r/CampingandHiking • u/CartoonistNo3755 • 22h ago

Tick on me

Post image

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

194 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

140 comments sorted by

View all comments

26

u/MarvinMartian34 22h ago

The head's not inside you so that's good. Take a sharpie and circle around the area that is swollen to see how if spreads. If you develop a rash, flu like symptoms, major swelling of the bite area or lymph node regions, or break into hives after eating red meat, contact your health provider. My tick bites tend to always look like mosquito bites, so just watch it for a day or two.

You definitely want to do a tick check every night you're in the woods to prevent diseases. I've been told it takes 48-72 hours for a disease to set in IF it is an infected tick, but it's safer to do it sooner. Also do not attempt to drown the tick in alcohol or anything else while attached, it could cause it to vomit into your blood and infect you with something. Pulling it right out is the best thing to do, and it's not a big deal if the head's stuck inside, it just might take a couple days for your skin to force it out.

1

u/BabaBuntspecht 16h ago

Afaik 12-18 hours and Sometimes its even faster. But removing in under 12 hours seems quite possible.

1

u/MarvinMartian34 30m ago

I've never heard it as low as 12 to 18 hours, but I could be wrong or that could be newer information. I just rely on daily tick checks and treating my clothes with premetherin and have made it this far without a tick-borne illness.