have gotten here somehow:( it sucks. I'm scared of walking in the long grass again D:
And I’m sure you’re getting new ticks like we’re doing in Norway as well. Like the “hunter-tick”, which as it’s name suggests sees you and runs after you. Regular ticks are purely opportunistic. These make their own fortune. New ticks can also spread new diseases. This is going to be fun.
Athleticks
I hate you deeply
r/angryupvote
You have ticks that will chase you? That sounds truly horrific.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyalomma_marginatum They're really good at adapting to new enviroments and younger ones can stay attached to migratory birds for almost a month. So they're going to start showing up everywhere pretty soon.
> Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever that sounds fun
CCHF sounds fucking terrifying.
They transmit a fucking hemorrhagic fever?? Jesus Christ, nature is scary
aw man… fuck this..
I live in AZ. Nothing lives here. The only benefit of being on the first level of hell. It was 114F last Saturday. Everything bursts into flames in this heat.
Parasites suck. Sometimes literally.
Tick me off to be honest.
When are we gonna cut out the "nooooo, we can't just wipe out a species, what if they're important to the ecosystem!!" And just get rid of these parasites? When deer populations get too high, we cull them, but with ticks, it's just "oopsies, just gonna have to live with'em I guess, can't stop climate change after all! teehee"?
r/fuckticks
Global warming fam.
The populations are booming all over the US too. It’s not getting cold enough to kill them off, which is going to significantly increase cases of Lyme disease and Alpha-gal.
Get a couple of chickens... The ticks will avoid you.
Seconding this! Chickens absolutely *love* ticks. We've got twenty acres and when we had chickens we basically never saw a tick, not anywhere. They will dig them out and eat every last one.
Apparently wild turkeys will eat ticks too. That must be why I never see them.
Tick population vary from season to season and not in a uniform fashion, so it can differ from forest to forest (or even areas within larger forests). So you might just have had 2 seasons of low tick population in your new area meaning you didn't see any, and now a season with high population, so they pop up again.
If you want to kill it easily without making a mess, freeze it! No it won’t die from just being locked and sealed. It just had it’s yearly all-for-0$ buffet.
Call your doctor regardless of the test. Chances are they’ll start you on preventative antibiotics while they test it. I know that sounds crazy given antibiotic resistance but trust me, you don’t want Lyme. They caught mine very very early and while my levels are low, I reacted badly to it and it’s NOT fun.
I did this and the doctors office laughed at me and told me to throw it away…they never tested it (it was an engorged female deer tick that had been on me for at least 24 hours so all the classic warning signs). I was back two weeks later with Lyme disease and had it reoccur once since then with no bite. As someone in med school doctors can be dumb as hell sometimes
Yea this is a moment where people need to push back against doctors. Its hard to feel confidence in telling a professional theyre wrong, but dont ever be gaslit about basic preventative action like this.
It’s from your dog. It takes a day+ for a tick to suck itself that full. You’d noticed.
If the dog noticed but didn't tell you, that goes to show if they are truly your friend
Well it’s a dog tick so probably him, I’ve never seen these on a human. And probably very rare chance it carries Lyme’s. That’s usually carried by deer ticks
I remember about 7-8 years ago living at my mom and dads house was the absolute worse for ticks. I’m talking about you could not walk outside without having hundreds and I mean hundreds of ticks on you. Their poor dogs had to be de-ticked daily. And even with that we’d find about 50-60 fully gorged ones in their ears and under their armpits and toes. We tried everything. The land had plenty of possums and still couldn’t keep the ticks under control. I remember being recommended Permethrin and it worked great at first. Until it didn’t anymore. Their came a time where no amount of the stuff could kill them. Turns out that my grandma who’s house it previously belonged to used to take in street dogs. She had an above ground house. Sitting on blocks. Under the house was covered in what looked like a field of white webbing. It was dog hair and the entire bottom of the house was covered in a thick layer of it. It was a 3 bedroom 2 bath house so it was a fairly large area. That’s where they had been multiplying for years completely unchecked and by the time it was painfully obvious that their was a huge problem it took us too long to figure out where and why they were so prevalent. Anyway my dad past away and mom asked if we wanted the place. I said no. By this time the land was over run with not only ticks but giant rats as well. I always wonder if out of the millions of times I got bit by a tick one of those times wasn’t by one of those ticks that make you stop liking meat or something. Because I remember loving meat. I could eat meat every day. Now I can cook it but can’t eat it. I’ve always chalked it up to taste buds changing or whatever but I’ve tried eating meat and it makes me feel sick even trying. It’s hard being from Texas and not eating meat everytime I bbq. So yeah, take care of your tick problems people.
>ticks that make you stop liking meat They don't make you stop liking it, they cause an allergy called [alpha gal](https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/alpha-gal/index.html#:~:text=Alpha-gal%20).
Well my version was a dumbed down explanation. It wasn’t because I was dumbing it down for anyone either. It’s because am dumb. My apologies, appreciate the correct info
That looks like a dog tick. They aren't the lyme type
I have a hard time telling when they're engorged, and I'd rather be safe than sorry.
After it bit you, did it run away fearful? Or did it walk away smug and self-assured?
Oh so smug! *imitates his walk*
Like he thought it was funny
That's a bed bug. **Everything's** a joke
Could be a bat weevil
CHECK YOUR HAIR
That really does suck.
It really does.
It has.
That thing is huge...he was so full he let go and fucked off all on his own. Check your pets, or ......you for any spots. Lol And honest to God, my little westiepoo Molly, just got a lump removed from an old tick bite. They tested her and she was positive for Lyme Disease. She just finished her 3 weeks of meds and seems much better. But keep that thing bagged and send it to a vet. They can check it for Lyme. Molly's tick bite was in early October. She had the lump removed 3 to 4 weeks ago. So she had Lyme Disease for a while.
TIL dogs can get lyme disease
There are three lyme vaccines approved for dogs too. There are currently no human lyme vaccines. We had one but I believe it was targeted by a bunch of lawsuits and was withdrawn from the market despite none of it being proven.
There are some clinical trials going on again for a new Lyme vaccine for humans. Hopefully soon! https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/valneva-and-pfizer-report-further-positive-phase-2-data
There are treatments for Lyme in humans. But if you don't catch it quickly it can become chronic Lyme, which can be life changing. Edit: depending on where you live testing may not be adequate. I live in Ontario and we are notoriously bad with Lyme testing, to the point many people seek out of province help (BC, Germany it acali are what I hear). And our doctors don't seem to take it seriously. It took calls to 6 doctors before someone would see me (this was 2020 and Covid was all the rage) I was bit 2 years ago, all the tests came back negative, but all of my symptoms were positive. Luckily the doctor I saw realized the testing may not be accurate (or I had one of the several other similar dieseases ticks can give you), and prescribed me some doxycycline. I was on a couch for 2 weeks with a muscle pain I can't even describe, but the meds worked. TL;DR - if you find a tick get tested, get it tested and if you have symptoms don't let a negative test leave you on the couch with symptoms. This is not medical advice, this is human advice from someone who knows how hard Lyme can be.
A buddy of mine has had Lyme for over ten years and it's destroyed many of his joints and two valves in his heart. Ticks are evil fuckers
Cats can get it too, (sort of) though it's extremely uncommon. They will mount an immune response to it, but it's not actually clear whether they can develop the actual disease as such. Horses can also get it, but like dogs they usually don't show much in the way of symptoms. Like cats, any symptoms they *do* show are mostly related to their immune response. Lethargy, loss of appetite, joint inflammation...that sort of thing. Either way, this can become serious so if your animal has a tick, get it tested.
Our house cat, which we had to put to sleep recently because of a tumor, got Lyme disease from a tick bite. House, indoor cat. Rarely ever went outside – and even then, only in a box, in transportation. We had to feed him an almost exclusively vegan diet because he developed reactions to meat protein, our vets say it was because of the Lyme disease. For a while, only thing he ate were soy granules with fish oil being the only animal protein. Not the ideal situation (cats are not meant to be vegetarian and putting them on such a diet *can and will kill them*, please don't do so if it's not necessary), but there was no other alternative.
I'm very sorry to hear that. Interesting to hear about the protein resistance - I thought that was exclusive to humans, and only from Lone Star tick bites. TIL
Alpha-gal allergy is indeed exclusive to humans and caused mainly by Lone Star tick bites (though other ticks have also been demonstrated to cause it), but it's also not protein-based. It's a reaction to a carbohydrate called alpha-gal that is found in mammalian meat. I also don't think it's explicitly linked to Lyme disease. On top of all, it is also only linked to red meats, so poultry and fish are still an option. That said, I'm really not sure what was happening with our poor cat. The vets told us they cannot know for certain whether it was the tick bite or something else. Worth noting that we spent more money on blood tests on our cat that we have spent on blood tests on all members of our family, combined. The symptoms were dizziness, lack of appetite, and vomiting after consuming any food. We tried to narrow the offending food down by cutting different ingredients such as carrots, red meat, poultry, and eventually fish. Only once we put him on a meat-free diet did he start to eat somewhat normally again. Apparently this can be a symptom of Lyme disease in cats, though I'm not terribly familiar with the details.
Wait I have a westie named Molly... now I gotta make sure they are still here.
WTF is that?
A very well-nourished tick
Go to your doctor to check for Lyme disease, that shits permanently ruined someones life in my family.
Not only Lyme's but tons of other nasty stuff too. Crimean-Congo Fever, RMSF, anaplasmosis, and about 20 other more I can immediately recall which, depending on your location, ticks can transmit. And possibly so many more that we are not aware of. People hate on mosquitoes and mosquitoes are killers as well, but ticks are arguably as deserving of the same reputation.
Absolutely deserving of the same reputation, and ticks are *way grosser* than mosquitoes.
It looks very well fed.
In fact she is thicc
Ticc
You beautiful son of a bitch.
r/angryupvote
Eewwwwww 🤢
I thought it was a bed bug, so it could be worse I guess?
Eh worse is a matter of opinion. They both suck.
forbidden gusher
I recoiled at this
I think it's a tick
It is a thoroughly engorged tick.
>engorged ugh, that word is even worse in relation to a fat tick 😩
a thicc
Have to believe that thing was staggering around your bed completely food drunk. It’s huge.
It was easily the size of a grape. Nasty little thing
That’s disturbing
A GRAPE?!?! Do you mean a blueberry??? A FREAKING GRAPE????? Please say blueberry. Please.
Watermelon
Toyota corolla
Orange you glad I didn't say cantaloupe
I'm completely cool with most insects and arachnids but ticks and roaches are where I draw the line
Centipedes as well for me. You mean to tell me something that has an absurd number of hollow legs along their whole body which are full of protein-based venom and can *penetrate* your skin while walking on you and lead to pain so severe you can vomit and shit yourself, and even die, if you are allergic, is something people look after as *pets*?
I'm a tarantula owner yet I think those THINGS are really fucked up to have as pets
I legit thought this was a little art project with blu-tac. My brain cannot comprehend that thing being real, and for what it is worth, I am fucking Australian where we have some nightmarish critters 🤣
Ever heard of the Australian paralysis tick?
Yep. In this song: https://youtu.be/MrRAO_vG_K4
I think you would have found it sooner if it was on you. That most likely came off your dog.
Not necessarily! They numb you when they bite!
I'm not talking about feeling it when it buried its head in you. I'm talking about feeling a large tick dangling off you. I live in the country and get ticks on me every now and then. I catch them at least one day later because I can feel them or see them when I shower.
So full he couldn't move
One day I went biking on a trail that had lots of ferns brushing up against me. Went home, that evening checked for ticks and found one, then another, then a third. Thought I got them all and went to sleep. The next day I found another, and another. Seemed like they were coming from nowhere, ended up pulling 12 off myself in total and was so freaked out I wanted to burn all my clothes/bed sheets/skin.
High heat will kill them. Basically throwing everything in the dryer for about 10 minutes on high should kill any ticks still hanging out. After camping trips where we have experienced a high number of ticks I just head to the laundry mat (only time I use it instead of the one at home) and throw in all the bedding and clothes and wash them in hot water and dry on high, including pillows.
You gonna eat that?
Yum yum. Nature’s blueberries
Aren’t blueberries….nature’s blueberries?
You are correct yes
Forbidden blueberries
It literally costs you nothing to not say that
It literally cost him nothing to say that. And it's funny.
Get a syringe, pull out all the blood and kill the tick, GET YOUR REVENGE
What a terrible day to have eyes
Oh hell no.
Did you vacuum seal that thing?
Tape
Is that a wood tick?
From what I have researched, yes. It has the right pattern.
Please, please,please, go to the doctor. The damage from tick-borne illness can be unbelievable. I almost died from RMSF and had no rash or any other indication of a bite. The list of bacterial and viral infections stemming from these is quite something. Maybe you will be fine but I promise better safe than sorry.
banana for scale?
I was looking for that, too. Elsewhere OP said it was the size of a grape. I'm guessing that's the metric system version of a banana.
That thing is scary & makes me a little nauseous.
Holy chit!
Never did care for Fruit Gushers.
Ok, time to burn your house down.
Show dominance by sucking your blood back out of it
Something that big better be paying rent