h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A12814490 - Ticks - for ease of loading the entry - post 42

Another link for you (though I hate to spoil the collection of "A" links ) Old Wives' Tales - A121032

BTW, the use of butter etc is more than an 'Old Wives Tale' - it's a recognised and acceptable way of doing it, e.g. see:

http://www.kendall-bioresearch.co.uk/mite.htm

Any of various arthropods of the class Arachnida, such as spiders, scorpions, mites, and ticks, characterized by four pairs of segmented legs and a body that is divided into two regions, the cephalothorax and the abdomen. Also called arachnoid.

Any of numerous small bloodsucking parasitic arachnids of the family Ixodidae, many of which transmit febrile diseases, such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Lyme disease.
Any of various usually wingless, louselike insects of the family Hippobosciddae that are parasitic on sheep, goats, and other animals.

This seems to be going ok - everything except the last, cut-and-pasted-from-Answers.com post has been included

Sorry, I'm a bit all over the place what with camps and everything, so forgot to reply, sorry!

I only mentioned 'old wives' in the way that everyone has something they reckon works perfectly to get ticks out - BigAl is absolutely right, lots of these things have been proven to work, but I don't really want to get into ridiculously long lists

I didn't really understand what you want me to include, flyingtwinkle. I think the arachnids Entry I linked to explains it all pretty well

Hi Rich, nice Entry

There are special tick removing tweezers, though not sure how available they are.

http://www.ticktweezers.com/how%20they%20work.htm

(not suggesting you use that link, has how to order so it's advertising, and look at 'Home')

I was told about the tweezers in my Summer Advice for Domestic Pet Owners - A12219455 (which has a small section on ticks) PR thread.

Any chance of add a footnote not to use the burning method on animals.

Emmily

>>>Any chance of add a footnote not to use the burning method on animals.<<<

Or marshmallows...

Collecting Ticks for Study:

Dunno if you're interested in saying s'thing about this.

The Russian scientists I used to collaborate with wanted to collect ticks to check on which viruses they might be carrying.

Ticks tend to live in grassy areas in forests and, when hungry, climb to the top of blades of grass to await a passing animal. When a suitable host brushes past they attach themselves to the skin and begin feeding.

The Russian scientists used to collect them by the simple expedient of draggng a woollen blanket over the ground.

A slightly more modern way relies upon the fact that carbon dioxide is an attractant to ticks and insects. So, a block of solid carbon dioxide (cardice) is placed in the centre of a cloth, which then attracts the toicks.

(And just to give you fair warning, a Scout has recommended this entry, so they're hoping you're just about finished)

Can you put the Recommendation on hold until I post back then? There are lots of points that haven't been addressed; I would have thought this was pretty clear from the thread

I'll try to get it sorted out tonight, but no promises

I 'suspect' that the Recommendation came about around the time of post 45, when it looked as if everything had quietened down.

Fair 'nuff - looking back, I just saw that the last recommended change was four days ago and presumed it had been picked since then.

I blame staff shortages. And 2legs

That 2legs - it's always his fault.

So, did you manage to catch all the recommended changes, or do you need a little more time?

I'll have it done by Friday - I'm away for a couple of days as of... now!

One thing to consider, not neccesary, but you can consider it: The stage where ticks wait for a mammal to pass by is called 'questing'.

Also, sometimes if you are plucking a tick clockwise it will burst, and then you'll have your own or a pet's blood all over you.

You can pluck ticks with your fingers, too.

But you don't have to listen to me.


Good job. That really is a good entry.

Finished, all included; sorry for the delay.

I've given BigAl an 'Additional Research' credit for his regular flashes of inspiration - thanks mate

At last!!

Jimster, he's finished!!!

Sorry, lil, if I didn't spend so much time trying to find books for friends and then sorting out getting them posted to the right place, it would probably have been done ages ago

Yeah.. friends take up too much time..

Ignore her next time..