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Ticks - where are they coming from?

Lynsey

Young Bun
Hi

I have been trawling through the previous posts because I thought someone had mentioned this before, but can't find it anywhere.

We are getting the odd tick and I suspect they are arriving in the hay. We do live in a tick prone area (the New Forest) but the Merlin and Hermione (my son reads a lot of Harry Potter) live a quiet life in our garden.

I was wondering if indoor buns still get ticks, in which case this would support the hay theory. And if this is right, can I do anything about it?

Thanks for any tips.

Lynsey
 
The rabbits have never had one but our old dog used to get them regularly. One thing that often carries them is hedgehogs so they may be what are transporting them into the garden.
 
When I was a v/n we used to reacue baby hedgehogs that were too small for hibernation. They used to be covered in ticks. I think there is nothing better than picking out ticks. grab them in the tweezers and watch them wiggle and die...................so satisfying!!! :twisted:
 
Thanks for all the suggestions - I have never spotted hedgehogs but they may be out there. We certainly get mice running around and squirrels, but have no dogs and cats ourselves.

The thing about ticks is they are fairly easy to pull out (some people may find it satisfying!!). The other day Merlin had one in his nose and it looked really sore when we pulled it out, we had to distract him by giving him half a grape to eat.

Cheers

Lynsey
 
I'm in France at the moment, we live on the edge of a forest, and it's crawling with ticks already here. They're living through the winter nowadays, so they're already here with a vengeance.

The area where we live is overrun with Lyme disease (my Dad's already had it) and tick-borne Encephalitis, so I'm double-checking myself every day!

So it could be that they're coming in from outside!
 
hi

Ticks are hideous - I almost got Lyme disease in Scotland from one (emergency antibiotics stopped it apparently?)

You can buy special tick tweezers from dog vet suppliers - if you yank a tick out the head stays buried and can get infected. Ticks need to be 'unscrewed' rather than pulled - yuk....



Edana, Benji and Pepper :love:
 
When our dog got them my dad used to smoke them out. I'd be too scared of setting fire to my bunny. :? Plus, I hate them. They look vile. I'm afraid it would be a trip to the vet, I couldn't bear to touch it. Bleugh.
 
There's no way we could be off to the vet for every tick that appears here I'm afraid. My children get them a lot when they go on walks and the buns are getting them too unfortunately, even just from our garden. Ordinary tweezers seem to be hopeless, fingernails are much more effective but I haven't tried the vet tweezers. We normally get the head out by just pulling - yuck!
Lymes disease is apparently pretty common in the New Forest and the doctors here are pretty laid back about it. We have got quite used to ticks generally but they must seem horrible the first time you encounter them.

Lynsey.
 
hi

this site sells tick tweezers - they're easier to twizzle around than ordinary tweezers and it's important not to squeeze the tick as it's saliva might carry Lyme disesase, which can cause heart disease and other serious illness eventually. Usually the first symptom is a large red mark around the site of the bite - antibiotics can cure it - the earlier the better!

http://www.pets24.co.uk/kategorie-suche.htm
(type 'tick tweezers' into the search)


Edana, Benji and Pepper :love:
 
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