Tassie Ticks

[wander]

Tell me about Tasmania Ticks. How many sorts? What sort of side effects can they cause?

While in the South West last week we noticed a lot of tick looking like creatures, red with 8 legs. Typically very small, 1 to 2mm long.

And this morning at home we found one on my back swollen to the size of sultana. We think we have pulled it out successfully. But I'm wary after hearing some horror stories about ticks picked up in the Vic Alps.

[ILUVSWTAS]

I dont think there are too many typed of Ticks down here. They are usually quite small. Paralysis ticks are very very rare down here, I got bit by one last year and had a nasty reaction for a week or 2. Left me feeling weak and very itchy!!

I didnt get the head out when I pulled mine out, so had to go to the Doctors for antibiotics. My son had a larger one on his head a month or 2 back, got it out head and all and he was fine. No affects at all. I do react very strangely to all bites though, just ask anyone who's seen what happend to my legs after a leech bite......

[wander]

Thanks for the comment Iluvswtas. We think we have the head out. Beastie in the freezer until we find a magnifying glass.

Looking in the Melaleuca log book in the Charles King hut (ew did not look in the Walkers hut) there were lot's of reports of leeches and ticks this Spring & Summer.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Thanks for the comment Iluvswtas. We think we have the head out. Beastie in the freezer until we find a magnifying glass.

Looking in the Melaleuca log book in the Charles King hut (ew did not look in the Walkers hut) there were lot's of reports of leeches and ticks this Spring & Summer.

It has been a very very wet Spring and early summer so far so this doesnt surprise me!!

[PeterJ]

The ones in Tas can compound things if you are tired from excursion; at least that is what I have noticed. So as you haven't had a reaction by now then it is pretty unlikely that anything will crop up.

[Kelly Jones]

I've heard that chronic fatigue can be caused by the immune system constantly having to fight off an underlying "latent" virus such as can be transmitted through tick bites. Chronic fatigue is not pleasant.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Ok pulled this sucker out of my ear today. It had obvioulsy been in there for a couple of days......

Attachments

[greyim]

Yikes

[wander]

I've gotton onto taking a few pics of the frozen sucker. The squares are 5mm

[myrtlegirl]

A vet told me the brown ticks are not a problem, it's the gun-metal grey ticks that can cause paralysis and death in small dogs (and aren't very healthy for small children either). The paralysis toxin doesn't seem to be present at all times of the year though. I seem to recall summer-autumn is a bad time, but whether this is because the ticks and dogs are active then or because the toxin levels are high at that time is something I don't know. From what I've seen of dogs that have died from tick paralysis, it happens in the summer-autumn, the back legs start to go wobbly and it's a few days later that the dog is no more. Removal of ticks and vet support at the leg-wobble stage can save the dog.

I've not heard of Tassie ticks carrying specific diseases the way Queensland ticks can carry typhus, but anything that pierces your skin can introduce infection-causing bacteria.

[Marwood]

Looks more like a bush tick (Haemophysalis) than a paralysis tick (Ixododes), as the last pair of legs aren't darker than the others, and the "shield" is round in shape. But it's been many years since I studied parasitology...

Here's the info on paralysis ticks on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixodes_holocyclus.

BTW, ticks like warm humid conditions, hence the seasonal prevalence.

[wayno]

Ok pulled this sucker out of my ear today. It had obvioulsy been in there for a couple of days......

hmm, seems you had a platypus in your ear....

[ILUVSWTAS]

Ok pulled this sucker out of my ear today. It had obvioulsy been in there for a couple of days......

hmm, seems you had a platypus in your ear....

Aint alot of cents inbetween my ears wayno.....