UKH

Searching found some tick threads but none answering my question. What are people's experience/opinions about the best device to use? There seem to be 2 types, tweezer style and the two pronged fork style, which works best?

I picked up two ticks in Slovenia last week, and we removed them with a friend's tick card as I didn't have my two pronged fork on me. Worked a treat. I wouldn't bother with tweezers, I think there's more chance of stressing the little f***er so it pukes up its yuk into your bloodstream.

Always found the prong type work well as less chance of damaging the tick. Use the following www.otom.com. 

The prong ones work really well for all but the smallest ticks.

When the prongs don't work, tweezers or fingernails are my method of choice.

http://lymediseaseuk.com/2015/10/26/tick-removal/

I don't want to hijack your thread Aln, but how useful has anyone found the credit card tick remover in removing the very small ticks that seem to be the by far the most common in NW Scotland? They are really tiny, probably smaller than a midge.

I've recently bought one of the card removal thingies because these very small ticks are hard to remove my usual way - with the fingernails.

Dave

Thanks for the replies so far, but just to be clear, I'm up to date with the latest advice, Lyme's etc, and when I mentioned tweezers I meant the specialist tick removal kind. I have plenty (too much!) experience in twisting them out using my fingers, my records being 16 from myself and over 40 from my dog. But as they become more common, Lyme's seeming more common, and taking my son and GF out in the hills more it's time to buy a decent tool for the job rather than my fat banana fingers! The pronged tool seems to be the winner so far .

That's OK, the more information, the better.

I use this tick card and find it works well, and it is convenient for carrying around.

It also works well on my dog, although he has a low shedding coat with no thick underlayer, and have heard others say that they are not very good on thicker fur.  

http://www.tickcard.co.uk/

The cards look great, do they work for twisting the ticks out?

Is that a no, dislike stalker, or just further confirmation of your pathetic inadequacy? 

Don't twist, just pull. Imagine what would happen if you were 2mm tall and a god like giant hand twisted your body while your neck was stuck in something...snap

All the tools work, the lassoo type only work on larger ticks, the prong types work really well and you usually get a couple of sizes which help get the small ones out. I always used to use my fingers since i was a kid but I'm converted now. Never tried the credit card ones.

I haven't had a tic at all this year. Using a wash in bug deterrent on your clothes is pretty effective if they're bad where you are. Icaridin based repellant is supposedly the most effective for tics (care plus, smidge etc.).

Fingernails. Just scrape them off. Even if you rip them off the mouthpieces will follow eventually, and the chances that this happens are just as great with the card like devices. Tweezers are a bad idea, as you can accidentally squeeze tick saliva and gut contents into the wound, increasing infection risk (unless you have very fine tweezers and can reliably grab hold of the mouthpieces alone).

CB

We bought one of those when our cat started bringing in ticks. I found it hopeless anywhere that wasn't a decent expanse of flat skin. Gave in and bought the LifeSystems tick tweezers, which can get at them anywhere, including taking one off her gums!

https://www.lifesystems.co.uk/products/insect-repellents/tick-remover

prob incorrect to refer as tweezers, the correct tool is a pincer which should nip at head/skin interface; less apparent for a v small tick however. I have always used this kind - easier to rotate 

I find that the prongs work really well and I have two sizes for large and small ticks.

Am I the only person who's never had one and has only even seen one once in all my 39 years?  Are they much more prevalent in particular parts of the UK?

We found the "O'Tom Tick Twister" very good but then we stumbled across this lasso tool - https://www.purpleturtle.co.uk/trix-tick-lasso-tick-remover-24.html

Highly recommend it. It works on our dogs as well. Less stress for them as less fur gets caught.

I've used the O'Tom as mentioned before and it works well. Not had any nymphs to remove yet, so can't speak for its effectiveness there.

I've had one in my entire life, when I was 17. Since then, nada. Not sure whether I'm fortunate or taste bad or something, but I'm not complaining.

It is odd that some people pick them up, while others don’t. I am definitely a tick magnet and must have removed hundreds over the years. Other people I have been out with at the same time, stay tick-free. But I do agree this is a strange year, despite lots of wading through bracken etc I haven’t found one yet this season. 

Another vote for O'Tom. Always works for us

Yes. I've had hundreds, maybe 1000.

There's a lot of research showing how parasites can infect their hosts and affect their behaviour. Hmm, you spend a lot of time in the ticks habitat... Is that why you spend so much time in the mountains ?

As an experiment whilst out running once, I ran through our local bit of damp meadow which was populated with lots of long hard/soft rushes.  I was through it in less than a minute or so.  I stopped as soon as I'd crossed it to see how many there were.   I had at least 28 of them scuttling on my legs.  I was quite surprised at how fast they could move.  Much harder to brush off than I thought and you had to really make a deliberate swipe rather than a casual swipe as you might for a fly or mozzie.

Low level crags in the west especially. I've not seen many in the mountains.

I'm in the same boat and I've got a couple of decades on you. I've never seen one so I'm starting to get a bit paranoid that I've missed them because I don't know what I'm looking for.

This never used to be a problem 25 years ago (or if it was it wasn't publicised).

I always walk carefully through bracken and make sure my legs are fully covered but I still don't understand why I've never had one when I hear these tales about hordes of the things.

Wow...maybe they like the taste?

I don't walk through bracken carefully and almost always wear shorts outdoors unless it's absolutely freezing cold, and I've still never had one.

It really is strange - they genuinely must not like the taste

I also use O'Tom Tick Twister. It makes easy to remove ticks.

I've found the small  swiss army knife tweezers work as the tips are bent together with a gap behind them

Yes that would work if you have one at hand, and if I discover a tick at home I sometimes use a very fine Dumont 5.5 dissection forceps (if I can be bothered), but I certainly don't see the point of spending money on specialized tick removal equipment.

These gadgets must rank amongst the most pointless bits of outdoor kit ever invented. As I said, scraping the tick of with your fingernails or a knife will do the job, none of the cards or tweezers are any better in getting the hypostome (the central, skin penetrating bit of the tick mouth parts) out of the skin.

CB

PS: When studying carrion eating beetles in damp woodland near the German/French border back in my student days we often ended up covered in more than 200 tick nymphs per person and day, despite wearing wellies and plastic overtrousers!

Like Andy, I've had hundreds, quite literally, over the years. There even have been an individual year where I've had a hundred.

I'm in my early forties, and have been getting ticks my whole life.

There's a lot more bracken that there used to be, and in a lot more places, and that's a prime environment for picking up ticks; I think that's one reason, possibly the main reason, for the increase.

Having commented on this yesterday and never had one on me, I found one on me this morning!

Found it while having a shower - couldn't see it (on the back of my bum) and idly scratched at what I thought was a spot, or something, to start with. Wasn't until I looked at my fingers that I recognised what was left and a glance in the mirror confirmed there were still bits in me.

Ended up at the GP for the nurse to remove what was left, as I couldn't see what I was doing. Interestingly, she put a bit of local anaesthetic under the mouth to lift it up and then was easily able to dig it out. Hope it hasn't given me anything nasty, but she seemed to think it was low risk around here, but keep an eye on it.

Most probably picked it up yesterday in the field at a camping exhibition - little bugger managed to get past a set of motorbike boots and jeans and survived a change of clothes when I got home and went to bed!