Cool way to get rid of ticks...

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Hmmm, the attached comments don't sound very promising.

I have been using a tick remover that uses a similar principle - you grab a tick as close to the skin as possible and then you slowly twist the remover around in order to force the tick to release. So far (i.e. after several tick removals) I had no problems and succeeded in removing whole tick every time. http://www.amazon.com/Coghlans-0015-Tick-Remover/dp/B001QC34GI/ref=sr_1_11?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1434592563&sr=1-11
 

I suspected that CDC recommendation is based on the assumption that everyone has tweezers at home and few folks would be able to get any other kind of specialized tick removal tools in short order. The problem I had with using tweezers is that I was never sure how much pressure I should apply to the tick, so that it would not slip out of grip yet at the same time I would not squeeze out its stomach content. This is especially tricky with deer tick nymphs that are really small.
 
I keep a tick removal tool with me at all times. My constant worry is that I shall not be able to perceive a tick in the thick, oily hair of my beloved Labrador.

I live in the country and find it astounding that so many doctors - and the local hospital - have no idea apout Lyme disease. There is an acquaintance of mine who, after I don't know how long, ended up getting a heart transplant; another person I know (slightly) was ill for almost five years and unable to work until someone figured it out.

I have a good GP who is married to a farmer. A good friend dropped over last year and showed me the proverbial target mark on his fore-arm. Luckily I had just received the Alpine Club of Canada, Montreal Section's newsletter and it had a very detailed article on Lyme disease. I and the article convinced him to go to our walk-in clinic when my doctor was on duty. She took a blood sample, but did not wait for the results and put him on anti-biotics immediately. He was very lucky as only about half of those stricken display so clear a mark and because my doctor knew immediately and, I guess, because he knows me.

By the way, Ötsi, the Bronze Age man whose corpse was discovered in a melting glacier on the border between Italy and Austria had Lyme disease and that's 4 000 years ago.
 
Duct tape. Used it once while driving home. Try that with a tick removal tool. Plus I like watching the little stuck sucker squirm.

I kept a (dead) nymph deer tick on tape at my desk at work for years to show colleagues who asked about Lyme bearing ticks. It was little more than a dot and then i handed over the magnifying glass and you could see the little feet. Shocked many folks with the small size.
 
I tried the q-tip trick on a very small (head of a pin sized or smaller) attached tick on my hand Sunday and it didn't work. Any tips for really small ticks? I'm not even sure I could have grabbed it with tweezers. Here in CT you get a lot of really tiny ticks walking in grass, dead leaves, etc.
 
My wife had one of the earliest cases of Lyme disease in Minnesota in the early 80s. My brother-in-law had to have his heart restarted about a year ago as a consequence of Lyme carditis. Yeah, we take ticks very seriously around here, and there's been a tick removal tool at hand ever since they became available.
 
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