# OMG tiny deer tick



## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

i apologize for the bad pics...it was difficult to document.

i felt an itch, thankfully, and i discovered a tiny tick on my back. this is the smallest one i have ever seen. i am pretty sure it is a deer tick. i am now on the watch and wait mode to see if i get the nasty bullseye of death.


----------



## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

Meloc,
this page link is pretty good to show how to differentiate different ticks and those carrying Lyme's disease:

http://www.oes.org/html/how_2_identify_different_ticks.html 

Lyme's is treatable with fairly safe antibiotics, if you don't ignore symptoms.
If you get what you believe is the target and bulleyes rash, go to your physician and show them, AND the tick if you can manage to keep it in a small tube or container. Might help to identify any potential problems.


----------



## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

yeah...the bullseye of death was sort of tongue in cheek. my brother was treated for lyme disease last year after he got the rash on his arm. it got to be about a foot in diameter. he still has pain on occassion, but not much and he is basically cured.

i know how to tell the difference between deer ticks and the woods tick. the deer tick is the biggest concern. i don't think there has been any rocky mountain spotted fever around these parts for a very long time.

the problem is in being able to actually SEE the tick to ID it. in this case, the size of the tick suggests that it is a deer tick and that i must be watchful for a bullseye rash.


----------



## beorning (Apr 14, 2006)

We used to get seed ticks a lot in southern MO. Newly hatched ticks. They look kinda like you got some dirt on your leg, until you notice that the dirt is moving. 

Oh, and there's hundreds of them if there are any. 

Duct tape was my friend back then.


----------



## Vera (Aug 22, 2003)

I'll skip the EWWWW GROSS!!! and move right on to the question: how in the world do you get a tick off your back, especially if it's so tiny??


----------



## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

he was within reach on my left side at right about the point where you can reach behind you but not throw your shoulder out of socket. i didn't really know it was a tick at first. i had an itch and thought it was a skeeter bite, but when i felt it, i felt that something was there. i just sort of scraped/pinched and pulled...just in case. normally, i think i would have pulled the ticks head off if it was imbedded, but i think the pinch of skin got all of this tiny bugger. i think that is a piece of ME on the left of the tick in the photo, lol.


----------



## steff bugielski (Nov 10, 2003)

Do not rely on the rash. Many people do not get it. Be aware if you feel like you have a gold or fever or just aches and pains. Get a blood test called ' western blot'. Good luck


----------



## bluetick (May 11, 2002)

My veterinarian and his staff are very good at identifying ticks. He told me some human doctors have had him identify ticks on occasion for their human patients.

I had a tick embedded on me in an impossible to reach location on my back. One of the vet techs kindly removed it from me, and told me it was a deer tick. My regular doctor recommended waiting 3 weeks and then having a blood test for Lyme, and other diseases ticks carry. In the northeast, some deer ticks have been found to carry babesiosis, a malaria-like illness.

Your tick resembles a "nymph" - an earlier life stage than the larger ticks we often see. A veterinarian might be more helpful to you.


----------



## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

Oh please! Not evey deer tick carries lymes disease. Don't get bent out of shape over this. I've pulled off numerouse deer ticks over the past 20 years or so and who knows how many I've missed? If you are supper concerned, ask your doctor to give you the Lymerix vaccination....which I have had. It consists of two shots given 30 days apart and a third one given one year later.


----------



## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

i am not really freaked out. i think others here are probably more concerned than i am. i am comfortable watching for other symptoms to occur before i go screaming to a doctor.

i am an avid forager and deer hunter. i have literally pulled a dozen ticks off of me at once on more than one occassion. actually, i lost count at a dozen, it was probably more like 16. i have had them on me as early as march and as late as december. one of the "dozen" episodes was a hunting trip in northern maryland in december. usually it is an even mix of woods ticks and deer ticks. i have removed some tiny ticks, but this guy was the smallest.

i never let it bother me much in the past. i am a bit more cautious now as i was with my brother hunting mushrooms when he contracted lyme disease. i know two other people who have gotten it. one lady is in really bad shape. she didn't catch it in time for treatment and she has serious complications.

i guess this post is more of a caution for those who are concerned to check very carefully as deer ticks can be tiny. i just couldn't believe i was able to find and remove this sucker. i am lucky to get the local reaction to tick bites. it is almost a dead giveaway that i have one on me. i would describe it as something between a mosquito bite and poison ivy.

take it serious or brush it off...whatever floats your boat.


----------



## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

It's true that only a small percentage of deer ticks will harbour the actual organism causing Lyme's or any of those other nasty diseases. Depends on what part of the country one lives, the size and distribution of the deer population that can spread the causative organisms, etc. It also depends on whether there is actual exchange of the organism to the host at the time of the bite and the mechanics of that with it's mouth parts, etc. It can also depend on one's own natural immunity, or not. 
The vaccine seem like a good idea for those spending lots of time in the bush. My vet recommends it for my dogs, though I've avoided that in favour of using Frontline or Defend tick prevention treatments during the active tick season.


----------



## EasyDay (Aug 28, 2004)

Lordy, we pick ticks off every day!
Not me so much, but DH gets covered!
(Sidenote: he's Italian and has eaten TONS of garlic in his lifetime, still does, so don't bother with the "eating garlic will keep ticks off" adage.)

Meloc, where do you live? Most occurances of Lyme are in the NE part of the country. We have had so few cases here in AR that we don't even worry about it. If we ever see the "bullseye of death" that you mentioned, THEN... and only then... will we get concerned.

DH got so many bites at one time last year that we actually worried about "tick fever", but other than itching, he didn't suffer from any other symptoms.


----------



## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

i live in south central pa. i live just a few miles away from one of the most infected counties in the state. that county is where my brother and i were hunting mushrooms. 

on the linked disease map, i live right on the border of the darkest area in south central pa.


http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/distribution_density.htm


----------



## woodspirit (Aug 3, 2005)

I went to the doctor once for ticks and thankfully he said it was only tourrettes syndrome. What a relief.


----------



## cowgirlone (May 9, 2002)

woodspirit said:


> I went to the doctor once for ticks and thankfully he said it was only tourrettes syndrome. What a relief.


LOL! Good one!


----------



## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Had one of my DS in the Hospital when he was a Baby.He was so sick.My Ex was up there with him.I go up he was burning up with fever and his eyes were rolled back in his head.

I asked her if the Doctor had been in to check him? She said no.I told her to get him there now.

Boy got sick from a Tick we found up in his hair.

big rockpile


----------



## ColumbiaSC. (Nov 25, 2005)

that looks like what we call a 'seed tick', those and the lone star ticks are why we have chickens free ranging around our place! we live in the woods and it is real woods, the chickens have done thier job getting rid of the ticks for the most part.
I had a friend the other day on a trail ride ask the trail boss 'how do you charge for these ticks, by the dozen or by the gross'? He said he is not sure he can afford to leave! in case you don't get the joke, he had so many it was gonna be costly to pay for all of the ticks he had. hahaha


----------

