Normal shampoo won't even faze ticks. I've only ever had to get rid of one or two attached ones. Your best bet is to pull them with tweezers- all that stuff about nail polish and all doesn't work. They have enough oxygen in their body to live a long time after being sealed in whatever.

A DEET-based repellant (applied while you're outside) should run off the unattached ones. Then feel around on your head for attached ones, and if you find any, get your GF to pull them off with tweezers (if you grab them as close to the skin as possible, you can usually get most or all of the tick's head to pop out.) Don't *squeeze* the ticks, or you can force blood out of the tick back into your bloodstream.

You'll probably have an itchy bump if some of the head stays in your skin, but that's not as much of a health threat.


God damn do I hate ticks. Ugh ugh ugh.

Will normal shampoo get rid of any that might be hiding on my head, or do I need to break out some big guns?

I think the only sure way to get rid of them is with a flame-thrower.

Thanks, BP, but these are tiny, so the tick-check doesn't work very well. They're about the size of a speck of dirt, if that.

I have some bug spray. I'll use that tonight to get rid of what I can.

... baby fleas (which turn out not to exist)

Wait. What? Where do fleas come from then? They must be babies at some point in their lifecycles.

They hatch full-sized, EJ. (Turns out there are no baby flies, either. Today I learned things.)

EJ: the flea life cycle

DEAR DOG that sounds awful. You have my sympathies and best wishes to get rid of the nasty little vermin.

Have you thought about using a shampoo with pyritherins? Pyritherin is made from chrysanthemums and I think it is the active ingredient in lice shampoo. I know it's in flea and tick shampoo for pets. Not something I'd use every day, of course, but till the bugs are gone it might be worth it.

Good luck!

Well, so I guess the nymphs only feed for a few days, then they go off somewhere else to grow up. So after reading and pondering more, I figure a) they'll be gone by today or tomorrow, and b) I've already been bitten, so I already have a >0 chance of getting lyme disease, so there's really nothing to do at this point but wait and make sure nothing turns into a rash.

Will normal shampoo get rid of any that might be hiding on my head, or do I need to break out some big guns?

Looks like you have a pragmatic solution. I was going to suggest having the GF do the check with a flashlight and comb, but you're right, the problem already exists.

Just be alert for the symptoms. I also wanted to let you know that you might not get a rash - but if you get any odd or flulike symptoms, go get treated. I had Lyme disease several years ago, and was pretty sure that's what it was (I worked where deer ticks were common, some of my colleagues had gotten it) but the doc refused to treat me on my first visit because I didn't have a rash. So I went back home and, of course, it then developed into a full-blown disease with all sorts of associated miseries. The rash doesn't show up 100% of the time and I never got one at the site of my bite. So if you feel anything weird - I had chills and fever, muscle aches, pain on breathing all the way in, and extreme fatigue - go back to the doc even if a rash never shows.

Good luck, hope you're clean. In my experience the drugs worked fine, though. There are a lot of horror stories about the long-term effects of Lyme; I've either been lucky or caught it in time or whatever - the rock 'em sock 'em antibiotics they gave me set me up and I have never had anything like a relapse or long-term ill effects to date (my Lyme episode was 13 years ago). So don't panic.

Spoooon!

But seriously, good luck, pups!

An uncle of mine has a story like Miko's: got it a dozen-odd years ago, continues to take excellent care of himself and hasn't heard from it since. Not everyone gets the long-term misery.

I knew someone who used to wear tick collars around her ankles while hiking. It seemed nutty at the time, but maybe it isn't.

I got a MefiMail from a sometime-Metachat-person (whom I guess I shouldn't name, because posting contents of mails is supposed to be creepy) letting me know that Lyme disease is much less common in the West than out east, thanks to the Western fence lizard. Thank you, fence lizards! (And thank you, unnamed Metachat person!)