r/CampingandHiking • u/CartoonistNo3755 • 22h ago

Tick on me

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Hello everyone. I found a tick on me I presume it latched onto me over 24 hours ago when I was hiking.

I felt it on my side and yanked it off before knowing what it is and pulled this guy off. It was still alive and moving when I pulled it off.

I don’t have rubbing alcohol and am freaaaaking out because the area he latched onto is a bit swollen. About the size of a small mosquito bite.

Any advice would be appreciated

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167

u/WildAtlanticBogPlant 22h ago

Yes that's what ticks do. You're going to come into contact with them if you're spending time out an about, so best to make your peace with them early.

Good that you got it pulled off clean, there will be a bite mark for some time and it might get a bit itchy. No biggie. Keep an eye on it but if you've got it off within 24-48hrs there's going to be no problems.

And get rid of the little dude.

119

u/shedwyn2019 22h ago

If it latched and was drinking, don’t get rid of the little dude. Put dude in a ziploc with the date and how long you think it was attached and toss it in the fridge. Then you have the bug if you need to get it analyzed to see if it carries any of the pathogens and could get prophylactic treatment if available.

101

u/WildAtlanticBogPlant 22h ago

In theory this is what you should do. And as a first timer, sure go for it.

In reality if you're spending time in the woods in ticky areas (which is fast becoming the temperate areas of the entire northern hemisphere), you're going to pick up a non-insubstantial amount of ticks. Are we really all going to be collecting and sending off each individual tick? And for people that work in the woods? Not happening.

Be vigilant, don't be hypochondriac.

30

u/cave18 19h ago

I loathe the day ticks become common in the pnw

32

u/NotARealTiger 19h ago

They're completely out of control in the east. Brace yourself, they're definitely coming.

14

u/cave18 18h ago

I just plan on enjoying the relatively tick free pnw while it lasts :(

8

u/iHadou 12h ago

The ticks are coming. I'm imagining these little ticks marching from georgia up to oregon and it's gonna take 10 years

9

u/Natural-Compote4096 20h ago

Better to be safe than sorry when it comes to Lyme disease and meat allergy 

8

u/thespaceageisnow 21h ago

It also generally takes more than 24 hours to transmit tick borne diseases, if it isn’t engorged at all people are probably fine.

17

u/QuirkyTangerine7811 21h ago

That’s not true for alpha gal

5

u/thespaceageisnow 21h ago

Well that’s unfortunate. Scary stuff that one. Not common in my area, for now at least it’s range appears to be expanding.

3

u/xrelaht 17h ago

But alpha gal doesn’t require testing of the tick, so there’s still no reason to store it.

1

u/Dani_and_Haydn 3h ago

I do. I've had Lyme twice. The first time was during covid lockdown and I was misdiagnosed for four months. It was a nightmare. I treat my clothes with permethrin and send every tick I find on me to ticklab.org