5 Common Tick Myths Debunked: How to Stay Protected from Ticks
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- Опубліковано 6 кві 2023
- Learn how to stay protected from ticks with these debunked tick myths! Don't believe the misconception that ticks fall out of trees or that all ticks carry diseases. Discover the truth about ticks and how to protect yourself with effective tick prevention methods, such as using permethrin-treated clothing and doing a tick check when you come home.
UPDATE: Dr. Mather further discusses the common myth that ticks fall out of trees, watch the video here: bit.ly/3UKu6c6
Send in a tick for free identification: bit.ly/3K8iD13
Explore the Equip-4-Ticks Resource Center: bit.ly/equip-4-ticks
Tick repellent clothing: bit.ly/shop-is
Tick repellent socks: bit.ly/is-sock
Permethrin spray: bit.ly/is-spray
Get your clothes professionally treated: bit.ly/is-treat
Insect Shield Repellent Technology
www.insectshield.com
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UPDATE: Dr. Thomas Mather further discusses the common myth that ticks fall out of trees. Watch his update here: ua-cam.com/video/er1XzR7xC0U/v-deo.html
One other tip, don't wear dark clothing. Light colored clothing won't scare ticks away, but makes it easier to see them so they can be removed from clothing.
Even when wearing jeans, white socks that your pants legs can be tucked into can become part of a good visual defense against ticks crawling up onto you from the ground.
I’m torn on this one. I swear ticks are attracted to the lighter color. When I walk through tick infested areas in my tan hiking pants I always seem to get more ticks on me than when I am in blue jeans. Might be coincidence but it’s seemed to happen quite a few times. I swear they think my tan pants are a deer.
@M C C hair doesn’t matter. They like warm blood filled bodies and somewhat protected areas to hide like under arms and groins but they will latch on just about anywhere. I once pulled one off of my elbow. Once they are attached and feeding it’s important to pull them off as soon as possible and do it with a tick removal tool or a pair of tweezers. Grab the tick firmly by the head close to the skin and pull quickly. According to experts if you get a tick off in under 48 hours you greatly reduce you’re risk of Lyme disease. Apparently when they are done feeding ( usually 72 hours) they will regurgitate before detaching themselves and that’s what gets the Lyme bacteria into your system.
@@goodun2974 💥💥💥Tucking your jeans into white socks lets people on the trail know you have style. Ticks are blind so they will miss the show.
😅Ticks are attracted to light clothes. Ticks in OZ land on my head ALL the time.
About ticks in trees, I have walked under oak trees and had a tick land on my arm. Squirrels get ticks and fleas so they do sometimes fall from above they may not live there but they DO fall from trees.
Please don't reproduce.
As a birder, I have worn gaiters for many years. This is very useful for avoiding ticks, chiggers and fire ants. It is an easy and cheap solution for a common problem. Gaiters also keep burrs off of your shoe laces and prevent your shoes from becoming untied.
Lightweight high top rubber boots with pants tucked in is my weapon. Spray the boots with the 100 / 1 Permethrin we keep for horses. Nobody’s coming up those. I spray my working pants lower legs cuffs ect. and let them dry too.
@@drizler Aye, I do the same. I have a good pair of calf high waterproof Muck boots I spray well with the permethrin. Works very well. 👍
@@drizler The problem with tucking in is the ticks can fall into the boot. I leave mine bloused at the top depending on pants. Rubber boots are a must for some outings, but get very hot in our area during summer. Permethrin is the choice now, but I used deet for years in the 80's/90's before permethrin was used widely. Used Deet for non deer hunting with good success for a few hours, not all day. One hunting trip to Wisconsin for grouse was very warm, and nothing kept them off us or the dogs. It was really bad, hate them damn things. Wash clothes immediately and take a shower for a full tick check is my go to best practice and for not getting chiggers. Learned my lessons early for those little buggers. Raise your hand if you have used nail polish on your ummmm........ dangles? :)
@@jonl8445 The secret is to wrap the top of your boots with double-sided carpet tape. Any creatures who try to get in gets stuck to the tape. (secret from major research team that studies tick populations and their migration across the US, They actually collect ticks by putting dry ice in a cooler-the carbon dioxide attracts the ticks - like our breath) They wear rubber boots and then wrap the top with the carpet tape.
Tuck pant into socks. Spraying clothes with regular roach/ant bug spray before puting on. Deet wrists, neck. Had them fall onto head also
I have worked in the woods, for over 40 years. I have come home with 200 plus ticks 2 days a week, for several months every year. I have 4 kinds of tick borne illness. I have SAT on the ground, and watched ticks fall out of trees, TRYING to land on me. I have WATCHED them. They usually don't climb very high, but out on limbs, and try to launch onto me. So, you are simply wrong about Number one. I have HEARD them falling, and watched them falling. If they fall from 6 feet up, and land on dry leaves, you can actually hear them hit the forest floor. They then begin to WALK toward you. I'm a land surveyor. Tick food Nate
True, my cousin is tromping the woody areas all summer and says they do drop down on any warm bodied animal from tree limbs. He also said the baby ticks hatch out from the mother tick and go straight up whatever is closest foliage or even walls. He says they drop from the ceiling onto warm bodies also.
Tiny tiny deer ticks hitting the ground?
I envy your hearing.
I have seen ticks in the trees in wisconsin... worst I ever had was 24 or 26 within a half hour period. Big mistake walking along a horse trail...
Completely agree. Field geologist with more years than he spent rolling up his pants. They get high.
That's absolutely right...I got 3 diseases...Ehrlichea anaplasma ,rickettsia and mycoplasma on top 4 viruses...the best is to wear your close like roof shingles in reverse and shave your head in summer ....socks over pants pants over shirt and then you feel them crawling onto your neck and you can pick em off..because ticks to 99% crawl always up never down...
Have literally been down a trail that was “raining” ticks. It doesn’t happen often but it does happen.
Yep same here
Yeah, noooooooo.
@@thomasmcginnis3783 fascinatingly, google thinks your comment is not in english and gave a button to translate it. the only difference is that the "no" has one less "o" in the "translated" version
@@rachelmoody1520 And there's the "artificial"" in artificial intelligence. 😁
Permethrin is your friend. I treat all my clothing with it and keep it treated throughout the year.
It's actually a nerve poison connected to increase risk in diseases like Alzheimer. It is definitely NOT your friend, despite what you may believe. When you're old and have tons of illnesses, you won't have a clue where you got them but that's because "doctors" continue recommending such poisons and ppl continue to believe them because they're supposedly "professionals". Educate yourself bro, stop listening to so called medical "professionals". They are ignorant towards substances that are actually bad in long term use.
I would be interested to see what research you have conducted to conclude that ticks don't drop from trees, considering I have personally seen ticks drop out of low-hanging branches onto me.
And I highly doubt that ticks are thinking about "the type of host they want to get on". I doubt a tick knows the difference between a coon, a dog, or a deer. They're all just targets of opportunity.
I was the first person in the UK to be diagnosed with Lyme Disease (1985) and was bitten on the front of my thigh. I never ever saw the tick, indicating that it did not stay attached for very long. I did get the bullseye rash, but not having seen the tick I cannot say how long after the bite it appeared.
I will also say that I HAVE seen ticks on the leaves of bushes six feet from the ground!
I have to comment about ticks not dropping out of trees.
I am a lifelong wide traveling hiker camper and by far the most ticks I've ever had on me in one short walk involved sitting up on a branch 12' above the ground in a Willow tree.
Minutes after sitting I noticed a tick drop on my arm. After doing a self check to see if I had more I found 5.
The Woman I was with had a similar number.
I'm just adding my two cents.✌🏼
The ticks on squirrels end up in trees. I’ve had several fall on me under the same tree in one day.
Did you get any on ya ?
I climbed a tree once and found a branch about 10 feet up that was infested with ticks. I do not know why, all i know is i saw atleast 100 on this particular branch. Maybe its not a normal thing, but it was most definitely ticks and not any other bug.
And picaridin on your skin.
Oh yea they do. I live in the Ozarks, deep woods. They drop out of trees I've seen it first hand.
They absolutely do drop from trees. As a bald man I can confirm this. I've had then drop on my head and immediately captured it.. I have found them on caps and head wraps often. I have ten acres of woods and field. Ticks climb trees. Bought some expensive gaiters and I've found ticks climbing right up them. They were a huge waste of money. Permethrin doesn't work and is extremely expensive. I just go home and do a full body check after a day in the woods. I use a tick twister to remove them and I have stopped worrying about getting a tick bite. I have had dozens of tick bites, I'm located in one of the largest deer populations in Michigan. Plenty of ticks and plenty of neighbors who only use chickens in their yards to eat the little buggers.
Thank you for this info I’m also in Michigan and want to do some trout fishing but heard there’s lots of ticks. Any suggestions on what to wear? Thanks
Opossums can eat up to 4000 ticks per week. Not sure if they are as common in the northern states as down south.
@@wildman4642 BUWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! FALSE!!!That tired old MYTH is completely and utterly FALSE. Only ignorant city folk who have never spent any time outdoors actually believe that NONSENSE.
American opossums do ***NOT** eat ticks. There are ZERO studies that have EVER shown possums to have ANY ticks in their stomachs or feces. We've seen HUNDREDS of possums COVERED in ticks over the last half century of farming, hiking, camping, hunting, trapping, etc.
Further, if you ever actually bother to examine the so called "studies" which state that possums eat ticks you will very quickly see how laughably moronic they are. Utterly absurd!
Know what ACTUALLY DOES eat ticks? Birds. Birds eat lots of ticks.
In 1971 I almost died and was in a coma for 2 weeks due to a tick bite, there was an outbreak of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in the southeast and I was unfortunate enough to get it but fortunate enough to survive.
My grandmother passed away from that
@@Artie-vq4zqI'm sorry to hear that. It really is a horrible illness.
1994
I got Rocky Mountain fever
Kicked my ass for 6 months 🥺
My coworker got that when he was two years old. It was new at the time so doctors didn’t know to look for it. Anyway he finally saw the right doctor who found it in his groin and removed which was when he was finally able to overcome the fever it gave him.
@@johnaltz7143fortunate to survive though.
Got a warning in my email. It said "if someone comes to your door and offers to check for ticks if you undress and turn with your arms up, DO NOT DO IT. IT IS A SCAM. They just want to see you naked. I wish I got this email yesterday. I am so embarrassed!"
Funny...
That guy came to my house too. He looked at me a minute and said " never mind".
Sorry that happened to you. Be sure to check your emails a day beforehand next time?
Thanks, I'm going to use this as a new pickup line."Hey, would you like me to check you for ticks??"
That was my morning giggle. Thank you ....
I have found ticks on my roof while painting eaves and trim. They are definitely in the trees.
Oh baloney, ticks in trees isn’t a myth. Ticks ANYWHERE isn’t a myth. I’ve seen them on clothes line posts high above my head, on the tops of plastic garbage cans, on a hanging bird feeder. Whether their little tick brain said “Imma hang on that bird feeder and drop on that lady’s head when she comes to fill it”…or the bird brought it when it came for the seed DOESN’T MATTER. Ticks can be anywhere.
They are for sure in trees! I took a shortcut once and walked through a small forest (you know those clusters of trees they have in a few places beside the roads in cities), there was only dry mud under my feet and the trees were still bare (early spring), so naked trees, dried mud on the ground and there were ticks, (none that dug in thank God). I had not come into contact with any animals, or any grass whatsoever.
Bottom line, always check yourselves and your loved ones during tick season if your doing any kind of walking in nature, (i.e: away from concrete/pavement and manicured lawns).
Stay safe and be well!
@@milumav77 , even manicured lawns can be tick habitat.
@@goodun2974 Lawns that are cut very short in the city are not riddled with ticks, if there is a tick it's an anomaly, so if you want to be extremely careful sure, you can search yourself for that occasional tick, but short ornamental residential city lawns are generally safe.
Yeah, i think less likely and not possible are 2 very different things here, during bad years for ticks ive been covered in them while out in a clearing, the only explanation was that they were falling off of nearby trees and blowing in the wind, happening to land on our skin
@@thewickedtyrant8306 😱 That's a fricken' nightmare!!!
I am 75 and lived in the country for many years. I too, have experienced ticks from trees. They can get in a tree from animals that climb trees. The tick doesn't have to climb the tree itself.
Yes. I have had ticks land on me from trees. Squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, opossums, all climb trees. Ticks can also hitchhike on birds. I've found ticks on the skins of turkeys and chickens when butchering. They're not limited to mammals. Reptiles get ticks, too, so they can be carried up trees on snakes and lizards, too.
I believe ticks zero in on targets by detecting CO2. They pick up CO2 from the breath of people and animals passing below. I've taken to wearing a light colored hat when I go outside. I often find ticks on my hat. I know what a tick looks like I'm not mistaking some other insect for a tick.
yes cool,but it doesn't happen very often and it's not a natural thing for ticks to do.. They do love thickets ,Jagger bushes though. High grass where deer walk through or have laid over night.
@@3pendont4 People that spend a lot of time in tick country have a different experience from you. There was zero scientific evidence in this video to support the hypothesis that ticks don't climb trees and drop down.
My wife and I were at Chappaquiddick "Marthas Vineyard, the island is infested with ticks. Wherever we walked the ticks were attacking from the bushes and they fell like rain from the trees above us.
Disgusting
Do you mean Kennedy's? Lol
Having lived in the middle of the woods in Arkansas, and cutting firewood, I was very familiar with ticks, and worse yet, chiggers. To work all day in the woods, I first put Avon Skin So Soft with a few drops of patchouli oil on my body. Long pants, long-sleeved shirt tucked in, work boots, and pant legs duct taped around the ankles. Then the DEET or permethrin sprayed on shirt and pants. You only stand on a chigger nest one time before you learn to prepare.
To be fair nothing on earth wants to be near someone wearing patchouli, crap stinks like all get out.
The smaller ticks I have encountered in tall grass, but larger ones definitely fell off tree branches.
I have to correct something here...17 years ago I was bitten by a black legged tick I had NO rash and after the tick was gone had a small spot maybe the size of a sesame seed and I never thought more of it...well about 6 months later I got sick and was diagnosed with lyme and damn near died... I was treated for 11 1/2 months with several antibiotics that finally pulled me out of that hell...my point is don't go by any rash if the tick bore into you and it was infected there's a high chance you will get lyme and trust me it ain't no picnic so go to your Dr tell them you were bit and get a week of antibiotic just in case...it's a cheap and safe way of making sure you don't contract lyme had I have done that I would have saved that year of hell and I was lucky because many never totally recover from this dreaded disease.
6 months of undiagnosed Lyme and after months of tests and many blood labs it was a friend who mentioned it sounded like Lyme. No bullseye rash, just a small C shaped rash. Still suffering.
I go to the doctor every time I have an imbedded deer tick. I had 3 incidents within a month last year. First time I received (as I recall) a three day antibiotic. Second time doctor said I was still clear. Third time 1 day dose. Not worth not going to doctor!
I just had a tick burrow in last weekend and got fever a day later on and off for the last week which is why I’m currently watching tick related stuff. I’m sure it’s just an unrelated seasonal flu or something
I had lyme, no rash, but my joints on the left side, the side of the tick bite were swollen and painful. I was seeing my Doc for another reason and mentioned it, we talked and she counted the days past exposure & I was just w/in the timeframe for treatment. She also said that lyme causes a lacy rash, so I needed to be on the lookout for that. Never had the bulls-eye rash.
@@anonymousbosch9265 But not worth waiting to find out. Best go get it checked and I hope you feel better soon!
You might have a doctorate in a college, but you have obviously not been to Manatee State Park in Florida. The tick are definitely falling from the trees because they were falling on us many many times. We had to stay under our awning because of the ticks falling. And yes, they were absolutely ticks
Tick's do fall from trees, I've witnessed it, almost sounded like it was raining , most were hitting the ground but a few where landing on us. And yes I've seen them sitting on the tip of a grass seed head with their legs outstretched waiting for you to come in contact with them and that's I'm sure more typical.
Thank you for posting this video! Just wanted to add a couple things from my experience with ticks in trees, and new research that came out in 2021 that found deer tick larvae can hatch already infected with babesia.
I have personally seen ticks fall from trees like drops of rain. It was in the forest surrounding the Yorktown VA battlefields… a national park overrun with deer due to no hunting permitted. The deer literally ate all vegetation from the ground to the height they could reach, so there wasn’t much left in the forests at ground level for the massive abundance of ticks to climb. It was a sunny day, but sounded like rain drops hitting the dry leaves. We would stop walking and soon the drops would also stop, then take a few more steps and the rain drop sounds would start again… the sky was blue and we were very confused. Then I felt a “drop” hit my head, and simultaneously noticed my friends shirt covered in ticks. We brushed them off and sprinted out of there, but I had 5 ticks already embedded by the time I got back to the room. They were definitely deer ticks, and falling on us from above head level… and they were obviously able to detect our presence from up above, because they would wait for us to walk below them to fall. And it appears their aim was pretty accurate. This was a unique situation, so perhaps they don’t climb trees when there is plenty of ground vegetation, but wanted to share that ticks can and do fall from trees in at least some situations.
The second point I wanted to mention… it turns out larva are not always uninflected or “clean” ticks. It was recently discovered that babesia odocoilei (white tail deer strain) is a human pathogen, and the PA Tick Lab is finding it in 20% of deer ticks. When an infected female lays eggs, some of the nearly invisible larva can hatch already infected/infective. There’s no test for odocoilei yet, but it sometimes cross reacts with the babesia duncani antibody test.
I've also had one fall on me and I looked at it closely. It was unusual
Yea I've seen them fall from trees as well. Deer ticks climb until they fall from whatever they're climbing, then find something climbable and then climb again. They do this until they get brushed onto an animal passing by or fall on one. They might climb a blade of grass, a shrub, or a tree, whatever they run into to climb up they'll climb until they fall off. I got Lyme disease from a bit on top of my head. I wear a hat now. And I ignore people who say "that doesn't happen."
I have also been working on. Car in a driveway, under very large oak trees. Heard a *tink* the metal pan holding the bolts, then another! Ticks falling from somewhere. Stood up, was multiple ticks on the car, this was in northeast Pennsylvania several years ago.
My co worker was cutting back his apple trees in Europe..
After he came down to the ground, he was literally covered with ticks
This is nightmare material right here.
I love being outdoors and I have found ticks on me that came from vegetation of all heights. Walking through short and tall grasses (ankle biters), bushes and shrubs, and trees. The most ticks I've experienced on me was camping in a small clearing with tree branches overhead and the little bastards dropped down onto me and my camping party like they were paratroopers invading Normandy. We counted 53 on my dad that had climbed onto his body that evening and we knew there were more but it was dark and we could only see so much with flashlights. I've also found a couple on me when I took a lunch break in the office parking lot and stood under a relatively small ornamental pear tree, so they can and will try to get to a host any way they can.
I grew up in Northeast Kansas. Lots of elm, maple, oak, and black walnut trees. I was talking to my nephew once under a tree and a wood tick dropped right on his shoulder. They drop from trees for sure. Piggyback off raccoons, possums, squirrels and other tree climbers as well as any birds they can attach to.
I’ve spent a lot of time in the woods…/never experienced a tick dropping out of a tree.
@@francostacy7675 that you know of lol spiders do it all the time
@@larsonfamilyhouse true, that I know of…however how are ticks tracking subjects on the ground 10 to 20 feet below and then drop from the trees canopy with the skill to land on that host? Ticks are not aerodynamic, they are flat and lightweight and blow in the wind and don’t have wings or can’t drop by a web….but some how they manage to pull off this drop to a host. I’m sure a tick has fallen out of a tree and an ant has risen down a stream and a termite has crawled across plastic but it’s not part of their genetic designed normal behavior
@@francostacy7675 ticks detect CO2 from your breathing. I sure many of the ticks the drop from trees miss. We don't usually see those, but some of them land on us, or our dogs, or on other animals, like deer and livestock.
Ticks absolutely fall out of trees. I watched one fall and land on my girlfriend's shoulder. The kids in the elementary school in my town stood under the only tree in an open softball field. The tree was by itself, away from any bushes or any other trees. Many of the kids had ticks on thier heads minutes after standing under that tree. The grass was so short it was almost like carpet.
I have had several fall on me in one day under the same tree. What happens to the ticks that are hatched that came off of squirrels?
I had a tick fall on me from above in a tree while I was mowing grass. Landed right on my arm. Only time that ever happened to me.
I have been sitting on a blanket by the river, under a tree, and had a tick fall into my hair. Thankfully I felt it hit and I reached up and got it out. It was 100% a tick. I know because I've had many. I love the outdoors, or I used to when I was healthy enough to be athletic. See, I never got tested when I got bit because I never developed a bullseye rash that "science" used to say would be present if I contracted Lyme. "Science" also used to say that there was no Lyme in Georgia so I didn't worry about it. Now, years down the road, I am diagnosed with chronic late-stage Lyme from one of the tick bites I received in Georgia. See, here's the thing, deer don't know state lines. Ticks don't know to get on only deer that will stay within certain boundaries. Back when I was diagnosed with a positive test result, I was treated with antibiotics. It didn't work because I was well outside that critical treatment period. I was told I had Lyme disease. After conferring with her fellow doctors though it was determined that "there is no Lyme in Georgia" so I had "Fibromyalgia." Now the science has finally caught up with the facts and doctors now acknowledge that yes, we do in fact have Lyme in Georgia. Too late for me. Science is ever-changing. And yes, ticks do indeed fall out of trees.
I’m from central Massachusetts; my parents live on 4 acres of land. My dad was bit a week before father’s day and was in hospital for the last week with Anaplasmosis. Thankfully he is now home and resting…but he was so so sick. Poor thing.
So please be careful, everyone!
But they DO! I had NEVER heard of ticks falling from the trees. Then I discovered ticks floating down from above all on my own from personal experience. Many times over the past two decades.. And yes, I know the difference between a tick and any other arthropods.
Ticks can fall out of trees. Yes, they don’t climb up the trees, but they get up by being on an animal like a squirrel or raccoon. It’s not as common as ticks being in the grass, but it does happen.
I'm 79 and been in the woods most of my life. I like to wear a wide brimmed hat ( Stetson ) when out and about. I am also very familiar with Ticks. On occasion I have found Ticks on the top part of the brim of my hat.. No , they were not there before the hike but sure were after the hike. My hat was on my head all the time so they had to be up higher then my 6,1 to get there. Must be a rare breed of a Florida , high climbing , tick. Sure look like a run of the mill brown dog tick.
I was standing in a bus shelter on the NSCU Veterinary Medicine campus when a tick landed on my hair, which I immediately brushed off. If they can jump from the roof of a bus shelter, they can jump from a tree.
ticks dont jump
@@judithwilber2540 OK then, what's the right word for 'releasing a hold to a surface and wafting down onto prey below'?
@@MellowGreetingswafting down dropping, falling.. all good. 😅
@@judithwilber2540 They don't really have great legs for jumping, but they sure make it look like they do at times. I was standing near the edge of a solar panel that was about 4' off the ground and was watching a tick crawl on it. In the blink of an eye it disappeared. I looked and it was crawling on my sleeve. Maybe it is how they suddenly let go and let the wind carry them, but that taught me more about their capabilities. I had thought that since I wasn't touching the area I was safe.
@@NDcompetitiveshooter aaahhhhhhhhhh! lol i definitely have a phobia..just read an article today about ticks being bad cuz winter was mild and spring has been rainy...guess my yard isnt going to go wild lol
I've had a tick fall on me from the tree's above.
Maybe that tick had just stepped on a squirrel, a chipmunk, a racoon or a bird and
Maybe that tick hadn't bit into its host yet and
Maybe that tick & me experienced a one in a million or billion or trillion event.
Never the less, a tick fell on my head from a tree,
And I killed it!
Many people have said they have direct experience with ticks raining down from a tree. I will add mine that ticks love to perch on the tip of long grass blades or bushes and wait for you to brush past. I think they are pretty opportunistic in their hunting spots.
I will add that I once spread a picnic blanket on the mowed grass, sat on it, and saw 3 or 4 ticks come running on the ground towards us on the blanket.
My husband, who I call a tick magnet, (he had a real bad lyme experience years ago) got a tick on his hand while working on our roof! I Two stories up! I can only assume it came off a bird. No rats on the roof. Our island now has chipmunks but no squirrels even. They find him wherever he is it seems.
I was sitting under a tree, and had a tick fall out of the tree and landed on my leg? Guess I imagined it
I had 2 ticks drop down directly on me from the tree I was sitting under. Ticks do indeed fall from trees on to their perspective hosts. I witnessed it twice just this weekend.
@throwaway692 That makes sense. I always see them walk up and up and up as far as they can to the tip of whatever they are climbing. Where I live, its usually tall grass that they climb. But I can imagine if they climb to the tip of a leaf on a tree, even a mildly strong breeze could knock them loose.
Me too! I literally saw it come from a low hanging branch and land on my shirt sleeve.
I've seen them drop from very low hanging branches and bushes... but not high trees.
I once had one fall on me from above when there wasn't anything overhead. I was several yards from the nearest tree, and it wasn't very windy. I still don't know how that happened. Do they sometimes drop from birds?
I live in a wooded area and often have deer walk right up to the windows in my house. I can see the deer closely and have seen what looked like grapes covering the ears of the deer. They would shake their head and large ticks would go flying in all directions. If you have deer around your property you will have many ticks.
It has been proven that most of the tests for tick diseases will show negative even when there is an infection present. If your doctor is not knowledgeable about ticks, find another doctor, your life could depend on it.
Oof that sounds awful! Ticks visible and flying ticks when shake. Gosh. Gross 🤢 would be nice if humans in charge of large nature areas would treat these deer
Yeah and deer populations are much larger than used to be due to hunting and development drastically reducing the number of wolves, bears, and cats that prey on deer.
I got a tick on my head while walking my dog. I was no where near anything like tall bushes. But I did walk under some trees
A tick fell on my hat from a tree above. it felt like a tiny raindrop until it crawled under my ball cap brim. I've had ticks on me all my life; It was most certainly a tick and not something else. I know it's probably not common but it happened to me.
My husband, dogs and I were hiking near Minnewaska outside of New Paltz, we were dressed much like you are, I had a light colored baseball cap on, my husband a light colored Tilley hat, we ended our hike early because we kept finding ticks all over our clothes, hats and dogs, we stopped for a water break and realized they were falling off the trees on us like rain drops. They were definitely ticks and definitely raining down on us from above. No, I don’t think we were being targeted, they were falling all around the area, we could even hear them like rain drops, our assumption was they were in the trees because their other hosts live in trees, squirells etc. Why were they falling like that? IDK, we guessed the sun was warming up the leaves and/or branches they were on triggering a response to move, leading them to fll. We always had light colored trash bags in the car to put our outer clothes in, even though we seemed to get them all off, I laid out a white sheet away from the house, put the clothes on the sheet and found more ticks, we just rolled everything up, doubled bagged the mess and threw it all away. Not long after we moved out of tick country and hope to never see another tick, we haven’t needed to apply any more chemicals on us since.
We need a follow up video here- plenty of people here saying that they have experienced ticks dropping from trees. What actual studies have been done?
I have operated heavy equipment for almost 50 years and have had many ticks fall on me from the trees that I was pushing down. Come South and I will show you sometime!
I live in a rural area of New Jersey. Frequently there are many deer on my property. I rarely go outside, always with shoes and socks, long pants, and short sleeve shirts.
One day in 2014 I found a tick on my arm, removed it and went immediately to my doctor. She prescribed 4 pills of Cipro, one every 12 hours. I took them, had no symptoms and forgot about it. Last year 2022 I had and extensive lab blood workup. I tested positive for Lyme disease antibodies.
What did you do then?
@Anna D Nothing. The antibodies were proof that I had been infected 8 years earlier and my immune system had successfully fought it off without me getting sick. Getting Cipro immediately evidently weakened the pathogen before there were many if them and my body was able to quickly destroy them.
Glad you're an expert, but ticks do actually fall from trees. Like many other commenters, I have personally seen it happen. I had never even heard this "myth" actually and it surprised the heck out of me when one fell on me as I went under a low branch. As others have pointed out - the animals that ticks ride on climb trees.
I’ve had multiple ticks fall on me from the trees. And far too many while I’m sitting at the kitchen table or working that I must have brought in previously. By far the biggest numbers from working out mowing or working in our woods. Hate them but luckily most are found crawling on me not actually biting me.
If you think you see a tick fall out of a tree, take a photo of one, and send it to TickSpotters and they will tell you if it's a tick or not for free.
I never really knew about ticks until my family lived in Kenya. We used to come back from hikes and find them on our legs quite often. None of them ever made us sick.
Ticks dropping from trees is no myth. I have seen it happen multiple times. I once helped on a steam train that had open cars for tourists to ride as an excursion. In the mornings we had to take the train up the track for a couple of miles, then we would return. The smoke and heat from the train would go up into the trees and leaves above the train, and it would rain ticks on those open cars. Dozens of them would fall, and then they would start crawling around looking for a host. We would have to de-tick the train cars. It is most certainly not a myth, though I agree most ticks do stage themselves near the ground in grasses and weeds.
I do know that ticks love my pine trees and when I ride around them on my mower I get ticks on me.
Re: Ticks from trees: I was a Marine stationed at Camp LeJeune in the early/mid sixties. In the spring and summers there were portions of our training areas that were so heavily tick-infested that engineer tape was used to mark the areas off, and we were not supposed to go in them. However, I had a Sgt Jones as a squad leader who sent me into one such area to serve as an "outpost."
I found a spot that was relatively clear of vegetation with a shade tree above it, and spread my poncho on the ground. Then I laid on my poncho, took a magazine from a pouch, and pulled my bayonet. Every once in awhile, I heard a light tap. Usually it was a medium-sized tick. I flipped said tick into a nearby colony of ants, expecting them to fall upon it, but they didn't. If, however, I flipped the tick onto the magazine, and injured it with the bayonet before flipping it into the midst of the ants, they would seize the tick and drag it down into their colony.
Once in awhile, I would spot a tick crawling toward me over the poncho, and I assumed that it had come from nearby herbage. I injured or killed them with the magazine/bayonet and gave them to the ants. In the end, I cannot state unequivocally that some of the ticks dropped from the tree overhead, but some DID suddenly appear, and they made a faint sound when they landed on the ponch. Later, after my duty as outpost, I found four ticks on me.
They came from the tree, this guy wants to sound like he knows how ticks think. They breed in crevices like Pine Bark, bamboo, crevices in bricks etc. Squirrels, birds, racoons, lizards are all victims that spend plenty of time in trees. This guy's "science" doesn't hold water.
As a kid, I had one fall out of a tree (first base) as I played school baseball. No grass, gravel playing field. Concrete sidewalk to playing field, no grass. Attached to outside of my ear. Didnt know what it was and scratched it out. Left granuloma for years!
Thanks for sharing.
Hi. I am from Southwestern Ontario, Canada. My dog had an engorged tick fall off of her. I imagine it had been in her fur for a couple weeks. A week after it fell off, she had chills and was in the vet being treated for UTI, 8 days later of little recovery, she was diagnosed with Pyometra. She underwent emergency surgery and came back strong for about one week. 7 days later she was having momentary nervous reactions consisting of sudden stiff body, collapse, then get up like nothing happened. She was then admitted only to discover with an ultrasound that she had a splenic mass and a high chance of being malignant with less than 50% chance of survival. She underwent her second immediate emergency surgery. She did well and it was not cancerous. She was at that time diagnosed with IMHA (immune mediated hemolytic anemia) Her RBC were at 5%. First thing they said was they will not be transfusing her. I did not know my IMHA research at the time so did not ask why, or know how critically ill she truly was. I was given a secondary support suppressant while they ordered the primary prednisone, which she did not get to begin. She passed within 9 days after the surgery while only handling it well for the first 2 or 3 days.
I ask myself every day for 1.5 years if this was all from a tick.
@weareinflames, so very sorry that you and your dog had to endure this. ♥
❤ I’m so sorry for your loss.
No saying it wasn’t due to a tick but i have known dogs suffer/die like this from tick prevention treatments..especially the chewable kind.x
No. It was a parasite in the tick that passed it on to the dog. I'm sorry for your loss.
Sorry for your loss. Did she have a tick collar on or a take a pill to prevent ticks?
I found one on edge of my Jeep door where the window rolls into it after going through a tight, overgrown section of a forest road. Limbs had been flapping against the window edge as I drove. I had always been skeptical of ticks being above say waist-high until then. Based on that I would assume that you can likely expect them up to shoulder height.
I’ve had a tick problem in my orchard grass pasture. Not knowing anything about them I went online with my limited abilities, and I happen to find a chat room for an etymologist was taking questions I said, where do ticks go in the winter? Eventually, he responded and he said they sit around space heaters, drink, moonshine, and take pot shots at possums and raccoons a while later he came back and said oh I thought you meant Hicks😂 Then he explained that they burrow down in the dirt and can survive a very cold winter.
🤣I resemble that remark!
I heard what you had to say about ticks falling out of trees. What I have witnessed is that the ticks will climb to between 6 to 9 feet into bushes and branches overhanging trails. If they’re only sensory organs are for pheromone and sent particles, stands to reason that they can sense where the trails are located, they position themselves over the trail, wait for scent, or CO2 particles wafting through the air and then launch them selves. I have witnessed this happening on the deer trails near where I live in Michigan.
I believe you have misconstrued people, saying ticks falling out of trees as meaning from the canopy far overhead.
What people are saying is that ticks fall out of low, hanging branches over trails.
I agree, I have a feeling this guy read everything he knows.
They def fall out of trees. Land on my shoulder/neck, head. Not always, but it does happen
I never once heard of ticks dropping from above until now. Sad to hear, good to know, lol. Thanks!
@Christopher Ryan Welch really? You saw a tick land on you? Ticks will climb the body
You are exactly the type of person that this guy is talking about. You saw a little bug fall on you that you thought was a tick, or one climbed up onto your shoulder or any number of odd things, and all of a sudden you're screaming about ticks falling out of the sky. Living in Texas I have known for most of my life that ticks climb up low bushes and grab onto to you if you brush up against the bush. It's as simple as that.
Very informative and helpful. Thank you.
I live in the Ozark Mountains and use coconut oil for a tick repellent and it really seems to work good for me at least. A few years ago I went on a long hike with my grandson and forgot to rub on the coconut oil and when I got home I had 63 ticks all over my body. I'm a Backpacker hiker and a hammock camper and spend almost all of my free time out in the woods.
My worst nightmare! 63 ticks???!!!!
How do you use it? Slathered all over?
@Erik Lewis good morning yeah I just rub it all over my body you don't have to go real heavy just a nice light layer. I moved to the Ozark Mountains in Northwest Arkansas in 2014 and spend a lot of time hiking in the woods and my friends were asking about the ticks and I told them I never get ticks and they thought that was unbelievable and I had no idea why until I put two and two together and heard something online about the proteins the ticks didn't like the proteins the coconut oil or something like that, so that's good to me because I was just using coconut oil for a skin conditioner and that's the rest of the story.
@@Richard-Seekingwulf Thanks for the follow up. We moved to the Ozarks just over a year ago. I grew up with ticks back East, but we have been in the desert SW for the past decade. I knew there would be ticks here, but even the locals say that our property has more ticks than anywhere else they know of. Lucky us.
I've had some luck taking garlic pills. Don't know if that's a real thing, but anecdotally it seems to have some effect.
They don't seem to bother my wife or one daughter at all. The other kids and I are definitely on the menu. :)
Wow!
I have a hypothesis about ticks occasionally falling from trees. No they don't normally quest for a host far up from the ground, but they do attach to birds and squirrels, and crawl off them. Letting go and dropping is a quick way to get back to the ground, and the moisture they need to survive. I have had one drop on me while under trees, but that was the only time. Normally they seem to get on my legs at about calf height. They do attach and feed much more quickly than we are told. They can be feeding in 10 minutes, and be done in 12 hours. Check yourself regularly when out in brushy areas. My bird feeders attract squirrels, making the area nearby the best area on my land to get ticks.
Pennsylvania is a great place to find ticks. Minnesota, too. Ten seconds in roadside brush and you'd better check for ticks. I keep pants tucked under knee-high socks and that eliminates bare skin. Ticks will still be clinging to pants but are easily seen and brushed off.
Thanks for sharing this invaluable advice and info!
I could never understand ticks falling out of trees, that was what my training said so I went with it. Thank you for the correction. :)
I walked a logging Road 100yards no brush or undergrowth and found more than 25 ticks on my head shoulders and upper body.I know they dropped on me from above as it took less than 5 minutes and there were none below my waist.
I live rural and daily I open/close a driveway gate by hand. We had one waiting on top of the gate today by the hand latch... To me I think that could also climb trees.
DOZENS of ticks wait for me at the gate... Nowhere else on my property can I just stare at the ground and watch multiple crawling around. They're big lone star ticks! I hate them
If you like burgers and steak watch out. A lone star tick got me on a hunting trip years ago. I now have an allergy to mammal meat and by products. Alpha Gal Syndrome is what it is called and the biggest known trigger is a bite from lone star ticks.
Thank you Insect Shield and Dr. Mather.
I know you know more than I do, but I was fishing a pond full of deer paths in NJ, and watched ticks falling onto by shoulders. I promise you that they were not weavils or small insects. Without that experience, I would otherwise agree with you, it doesnt seem to make sense. As an avid fisherman, I get ticks a lot, and so I thought this experience was very odd.
Really valuable information with the exception of them dropping from trees.(That is where squirrels and raccoons live.)
I have purchased Permethrin to spray on my clothing & hat. Lyme's disease from ticks is very high in New England.
My wife and I have a farm in northwest New Jersey and we are overrun with ticks all over it. Eyewear dog and flea collars are ankles seems to help substantially. Put on a cotton sock cotton sock I put the flea collar on over top of it Works fairly well thank you for the info God bless you sir😊
Interesting tip. Thank you!
Get some chickens to eat them
Ticks are a favoured food for opossums who can eat thousands daily! Good marsupials😂
thank you for the very well explained information, subscribed
I had a tick drop on me from a tree just two weeks ago. I didn't know they would climb that high.
What you said about ticks falling out of trees makes sense to me Doc. And the idea of them being up in a tree to begin with has to be crazy talk. Nevertheless, i had three land on me while standing under an oak overhanging a street. After all my years hiking and camping i know a tick when I see one.
Me, too. Tick-bearing animals such as raccoons do climb trees and can leave them there.
They're hunters... They notice if you spend time in a certain area... Because if you go back to that same area the next day they will be there waiting with their front legs up trying to grab a hold to anything that brushes by.
At my house, I will have five of them on my Amazon packages within a couple hours of delivery.
@@DZMYQD they didn't charge for shipping and handling did they?😁
@@gooberpeas7926 , birds can also carry ticks for miles, and up into trees.
Thank you for the very detailed explanation.😊😊😊
This was great! Thank you so much 🥰
Very helpful. Thank you.
I owned 100 acres in the country and was walking in tall grass. We could see ticks hanging on at the stalk with arms extended to grab onto anything that passed through. Chiggers were awful there too.
I live in Kentucky, (USA, for those of you in other countries) we probably have every kind of tick here.
I have had 2 tick-borne illnesses. About 15 years ago, I got Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. I was extremely ill, high fever, hurt all over, and I was a little delerious from the fever. I went to an urgent care facility. I tested positive for mononucleosis, which you just have to ride out. The next day, the called me and said I also had RMSF. They called in an RX for an antibiotic, so I got that as soon as possible. I started feeling better within 24 hours, and diligently finished the course of antibiotics. I was still weakened by the mono, but the RMSF had been what made me so terribly ill.
Then about 6 years ago, I got Alphagal. That's the one that makes you allergic to mammalian meats. After strictly avoiding mammalian meat, including many hidden sources like additive in medications and supplements, I still wasn't over it. I finally found out there's acupuncture treatment for Alphagal. I got that done, and I'm fine now, I can eat all kinds of meat again.
Tick bites are no joke. I know someone who got seriously frome Lyme disease, and one of my neighbors is being treated now. He showed us the bull's-eye rash on his leg. His looked like someone used a red Sharpie to draw a target on his leg. Very distinct and vivid. But they aren't always that clear and obvious. If you suspect your bite might be Lyme disease, it's worth getting tested to be safe.
I've been using repellent with Picaridine (sp?) instead of DEET. It's pretty effective, so far. It only lasts about 4 or 5 hours, though, so it does have to be reapplied if you're going to be out longer than that.
Permetherin on your clothes definitely works great.
I'm in SEKY and had RMSF without even knowing it. It showed up on blood work that I'd had it in the past but I didn't have symptoms. I also got a bullseye rash less than 24 hours after being bitten. I know several people with alphagal so I will have to tell them about your experience with acupuncture. Where did you have that done?
@@brittneyrussell1766 I got mine done in Louisville, but there are lot of acupuncturists doing this now. I haven't gotten any follow up blood work, but I'm symptom-free, so I don't care if it still shows on bloodwork.
Did you get treated for Lyme?
You're lucky you didn't get sick from RMSF. It was awful.
Did you consider the simpler choice of not eating meat, rather than try a questionable acupuncture treatment?
@@jbeargrr thanks for the info. Yes, I was treated immediately for Lyme's with 30 days of doxycycline. I've since learned that people use ivermectin for treatment of Lyme's, which is really interesting.
Acupuncture lol Hahaha
Thank you sir, for explaining that , I appreciate your knowledge.
Wonderful information! Well done!
If you walk through a park and stay on an asphalt path say a short quarter-mile path. How would you explain finding a tick on your shoulder halfway into the park? It certainly seems like they can fall out of trees.
I know there's some low level hysteria surrounding ticks but when they're all over your property, hanging out on the door of your greenhouse, and wait 6 hours to show themselves after you've been carrying it around without knowing, it just becomes another part of life out here. I've pulled so many off myself, some pretty well attached, and have yet to catch any disease. Ticks don't bother me, but I lose my mind when mosquitoes just will not leave me alone despite repellents.
Might change your mind when you get Lyme. But I hear ya, what can you do? Stay inside forever? No thanks.
I live in n. Cal 15m from the coast surrounded by forest and I've been bit 5x now by ticks this year and I'm very allergic to them. I swell up with lymphatic fluid and very painful even if its barely gotten attached and I get them off within an hr or so. The only thing that helps is right away applying a cortisone liquid. So at this point I wont go off my property.
55 years a forester in the south and midwest.
Never had any problem though I pulled them off, sometimes by the dozen (it's gross)
at the end of just about every work day. Of course
pathogens entered my bloodstream, that's a given.
My theory is you build up a tolerance or the body recognizes
the foreigner and is ready to immediately respond.
Try vitamin B it's reported to repell Mozzie's something about body odour. Mozzie's are attracted to CO2 in your breath
I hate ticks. We've got the wood tick and the deer tick where I live. I left a pair of gloves by my garden and returned a few days later to retrieve them. There were more than a dozen wood ticks crawling all over the gloves. I've had Lyme disease three times already and even though I got antibiotics right away I did have early symptoms once and it was not fun.
I have a severe phobia of ticks that stems from a childhood incident. Because of my phobia,, I missed my aunt's funeral because the cemetery was in a wooded area. I don't go hiking. I sometimes even freeze up thinking they could be in the lawn. While the video didn't exactly give me any peace of mind, I do thank you for the video.
I put a circle of deet around a tick and it crawled right through it, so it is definitely not a deterrent.
Try bigger circle around tick...it will stay in the center
Blue Mountains of Washington, large numbers of elk. We were standing in a clearing with no low brush near us. My friend took off his shirt on a hot sunny day. Ticks landed on his shoulders. Never saw this before but there were two witnesses.
They definitely get into trees. Still watching.
Thank you very much for the information.
I had one on my nadbag once. It was huge! The tick was pretty big too.
I agree with almost everything said. However, I have had numerous experiences finding ticks crawling on me / my clothing. Unless a tick can make it from my sneaker to my neck in 90 seconds. I maintain they can fall from trees. In science, NEVER is a bad word.
Im an arborist. I climb trees every day. I dont ever see ticks in trees. They are in low bushes and grasses. You cannot possibly see a tick that crawls up the back of your leg or gets on your back.
This guy hasn't been to Florida! Ticks can float on the air and change direction at will as they glide and land on targets! One sunny afternoon I was at an outdoor dinner party beneath a Live Oak tree. After I finished eating I leaned back for a stretch and saw the sun glinting off of someting that seemed to leave the end of one of the branches above. The branch was about 25 feet above and not directly over my head. The tiny object changed direction about three times with a bit of a wobble here and there and it seemed to be gliding in my general direction. It landed on my head. I caught it immediately after I felt it land in my hair and that little spot of reflected sunlight was a tick! ... I had heard stories but never experienced it before. I'd accidently kicked a clump of grass and had to scrape what seemed like a hundred tiny ticks off my ankle after taking off my sock just a few steps down the lane. I've had them climb my leg and bite me in my drawers! After plucking the tick when the swelling got really bad I tried Castor Oil and it seemed to reduce the inflamation. I've been very careful about hanging out under the trees when the weather starts getting warm enough for them to start moving. I think that they hatch and keep on moving until they find what they're huntin' for!
I was told the same about avoiding high grasses, not trees. My daughter used to walk to high school, about a mile away.
She always walked on the pavement past a bunch of high trees. On several different occasions she felt something fall on her as she passed under the trees, or just discovered a tick on her after she got to school.
She "definitely" got the ticks from the trees as she stopped getting them when she avoided the trees.
Yes, trees can carry ticks!
@@donnaroberts34 Maybe they don't have wings but they know how to glide and swerve like Han Solo and Chewbacca in the Millennium Falcon!
Talk about Darwinian theory for ticks wow
You saw a tick from 25 feet away??? What had you been smoking?
@@dav6131 yeah, that comment ticks me off....
I've been in the woods my whole life, pulled 100s of ticks off me and never had a problem, but it happened last year at 45yrs old, went camping and 3 days afterwards i felt off, then day 4 my wrist hurt so bad i couldn't use my hand, then day 5 wrist was fine but now my hip hurt to the point i was limping, day 6 hips fine, now my neck and should are killing me and my heart rate is 20 beats higher then normal, i also go to take a shower that morning and when i took my shirt off i saw in the mirror that from below my nipple to the belt line was all red, like i was wearing a tight back brace. Went to the dr that day and told them im 99% sure i have lyme disease. Luckily my body had a noticeably bad reaction and i got treated right away. Everything had been good since.
Im sitting in an optometrist's office right now having seed ticks removed from my eyes that fell from a tree I was working/on under. They don't jump out, they fall. Especially if they're jostled by power tools or wind.
It's always good to get your tick identified by a tick expert. Feel free to send a photo of it to TickSpotters for free identification and risk assessment. - web.uri.edu/tickencounter/tickspotters/submit/
This is the problem with experts. They know so much that they think they know everything. Ticks most CERTAINLY climb trees and drop onto mammals. In southern Ohio one time, we thought it was raining out of a clear sky until we realized we were being covered in ticks falling from the trees above. It might be rare compared to brush-off attachments in grass, but it 100% absolutely does happen.
Also, it would make sense that they would develop that ability. Instead of only waiting for an animal to come by at the right height, they could drop on anything below them such as a mouse. It greatly increases their chance of a successful “hunt”.
I've gotten a couple of ticks growing up in the country when I was a kid, but haven't had any since. And I've spent a LOT of time in the woods camping and hiking without any ticks on my person.
Well, they’ll be ticked off, to hear that!!
@@billpetersen298 lol
Where? Here in PA they’re absolutely everywhere. I’m not paranoid still spend my time outdoors, but in the last few years seems like they exploded
Sorry to debunk your debunking, but I have literally experienced ticks falling from a tree. I was with friends on a day trip to a winery in the nearby CA foothills. It was a hot summer day, and we found a shady tree (likely an oak), spread a blanket under and sat. After a bit we noticed something small fall onto the blanket. Then another. Then another. The blanket had a pattern, so we had to look closely and it was 3 fat ticks! Yes, I know what ticks look like, I grew up in the foothils and my mom pulled several off us as kids. We couldn't scramble from under that tree fast enough. We kept checking each others' scalps and our socks and had the heebie jeebies all day. We were laughing, and creeped out. My guess? They hop onto squirrels or raccoons, who go into the trees. Ticks drop off. Then they drop to the ground, or maybe wait to hop a ride on deer below. Who knows, but I saw this happen.
You said that the ticks were fat, which likely meant they traveled up into the tree while feeding on something that had flown or climbed up into the tree (birds, squirrels etc); and then when the ticks were fully bloated and engorged, they dropped off of the animal and eventually dropped off the tree. Ticks need to get to the ground after feeding, in order to lay their eggs.
I have had ticks FALL from trees onto my shoulders and not engorged ones
I too have seen ticks dropping down from trees. It was in the Namib desert and we were under an acaia tree. I saw them dropping - it was not one that I later found on my head. Also, just to establish my credentials - I have a degree in zoology.
Falling from trees is possible, but, it’s not a host acquisition strategy.
@@Mandysfarm Really. . . ? What does the call of a tick sound like?
Thanks, I learned something new and valuable today. UA-cam is a wealth of educational information. Canada.
👍
Hey Dr Tom. Interesting video. Sorry I do not have time to read all the comments so if this has already been covered just dis this. Hear in Missouri we lots of ticks and lots of trees. It is Saturday morning and I am looking out my window into the backyard and there must be five squirrels in the yard. Guess how the ticks get into the trees? the squirrels spend the day up and down the trees.
If you watch the tick transporters you will sometimes see them stop to scratch for a while. What do you think they are scratching off? Now I have not been close enough to see it was a tick. But I am sure they get ticks on them and then scratch them off.
Yes they do fall on you like bark bugs. I do not think they plan to land on something. Just getting back to the ground to start over hunting for another mammal.
Come to Missouri and take a float trip on one of our beautiful rivers------ and see how many snakes fall in your boat.
My father's repellant for ticks and chiggers was "flowers of sulfur," a finely powdered sulfur available in drug stores. This is sprinkled in socks and waistband. I like to mix it half-and-half with talcum powder. The size you get in a hospital is handy to carry.
My Grandpa used the same stuff. I remember it being pretty effective, but it stunk like crazy too. Not that that was much of an obstacle to a 10 year old with waaaaay too much energy on his hands.
Sulfur ummmmmm mmmmm
Both of those things are dangerous for your overall health lol. Better off just drinking seven like the old days.
Not sure how safe that is, but I use Diatomaceous Earth, human food grade. Readily available.
Great. I have a bag of sulfur powder. Will give it a try.
In the UK and especially Scotland we have Smidge which has Saltidin (aka Picardin) as active ingredient. It's very effective for Scottish midge (which will take your arm off) but I'm fairly convinced that ticks don't like it either having never had a tick bite after applying it - to ankles, groin etc.
Thank you
I’m 6’1”. I was walking through ankle high yard grass with trees overhead and felt one land on my forearm. I 💯 believe they fall from trees.
Couldn’t POSSIBLY something other than a tick, like he explained, right? 🤨
@@jeffclark5268 dunno, sure looked like a tick. Had the white circle on its back. Pretty hard to mis-identify ticks. They have a specific shape. I also thought they jumped but learned they don’t. So not sure how it landed on me.
I'm surprised you didn't mention the best way to remove a tick once it's attached to your skin. There are a few versions of best method.
True. He could have covered the "myths" of using heat, or Vaseline, or other chemicals.
Good video, thanks for the insights. I once parked my convertible with the roof down, under the tree canopy in my driveway, just for an hour or so. When I got in the car, there was a tick crawling on the inside of the door right next to me. Fortunately, my car had a white interior so I saw it immediately and dispatched it. I wonder if ticks may "fall from above" when they hitch a ride on a squirrel or bird ?
I do use permethrin to soak any pants and shoes I will be wearing when working in the yard, seems to work great. No issues since I started using it about 5 years ago.