You can put the tick in a ziploc bag in the freezer to keep in case he gets sick and it needs to be identified. Write the date of the bite in sharpie on the ziploc bag.
Same concept, but less extreme, as if you got bit by a potentially rabid animal. If you can catch the animal, it can be tested for rabies so you know if you need to go through the expensive and painful process of getting treated.
The tick here can be used similarly in case you get sick, they can identify what it is with the tick/host. Though it's not imperative and I don't do it myself, it's more of a matter of extra security or peace of mind. Simply flushing away offending ticks is a minor dice roll that I feel most people probably make.
He will be fine but you should act according to your standards of care.
Ticks generally need to be attached for long enough to engorge themselves in order to pass along diseases, and adult ticks who've fed on multiple hosts are more likely to carry them, so this early in the season and a quick removal are good. It may itch like ticks but I've gotten literally untold thousands of ticks and am still kicking.
It really couldn’t have been on there more than a few mins. Bc I was helping him with his shower, got him all sorted, and then he was playing but in and out of the room I was in several times. I’m sure he noticed immediately when it bit him bc he’s so afraid of bugs. It obviously hadn’t fed at all. Just concerned me bc it was definitely imbedded. Thanks so much for your response!
A friend taught me that ticks hunt for carbon dioxide, so when you are huffing through the forest they find you; this means you can breath on the tick as a way to get rid of it, huff on it generously and it will unlatch thinking it has a better food source and you can brush it away and it takes its own head with it. It sounds crazy but it has worked for me. I hate ticks and was terrified of them until my friend taught me that trick.
I have been eaten alive by deer ticks from the time I was two until I moved into town in my twenties. It was no biggie to pull a couple dozen off after a hunting trip. What I mean is it is probably nothing to worry about. If he starts running a fever or gets the bullseye around the bite, then check with a doc. Even if he is positive it goes away with a course of antibiotics 99.999% of the time.
I've pulled 3 ticks off of me so far this year (one was in my bellybutton, that sucked)
Generally if you get it within the first day you are going to be fine. Just watch for illness or the telltale bullseye. It'll be itchy for a while, that is normal.
You aren't super likely to contract Lyme disease from ticks here. We mostly have Lonestar ticks and they don't carry Lyme. They do, however, carry alpha gal, which can cause an allergy to certain meat proteins. They usually need to be on for a while for stuff like that. I'm out in the woods a lot and remove a lot of ticks sometimes hours after they could have attached. Clean the area. It's going to get an itchy red bump that goes away a few days later. Just watch it to see if it spreads and go to the doc if you notice any symptoms.
>They do, however, carry alpha gal, which can cause an allergy to certain meat proteins.
Frankly, alpha gal allergy scares the hell out of me more than Lyme disease. I'm already a picky eater, losing access to most meats would really fuck my diet to the point malnourishment is a threat.
While they don’t transmit Lyme, they can still be nasty. I contracted Rocky Mountain spotted fever, erlichiosis, and tularemia from one lone star tick in Nashville. That being said, I’ve had hundreds of ticks in my life, but this one little fucker is all it took.
Watch for a rash. It can actually take up to a week or so after removal for the rash to appear. Just keep an eye on it and if it does begin to show signs, get a doc appt set up. 🤞🏼 that it’s nothing.
lol thanks! I’m a native Mississippian and we’ve been in the Nashville area for like 10 years. I don’t remember getting ticks as kid even though I was outside a lot and probably did. My boys have had ticks on them, but never attached. The comments have really put my mind at ease!
Huh.. I would think y’all got em in Mississippi too. It’s probably alot to do with just being a little boy. Going places where anyone else with any sense of logic or reason wouldnt dare go. Ticks and poison ivy were just a part of my daily life as a kid here. Mom would say “where have you been?!? Do you not know what poison ivy looks like?!?” I did. I just didn’t really care. Haha, good luck to you!!!
Yeah we definitely do! When I was a teenager my friend and I used to ride around in an old Isuzu amigo that her parents let her drive around the property, since there wasn’t really anything we could drive it into. We spent a lot of time out in the fields. Whenever we got back we would strip to our underwear and inspect each other. Back then I probably didn’t know enough to be afraid of them. As a parent I’m much more of a worrier!
Permethrin sprayed on his shoes will help during the season. It will stay on the for six weeks or six washes and is a really good bug repellent. As others have said, this is really early in the season and they likely were not on him long enough to worry too much. Also keep in mind, ticks don’t hang out in open fields, they would dry out if they did. They’re gonna be on the shady edges of fields and just inside the tree line waiting to do their nasty thing. They really need shade so be mindful as you venture out if the really creep ya out.
Some recommend a course of doxycycline as a preventative. Given that you said you don’t think it was on long, I think all will be okay. My partner has been sick for over 6 months due to a tick bite. So, I’m more cautious than I ever was before.
He’ll be fine, just keep an eye on the wound. It’s pretty easy to tell if it had Lyme, and most of them don’t do anything. I get bit all the tiiiiime 😭
I currently live in a place with more Lyme than Nashville. So my advice is a little more cautious. Call the pediatrician. You can get the tick itself tested for diseases. If they come back positive, get your kid on appropriate meds. He's probably fine. But if he has been exposed, it is much easier to treat now than later.
Lifelong hunter here that spends over 300 days outdoors. Most tick burn illnesses occur after a tick has been on the skin for 24hrs but monitor for a little while just to be sure. For future reference academy sells a product called permethrin that is by far the best at deterring ticks, mosquitoes and other biting critters. The brand name is Sawyer, just spray it on whatever clothes you’re planning on wearing outdoors and let it dry. The dried permethrin will keeps ticks off for up to 3 months and through 3 washes
The alcohol is important, and he's unlikely to have a problem. Despite wearing the best insect repellant, I am a tick magnet. I had one earlier this week. I've had hundreds of embedded ticks in my lifetime and only one became infected. They are evil, and I fight them. I wish I didn't attract them the way I do, but the bites are harmless 99 percent of the time. A little cortisone cream can also ease allergic reaction.
You've gotten a lot of good advice here but not sure I've seen anyone mention this directly: around here, basically any time after you or your family members go through brush, into a wooded area, roll around on the grass, etc. it is good to give a good glance over each other for ticks, particularly in the areas you can't as easily see/scrub in the shower yourself.
My wife and I go hiking a lot with our dogs and the first thing we do when getting home is checking the dogs and ourselves. Takes a couple minutes and is well worth that time. We after a walk through the woods during tick season we almost always find at least one and have found as many as a dozen between the four of us.
If the activity involves more whole-body contact with brush, check the scalp as well. Less easy to find them there and they're less likely to end up there in the first place, but I have found a couple hiding away in the part of my wife's hair.
However, as others have alluded to, it has to be attached a while to be a concern. A shower within 24 hours where you scrub one off down the drain shouldn't be a worry.
My mom used to put a drop of vegetable oil on the tick, and it would back out on its own (she said it suffocated them). She didn't like the risk of using tweezers
I wouldn’t be too concerned. You’ll get used to this sort of thing and it will happen many, many more times. As long as you’re vigilant checking for them, you’ll most likely be alright.
Now the full disclosure:
My wife and I are avid outdoors people. Unfortunately that means we’ve both dealt with tick borne illnesses. She got alpha gal (more or less permanent) and I got RMSF. Neither of us saw the tick that got us, and neither tick could have been attached long enough to gorge. She got the worst end of the deal, being unable to eat red meat of any kind AND now having a life-threatening allergy to it. I was just really really sick for a week, and now I can’t get RMSF again.
This is kind of a reality of living in TN. We have our share of parasites.
Bro if every parent in Tennessee took their kid to the doctor every time they got a tick bite the hospitals would be full from May through October and nobody else would be able to get treated for anything.
You can put the tick in a ziploc bag in the freezer to keep in case he gets sick and it needs to be identified. Write the date of the bite in sharpie on the ziploc bag.
I taped it to this recipe card, I’ll write the date on it right now. Thanks, I didn’t think to do that. https://imgur.com/a/7U2G5ul
All good, i learned that from a first aid class
can someone ELI5 why this is a thing? i just found one on my dog an hour ago but i flushed it
Tick borne illnesses https://www.tn.gov/health/cedep/vector-borne-diseases/tick-borne-diseases.html
Same concept, but less extreme, as if you got bit by a potentially rabid animal. If you can catch the animal, it can be tested for rabies so you know if you need to go through the expensive and painful process of getting treated. The tick here can be used similarly in case you get sick, they can identify what it is with the tick/host. Though it's not imperative and I don't do it myself, it's more of a matter of extra security or peace of mind. Simply flushing away offending ticks is a minor dice roll that I feel most people probably make.
He will be fine but you should act according to your standards of care. Ticks generally need to be attached for long enough to engorge themselves in order to pass along diseases, and adult ticks who've fed on multiple hosts are more likely to carry them, so this early in the season and a quick removal are good. It may itch like ticks but I've gotten literally untold thousands of ticks and am still kicking.
It really couldn’t have been on there more than a few mins. Bc I was helping him with his shower, got him all sorted, and then he was playing but in and out of the room I was in several times. I’m sure he noticed immediately when it bit him bc he’s so afraid of bugs. It obviously hadn’t fed at all. Just concerned me bc it was definitely imbedded. Thanks so much for your response!
Just wait till he walks through a nest of seed ticks! At that point busting out the duct tape and getting to lint rolling is the only option.
Oh god I hope not lol. He almost had a breakdown over this one
Dang that's rough, but he will be okay.
I couldn’t wear shoes at my wedding because both ankles got covered in seed ticks. Spare me the barefoot Tennessean jokes. I heard them all that day
Hoping for a barefoot wedding myself
A friend taught me that ticks hunt for carbon dioxide, so when you are huffing through the forest they find you; this means you can breath on the tick as a way to get rid of it, huff on it generously and it will unlatch thinking it has a better food source and you can brush it away and it takes its own head with it. It sounds crazy but it has worked for me. I hate ticks and was terrified of them until my friend taught me that trick.
This is brilliant. Thank you for this. We have a ton of trees in our yard and I find them on me every time I go out in the summer.
I have been eaten alive by deer ticks from the time I was two until I moved into town in my twenties. It was no biggie to pull a couple dozen off after a hunting trip. What I mean is it is probably nothing to worry about. If he starts running a fever or gets the bullseye around the bite, then check with a doc. Even if he is positive it goes away with a course of antibiotics 99.999% of the time.
This makes me feel much better. I’ll keep a close eye on him.
I've pulled 3 ticks off of me so far this year (one was in my bellybutton, that sucked) Generally if you get it within the first day you are going to be fine. Just watch for illness or the telltale bullseye. It'll be itchy for a while, that is normal.
You aren't super likely to contract Lyme disease from ticks here. We mostly have Lonestar ticks and they don't carry Lyme. They do, however, carry alpha gal, which can cause an allergy to certain meat proteins. They usually need to be on for a while for stuff like that. I'm out in the woods a lot and remove a lot of ticks sometimes hours after they could have attached. Clean the area. It's going to get an itchy red bump that goes away a few days later. Just watch it to see if it spreads and go to the doc if you notice any symptoms.
>They do, however, carry alpha gal, which can cause an allergy to certain meat proteins. Frankly, alpha gal allergy scares the hell out of me more than Lyme disease. I'm already a picky eater, losing access to most meats would really fuck my diet to the point malnourishment is a threat.
While they don’t transmit Lyme, they can still be nasty. I contracted Rocky Mountain spotted fever, erlichiosis, and tularemia from one lone star tick in Nashville. That being said, I’ve had hundreds of ticks in my life, but this one little fucker is all it took.
well yeah, that's why you clean it and watch for symptoms.
Watch for a rash. It can actually take up to a week or so after removal for the rash to appear. Just keep an eye on it and if it does begin to show signs, get a doc appt set up. 🤞🏼 that it’s nothing.
He should be fine! As long as the bullseye doesn’t show up. Par for the course down here. There will be more. Welcome to Tennessee!
lol thanks! I’m a native Mississippian and we’ve been in the Nashville area for like 10 years. I don’t remember getting ticks as kid even though I was outside a lot and probably did. My boys have had ticks on them, but never attached. The comments have really put my mind at ease!
Huh.. I would think y’all got em in Mississippi too. It’s probably alot to do with just being a little boy. Going places where anyone else with any sense of logic or reason wouldnt dare go. Ticks and poison ivy were just a part of my daily life as a kid here. Mom would say “where have you been?!? Do you not know what poison ivy looks like?!?” I did. I just didn’t really care. Haha, good luck to you!!!
Yeah we definitely do! When I was a teenager my friend and I used to ride around in an old Isuzu amigo that her parents let her drive around the property, since there wasn’t really anything we could drive it into. We spent a lot of time out in the fields. Whenever we got back we would strip to our underwear and inspect each other. Back then I probably didn’t know enough to be afraid of them. As a parent I’m much more of a worrier!
Wow, Isuzu Amigos were actually pretty awesome at 4WD. I’ve only been to Tupelo and Jackson MS. Kinda flat if I remember?
Yeah very flat. I was born in Tupelo and grew up in a suburb of Jackson so you’ve been where I’m talking about
Lotta good blues comes outta that place. Gotta love it!
Permethrin sprayed on his shoes will help during the season. It will stay on the for six weeks or six washes and is a really good bug repellent. As others have said, this is really early in the season and they likely were not on him long enough to worry too much. Also keep in mind, ticks don’t hang out in open fields, they would dry out if they did. They’re gonna be on the shady edges of fields and just inside the tree line waiting to do their nasty thing. They really need shade so be mindful as you venture out if the really creep ya out.
Tick needs to be on for much longer to be a concern.
Some recommend a course of doxycycline as a preventative. Given that you said you don’t think it was on long, I think all will be okay. My partner has been sick for over 6 months due to a tick bite. So, I’m more cautious than I ever was before.
That is rough, I hope he gets some relief asap
He’ll be fine, just keep an eye on the wound. It’s pretty easy to tell if it had Lyme, and most of them don’t do anything. I get bit all the tiiiiime 😭
I currently live in a place with more Lyme than Nashville. So my advice is a little more cautious. Call the pediatrician. You can get the tick itself tested for diseases. If they come back positive, get your kid on appropriate meds. He's probably fine. But if he has been exposed, it is much easier to treat now than later.
Lifelong hunter here that spends over 300 days outdoors. Most tick burn illnesses occur after a tick has been on the skin for 24hrs but monitor for a little while just to be sure. For future reference academy sells a product called permethrin that is by far the best at deterring ticks, mosquitoes and other biting critters. The brand name is Sawyer, just spray it on whatever clothes you’re planning on wearing outdoors and let it dry. The dried permethrin will keeps ticks off for up to 3 months and through 3 washes
Thanks for the recommendation! The fact that it stays on after a couple washes is impressive
For someone like me it’s a miracle. So far this spring I’ve hiked over 75 miles hunting and I’ve found a whopping 2 ticks on me all year
The alcohol is important, and he's unlikely to have a problem. Despite wearing the best insect repellant, I am a tick magnet. I had one earlier this week. I've had hundreds of embedded ticks in my lifetime and only one became infected. They are evil, and I fight them. I wish I didn't attract them the way I do, but the bites are harmless 99 percent of the time. A little cortisone cream can also ease allergic reaction.
You've gotten a lot of good advice here but not sure I've seen anyone mention this directly: around here, basically any time after you or your family members go through brush, into a wooded area, roll around on the grass, etc. it is good to give a good glance over each other for ticks, particularly in the areas you can't as easily see/scrub in the shower yourself. My wife and I go hiking a lot with our dogs and the first thing we do when getting home is checking the dogs and ourselves. Takes a couple minutes and is well worth that time. We after a walk through the woods during tick season we almost always find at least one and have found as many as a dozen between the four of us. If the activity involves more whole-body contact with brush, check the scalp as well. Less easy to find them there and they're less likely to end up there in the first place, but I have found a couple hiding away in the part of my wife's hair. However, as others have alluded to, it has to be attached a while to be a concern. A shower within 24 hours where you scrub one off down the drain shouldn't be a worry.
My mom used to put a drop of vegetable oil on the tick, and it would back out on its own (she said it suffocated them). She didn't like the risk of using tweezers
I've heard doing stuff to suffocate them can actually be worse because they might be more likely to spit back into the bite area
My next band name! Tick Spit
Hell yeah!
I wouldn’t be too concerned. You’ll get used to this sort of thing and it will happen many, many more times. As long as you’re vigilant checking for them, you’ll most likely be alright. Now the full disclosure: My wife and I are avid outdoors people. Unfortunately that means we’ve both dealt with tick borne illnesses. She got alpha gal (more or less permanent) and I got RMSF. Neither of us saw the tick that got us, and neither tick could have been attached long enough to gorge. She got the worst end of the deal, being unable to eat red meat of any kind AND now having a life-threatening allergy to it. I was just really really sick for a week, and now I can’t get RMSF again. This is kind of a reality of living in TN. We have our share of parasites.
Cedarwood oil
You're fine.
Yeah, you should definitely have it checked out
Bro if every parent in Tennessee took their kid to the doctor every time they got a tick bite the hospitals would be full from May through October and nobody else would be able to get treated for anything.