h a l f b a k e r yWhat was the question again?
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Why has nobody come up with an effective and safe way to
remove ticks from humans and animals? Preventative
measure are never completely effective, and there are no
good preventative measures available for humans at all.
I have a couple of ideas and wonder if these have been
tried or tested
already. I googled both and found nothing.
My first thought is to use sound or vibration - localized
ultrasound, directed at the tick's body or by contact - or
lower frequencies (20-100Hz), or perhaps ultrasound
impulses. Possibly standing waves from two ultrasound or
low-frequency sources aimed at the subject. This might
vibrate their exoskeletons enough to make them
disoriented or uncomfortable, so that they simply let go?
My other thought is a small cup you and place over the
tick, which would be filled with either smoke or gas, or a
mild tranquilizer of some kind - ticks have bad reactions to
poisons, which can make them "barf" their poison and/or
infected blood from a previous victim, but if you could
somehow make them drowsy or sleepy enough, they might
simply pass out and fall off?
Tick Removal
http://www.bada-uk....ndextickremoval.php
Lots of places on the Internet suggest that using a cigarette is a bad idea. [Wrongfellow, May 04 2013]
[link]
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If it helps, there are cheap plastic tick removers
available from vets. They look like a miniature
crowbar with a v-slot in one end; you slide the
head
under the tick (as if about to pry out a nail), then
twist and pull. They were recommended by our
vet
because they have only a very small risk of either
breaking off the tick's mouthparts or causing it to
regurgitate stuff. |
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I wonder also if a touch with a lit cigarette would
cause the tick to pull out. Works for leeches,
according to Humphrey Bogart in The African
Queen. |
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//I wonder also if a touch with a lit cigarette would cause the tick to pull out.// |
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I actually thought this was the recommended way to do it, but Google suggests otherwise (see eg [link]). |
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Perhaps there is something that could be eaten, which yields a substance circulating in the bloodstream that is so offensive to ticks that as soon as they bite and taste the blood, they recoil in horror and run screaming away to find another victim. |
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Ether, chloroform, and ethyl acetate are used to quickly immobilise insects. Presumably they work on ticks. |
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I once used ethanol (methylated spirits) to remove ticks from a lizard. It worked, but I think I overdid it - the lizard died too. (I was about 10 years old.) |
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What would you call one of these creatures that had the
following characteristics? moved around a lot; came from
Italy; was constantly showering affection on its partner? |
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Moved around a lot? Roaming tick. |
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Came from Italy? Italian tick - nope. Neapolitan tick - nope. Milanese tick - nope. Hey, I know! Roman tick!! |
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Was constantly showering affection on its partner? Smothering tick - nope. Cloying tick - nope. Effusive tick - nope. Oh, how about romantic tick? |
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Or would that be a romantic roaming Roman Tick? |
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I am concerned that the stuckedness of the tick does not require activity by the tick. Dead ticks seem fairly well stuck. I think one must compel the tick to detach. I wonder about ivermectin. This works for scabies, a mite related to ticks. I wonder if taking ivermectin would cause the tick to detach or if it would kill the tick before it detached? |
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The place to try this is on an animal infested with ticks. |
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