I knew that Intel Q3 Microscope I got for the (cough) kids would come in handy. I found him on my leg about an hour ago and pulled him off when he was pretty flat so he had not gotten much of a blood meal (yet)f.
What kind is it? He’s medium small as ticks go. I’ve made the little bastard kind of sleepy with a spray of rubbing alcohol but he’s still kicking.
Pics below.
60Xtick
Entomology was a long time ago, so I’m not sure, but it looks like your standard issue dog tick. These babies occasionally carry diseases, so if you develop a rash around the bite or start running a fever in the next couple of days, call your doctor. The stuff ticks carry can almost always be taken care of with a round of tetracycline, but early treatment is always better than later.
Definitely a standard woodtick. A female, actually (females have the ring on the back, males have stripes). I’d never heard that this particular kind carry diseases. The bite could potentially get infected, but that’s not too likely.
Glad you found her early. A friend of mine had one right on her bra line, so she didn’t see it for days. That was disgusting.
Just don’t let the critter talk to you. Tick talk is veddy bad, veddy bad.
-Nott
You incorrectly removed the tick. Some of the ticks mouth or pincher parts could still be in your skin and could cause an infection. The correct method is to light a wooden match. After a few seconds, blow it out. Then immediately touch the tick on the back. It will release itself and can be easily removed. Learned this while in the Boy Scouts and a weekend camping trip in a tick and flea infested cabin.
racer72: The Boy Scouts done steered you wrong :). Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t. The most consistent method is to get a pair of tweezers, grasp the head as close to the point of attachement as possible, and pull steadily. Don’t yank!! If you pull nice and steadily, without an excess of force, the tick will disengage its mouthparts to prevent its head from coming off.
I removed over 40 ticks that weekend and the method I used worked perfectly everytime. It is also the specified method in my AMA first aid book.
A couple months back I was in the bathroom taking a leak and my eye began itching. I look in the mirror and it’s a tick walking on my eyelash. A few more seconds and it would have been in my eye. Someone my dad knows had a son who thought he had a hernia, went to the doctor and found out it was a tick that had been sucking blood for days, or weeks.
Tried it once. The tick just moved further in and it was (later found to be) a female engorged deer tick. By doing it repeatally I was able to incinerate it but it wasn’t going to back out.
racer72: Well, all I can say is that my former Medical Entomology professor disagrees with the AMA :D. So does at least one member of our esteemed SD Staff:
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtickoff.html
I’d never looked closely enough at ticks before to notice that they have eight legs; are they arachnids?
A method I have heard used in Africa to remove ticks is to cover them completely in Vaseline/petroleum jelly - this apparently causes asphyxiation and they drop off, jaws and all - this is unsubstantiated BTW
I’ve also heard of the match technique, however I prefer a nice pair of pliers 
The Internet is awesome. Ten years ago, how could thousands of people possibly have expected to see the very same tick that was on your body within a mere couple of hours of its removal?
Nothing else to add. Just marveling at the modern world.
Yes, they are. I once started a thread asking how a tick could get so much bigger without molting like other insects. The answer was that ticks are arachnids, and as such, are more elastic. Maybe they get stretch marks, though:p
