HELP! How do you remove a tick?

[Amaya]

My friend has a tick in her back, just found it... I tried the match stick thing, but it didn't work.
What do I do? She's freaking out! yikes..

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

1. easy, just grab it and turn it counter clockwise

until it comes out... make sure you get all of it...look with a magnifying glass afterwards

[trotsky]

2. Check here

http://camper-jim.tripod.com/jimshuntingoutdoorsite/id45.html

[david_vincent]

3. Is it IN her back, or just attached to it?

I thought ticks just attach themselves and engorge with blood. You can pull them off, although sometimes they break in half and the front end stays stuck on, so you have to do it again, and the bloody end has spurted blood around. Do it in the bathroom and flush the horrible thing. I knew someone who'd use a comb and force it under the tick and rip it out.
If it's IN her back, as in burrowed in, it's probably a chigger. I don't know what to do with those.

[xJlM]

4. Use a cigarette

It takes some time, though, because you have to actually get the tick pretty hot. It will leave a burn, but that's the only way I know. I removed one from a stray someone had doused in mud. I gave it a bath and found the tick, so I used the way I had heard about from my parents. The stray didn't appreciate it, but he was better off in the long run.

[trotsky]

8. ABSOLUTELY NOT

Do not use flame or heat to remove a tick.

[xJlM]

20. It worked for me.

If you try to pull it off, and leave the head behind it will get infected. Heat will make it back out, and then you can kill it. It didn't seem to end up hurting the stray I did it on, other than its pride.

[peekaloo]

5. swab it with alcohol and use tweezers not your fingers!

Try and get the lil bastard by the head and give a good tug. Toss the critter in alcohol to kill it.

[trotsky]

7. NO, never use alcohol

It can cause the tick to spit back into the wound, which in the case of Lyme disease is a VERY VERY BAD thing.

[peekaloo]

9. Ay yi yi........so sorry

Damnation......my camping friends told me about that method...JEBUS that explains why I don't venture into the woods with them!

I think they prefer that method since they're usually swabbed in alcohol themselves. ;-)

[trotsky]

11. Hey, no prob. Alcohol was what my mom taught me to use!

A lot of folk remedies are out there when it comes to removing ticks. Most of them seem to make a lot of sense, but the tick is a tricky little creature and does not always behave how we might expect it to.

[cally]

6. Read Trotsky's link, please

I live in an area with lots of ticks. Just use tweezers and pull straight out. There are also inexpensive tick removal tools at pet stores. If it is buried deep or swollen, then seek more expert help. I've always found them relatively soon.

[MediumBrownDog]

14. ticks

Agree. We live in Virginia, tick haven. If it is really buried and swollen, go to a local emergent care clinic (we call them "doc in the box") if one is open. If not, pull it straight out with tweasers.

[Amaya]

10. ok I got it out

I pulled it out counterclock. It came out and I am absolutely horrified! Ewww ewwewww
My friend wants to keep it! YUCK

Thanks guys! :) :)

[trotsky]

15. NOW you can use alcohol

Put the tick in a small vial of alcohol. If Lyme disease is a concern in your area, it should be taken to the doctor with the bite victim for analysis.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

19. Thank you.... 12 years as a paramedic paid off for something

Keep it long enough to flush it down the toilet... there are oodles of little ticks just waiting to come out...

[Amaya]

24. huh???

there are oodles of little ticks in the tick? yucky!!!! :P

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

31. That is how they reproduce... the mother expands and expands

until she explodes and scatters little ticks all over the place. Not pretty... imagine have over a hundred in a area the size of your ear, and you get the picture.

[bicentennial_baby]

22. Are you sure you got the head?

If you twistted it, the head may have remained in her skin, and it can get infected. if that's the case, she needs to see a doctor. Otherwise, burn the tick with a lighter and dispose.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

23. If you saw legs and a little beak, you got the head

If there are still black items sticking out, then the head is still in there, and a doc is a good idea.
But, counterclockwise is the opposite of how they get in there, so it should work.

[Amaya]

26. It worked and you rock!

Thanks my friend!

Now I'm gonna go check myself.. wish me luck ;)

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

29. Ooooo Oooooo. Let me check. Let me!

Damn, that's just not fair.

[Amaya]

25. Yeah I got the head

It was a mighty fat sucker

[Rowdyboy]

12. If I ever get one in the future

I'll ask what to do here. You guys are a regular medical encyclopedia! :toast: to all

[trotsky]

17. LOL

I grew up here in Minnesota, and if there's two things we are never short of supply on during the summer it's mosquitoes and ticks. Fortunately I do not react to mosquito bites, and I live in the metro area where ticks are pretty rare.

[Ophelia]

13. Burn it and tweeze it

That's what I always heard anyway.

[PurityOfEssence]

16. put a glob of vaseline on it

Seriously: it starts to suffocate the little sucker and it backs out on its own. If you rip it out, its head stays in and you'll get an infection.

This method is foolproof, painless and pretty fast. The trick is to cover the whole body, feathering it onto your skin; the entire exposed body needs to be covered.

[trotsky]

21. No, that won't work.

A tick requires so little oxygen that it can easily complete its entire feeding before there is any risk of suffocation.

[JanMichael]

18. Oh dear gawd! When I was 12 I managed to get one on my...YOU KNOW!

Yep. I spent the afternoon riding my motorcycle through the woods in SE Kansas, came back to the cabin and while taking a shower discover a tick on the tip of my penis!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!

OK, I didn't scream but I got out of the shower and got my grandpa. He heated up a metal pin and gave it to me. I used the heated pin to "urge" the tick out.

MAN that was scary...

[Philosophy]

27. Just grab it and yank it off

When I was a kid playing outside every day in the summer in rural northern Minnesota we used get them all the time, they were no big deal, certainly nothing to freak out about. I'm sure I've removed dozens. Just pinch em and yank em off fast like a band-aid. It's less messy if you catch em early before they've had a chance to fill up.

They're not quite as bad as leeches at least - I got quite a few of those in Minnesota too. You can't pull leeches off too fast or the wound will keep bleeding for a long time.

Not to mention mosquitos. Wow, looking back on it, northern Minnesota is really infested with parasites.

[corarose]

28. You have to make sure that the head doesn't break off

I use to be a Dog Groomer and we would light up a cigarette and put them on the ticket and it would release its self. Also I think that saltwater on the tick will release it also.

When you take it off do not crush it with your bare feet and do not take a Kleenex and place it in a garbage can Flush it.

[mw]

30. Cover it with petroleum jelly - it will back out cuz it cant breath

it works.

[corarose]

33. YES, YES, THIS IS ONE OF THE TRICKS OF THE TRADE

In the pet grooming world this is something that is used to get ticks off.

[Kenneth ken]

32. vaseline

coat it heavily with vaseline, once it can't breathe it will start to extricate irself - I think I heard that somewhere once.

[Old and In the Way]

34. I got this handy little tick remover.

You can probably make one...

It looks like a 1 tablespoon measuring spoon with a sharp "V" notch in the front end. Locate it under the tick and move the spoon in a shearing motion that drives the tick into the "V" groove and off the pet (or in your case, the person).