THSCC Forums

Anyone have any experience with tick suppression? I'm pretty sure that you can't really kill them short of torching an entire area, and then you're only set for a couple of months till they crawl their way back in. At that point, you're sort of screwed since there isn't anything else to torch. Now if anyone has anything that works, I'm willing to try. I've even tried the Garlic mixtures that were close to guaranteed (they even were reported to repell mosquitos, I've proved that wrong. )

It's getting to the point where the wooded space that we've cleared out some is being roamed by the dog and the child and they are both coming in the house with ticks. Not so bad if the critters are walking around as you can just pick em up, burn em and move on. If they've stopped and decided to latch on, well, squirmy pups and screaming children's just don't work for me when I'm trying to remove them. So I'd rather do everything I can to remove them from the start and not worry about them coming in the house with something still attached.

If no one has any home use products, does anyone know of any commercial grade stuff, or any service provider that specializes in just this sort of thing?

Thanks.

Only thing we ever found that works is getting a small herd of guinea hens. We've got about 15 that roam around our property and they hoover everything in site for any bug they can find. And they're sort of fun to watch. Pretty dumb, though.

Probably not an option if you're in town. We've got 165 acres out in the country.


--Donnie

You have a herd of Guinea hens on you property?!??!?!!? Why do I find that so funny???

Maybe it's just the image I have of a bunch of guys sitting on the deck, drinking beers, watching these little chickens running around eating everything in site.

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Todd Breakey
STS 42 - 1992 Sunburst Miata
Dammit!
"You souldn't play leap frog with a porcupine. You might get hurt." - Eliza

That's just the half of it. You should add in talking kids into trying to catch one. Now THAT is funny.


--Donnie

An old guy told me one time that he feed his hunting dogs some garlic powder on there food. And that woudl get rid of the ticks and/or fleas. I have used it ever since like once a week the dogs love it and no tics and my back yard sounds like yours. As for the kid..........

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[color=#FFFFFF][/color]http://www.usedmiatapartsonline.com for all your used miata parts needs
http://www.wagnersauto.com for your salvage needs
2000 miata se Estreet,going to rally
2004 mazdaspeed miata bsp #77
shifter kart also(someone buy this $1500)

I don't have that much property, but that probably wouldn't be what would turn me away. It would be convincing Jen that we need them.

Guineas really don't make much noise and their poop is somewhat solid and small, so it's not a problem. You don't even really need to feed them once they are "homed" to your place.

We always just kept them in a coop for a few days (feeding them chicken scratch and keeping water in there) and assuming they're adults then you can just release one or two per day until they are all free. Keep throwing some chicken scratch out each day for a few days and they'll pretty much never leave the area from then on. They'll roam over a 20 acres or so, but that's about it. You never need to do anything with them from then on. Predators will eat off one every few months or so, depending on your guineas and the predators in your area, but they're cheap to replace and you usually end up at a happy medium of guineas that can fend for themselves and won't get eaten.

They're really insanely easy to have around. Except they aren't smart enough to get out of the driveway when you're trying to get in. At least not *quickly*. I'm impatient and I still haven't hit one, so they must not be TOO bad...


--Donnie

sounds like new game at Donnies house "frogger with guineas"

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[color=#FFFFFF][/color]http://www.usedmiatapartsonline.com for all your used miata parts needs
http://www.wagnersauto.com for your salvage needs
2000 miata se Estreet,going to rally
2004 mazdaspeed miata bsp #77
shifter kart also(someone buy this $1500)

OK, I totally want some Guinea hens now. And I have a strange urge for some Guiness.

One thing I will suggest though, is if you do find a tick attached o you don't burn it. I love a good tick burning as much as the next gal, but should you suffer a reaction from a tick bite, it would be valuable to be able to show the offending tick to the doc. I suggest keeping a tightly sealed plastic jar with cotton balls soaked in isopropal alcohol and place any attached ticks in there. They will eventually die and you have the actual tick in case you need to identify it later.

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~ RallyX VP 2009 ~
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'92 Prelude
'76 Celica

I use Perminone (spell???) which is designed to be applied to clothes. DO NOT PUT THIS STUFF ON YOUR SKIN.

I treat my work clothes with this stuff and it seems to work fairly well, although I do sustain between 160-200 bites a year... and no hazard pay. My doctor has given me a script for Lime, which I carry in my wallet, if i start to feel Limey

I get into the most trouble when I'm working in pine stands, as they harbor seed ticks, deer ticks and chiggers (red bugs).