Our contributions to last May’s Hazardous Waste Disposal Day at the Edgartown dump included a large cardboard container marked “War Supply.”
“We can’t take the gunpowder,” the fabulous hazmat-clad human at the Edgartown dump said.
”What? I cleared off shelves in the barn, and didn’t see anything labeled gunpowder.” Concerned about safety, they didn’t want me to get out of the car to investigate. “But some of it was from WWII, and I expect it is permethrin,” I added.
Because my grandfather was a pediatrician who served in both world wars, we were always aware of the danger of insect-bourne diseases, and we had mountains of pesticides. We were prepared.
As children, we dropped ticks into jars filled with gin. The bottles with the same bit of gin and a growing population of dead ticks lasted for years. Jars of preserved ticks were tucked out of the way in the house, garage, and barn; we are still finding bottles that were started by now deceased ancestors.
In our childhood, decades ago, before we had flea- and tick-repellent collars and internal medicines for our dogs and cats, we’d be pulling some ticks off our pets that had grown into easy-to-find pale brown bubbles. Totally nauseating to even think about now, but it was a normal part of taking care of beloved animals — and somehow satisfying.
On shelves by the door rested white bottles labeled Ole Time Woodsman’s Liquid Fly Dope. The listed ingredients were “Mineral Oil, Diethyl-Meta-Toluamide and other isomers, Rectified Oil of Pine Tar, Citronella, Pennyroyal, Oil of Bay, Isopar M, and Camphor.” It is harmful if taken internally, and must be kept out of children’s reach. We soaked bandanas and the inside bands of our hats in it before clearing brush or walking in the woods.
Old bottles of fly dope and tick jars were also part of the hazardous materials we brought for disposal to Hazardous Waste Disposal Day.
We still use a jar with gin, and keep tape in the cars, bedrooms, and on our desks. Today some people prefer to use dish soap. Some burn ticks with a match. Some crush them between rocks. Some attach ticks to a file card, noting the date. Some mail ticks to a lab for analysis. Some wrap them in tape and put them in the trash. Some just stay off grass and trails, and wear white pants only. All of these can help.
In our medicine cabinet, next to the ibuprofen and Tylenol, sits a current prescription for doxycycline, with the instructions, “Take two tablets by mouth within 72 hours of a deer tick bite.” This can prevent Lyme disease.
But preventing ticks from biting to start with is important. In the spring, we send our work pants and shirts to insectshield.com for a dip, and head to Brickman’s for more treated socks. Brickman’s offers a variety of InsectShield’s treated clothing.
The Chilmark board of health has given 500 pairs of treated socks to employees and residents.
On the shelf we keep OFF! and Repel (DEET), which make your skin unappealing to biting insects, permethrin sprays for your gear, and extra gaiters, socks, and tick tape for guests, infused with permethrin and woven to act like Velcro to stop and hold crawling ticks. The super-sticky double-sided tape traps ticks, and can be wrapped tightly around socks or the cuffs of pants. We wrap it around the base of the hummingbird feeder posts to keep ants away from the nectar.
Mint, lavender, marigold, and rosemary are offensive to ticks. Emma Tobin of Tea Lane Apothecary offers a lovely lavender mist. You can find her at the West Tisbury Farmers Market.
After learning from BiodiversityWorks that the “tick prevalence research collection process“ was dragging a flannel sheet across the ground and counting the ticks it caught, we are conducting an experiment to see if we can decrease the number around our house without harming beneficial insects: We soaked an old flannel sheet with Sawyer Premium Insect Repellent (permethrin) for clothing, tents, and gear. We drag this sheet like a wedding train along the paths we frequently walk, and leave it hanging outside on the clothesline. We are NOT examining the sheet, and NOT recording how many it catches. We are optimistic it will trap and kill ticks. We are also experimenting with piles of wood chips as barriers and repellents.
Is this a tick?
In the ferry terminals, tick identification cards sit right next to the boat schedules. “Can I get a tick check?” is not a pickup line. Here’s where to check. There are places you can’t see without a mirror or help, and having a safe friend is important.
- Armpits
- Between and below shoulder blades
- In and around ears
- Your scalp and neck
- Inside your belly button
- Back of your knees and legs
- Between your legs
- Under your boobs
- Your bottom
They say that running your fingers through your hair or around your ears is a sign of anxiety. It could also just be checking for ticks.
Because ticks are good climbers, preparing to work in the garden includes putting up long hair. I use metal bun twists they used to carry at Conroy’s Apothecary in West Tisbury, and don a hat well-sprayed with Sawyer’s Premium Insect Repellant Insect.
We used to scrape a tick off with our fingernails. You don’t want to squeeze, twist, or crush a tick, and there are tools that make it easier and more sanitary. Now we use the Denco Tick Kit. We bought it from Conroy’s, and love how well the tools work. The kit comes in a small case that is sturdy and easily recognizable by touch. The curved tweezers are also good for removing thorns and splinters.
If you go out into the woods today, nothing will be as terrible as the experience of the explorer and botanist Pehr (Peter) Kalm in 1749, who gave us the early written description of the lone star tick (as quoted in the Journal of Medical Entomology): “It is found in great numbers in the forests, both in New Jersey and Pennsylvania; even more are found in Maryland and the cities situated further south … There will commonly, where they have bitten or sucked themselves in, form a hard lump, big as a (garden) pea or bigger. These lumps often last a full six weeks before they disappear. After a few days in the forest, one could well have 50 to 100 such lumps that made an indescribable inconvenience. One could then almost never scratch enough. The worst was when some lumps itched and the others burned, so that you did not know where to turn.”
Should you get bitten, we have many places to turn, including the Tick Clinic at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, Tick Center at Martha’s Vineyard Medical, our towns, and Tick Free MV.
