Ticks Living Aboard

[cburger]

I am wondering if anyone has had the experience of getting bit by ticks while aboard their boat. Have removed a tick twice in the last three weeks, both times were after doing some walking, thought it was weird because the first time was on a boulder strewn trail, with no long grass and some trees and I just removed the second one, yesterday went for a long walk on a cinder path down by the river, no brush, grass etc.. So what is making me think they are on the boat in my bedding is that on both occasions the bites are located high up on my body, back of neck and forearm.

[sailorboy1]

I had ticks on the boat (including one that came home and stayed with me a few days) a couple of years ago. We were anchored in the lee of an bushy little island in Boston and didn't even go ashore. It was windy and I think they blew aboard as I killed a few in the cockpit.

[Steve Bean]

We have plenty around here and I have been bitten several times. They may spend hours undetected prospecting on your body for a good place to bite. They may be in your clothes for a while, and could possibly wander around the boat.

[MarkSF]

Ticks have two ways of getting onto your body : up your legs if you stand in grass, the other is falling from trees. They wait until you pass below the branch, and then fall on you. Obviously if they got onto you via the latter route, a bite on your upper body is likely. I've seen them in people's hair before now. (regular hiker out here in CA).

[DeepFrz]

Do you have a dog? If you don't find them imbedded in your skin sucking blood it is likely something else that is biting you.

[Hard Rock Candy]

Ticks also are somewhat picky about who they bite. I live in Oregon and live one mile from a good friend. We both live in the same kind of heavily forested hilly land. He and his family and his pets get ticks quite often. I have never been bitten once in 40 years. My cat has never had a tick on him, that I've found. I do not make the news, just report the facts. Mac

[Orion Jim]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I had ticks on the boat (including one that came home and stayed with me a few days) a couple of years ago. We were anchored in the lee of an bushy little island in Boston and didn't even go ashore. It was windy and I think they blew aboard as I killed a few in the cockpit.

I will never be able to sail to Boston again. Ticks are just disgusting

[cburger]

No dogs, but I guess the potential for them to fall from trees on these last walkabouts, got them both off within 24 hours of the hikes and not yet blood engorged, the National Lyme Disease Center claims I have nothing to worry about regards Lyme.

[JPA Cate]

If there's any question at all of their being in your bedding, best launder everything. Spray the boat before you leave, so you can feel reasonably certain that there will be no insect pests alive (you have to sweep up their carcasses) when you return.

[deblen]

Lyme Disease Surges North - Scientific American

If you have been in contact with a tick in North America,get tested for Lyme disease.Do not fool around-get tested.
It is a hellish disease if not treated immediately.
We have cases locally & it is a life-wrecker. / Len

[CaptTom]

Before we get carried away here...

Do some research. Those of us who live in rural, or even suburban, areas routinely deal with ticks without panic.

First of all, only the tiny (and less common) deer ticks carry Lyme disease. You probably won't even see them. If you were bitten by one of them, AND it stayed in you for something like 24-48 hours, then there's a CHANCE you may have been infected. You'll know pretty soon, because the rash is very distinct. Catch it early (within a few weeks) and treatment is very effective. There's no need for an ER visit, and I wouldn't even bother with any tests unless you're sure the tick was in you long enough to spread the infection.

If it's the larger and more common dog tick, they don't carry Lyme. I suspect it's these because you said you saw them. Also, they tend to crawl UP. They won't be in the bedding. They'll get up high and wait for a mammal to come by they can drop on. Once on you, they usually again crawl up, often to the back of your neck or head, looking for whatever they consider a good place to bite. You'll probably feel them on you long before they bite, but if they do, you'll know it soon enough. They get pretty big engorging on blood. They don't just bite and leave like a mosquito.

Ticks have a complex life cycle that doesn't include burrowing into your bedding. Just because a few of them hitched a ride back to the boat on your clothing, doesn't mean there are any eggs or larvae aboard. Those stages take place out in the woods.

There's no need to fumigate. Wash the sheets and blankets if it makes you feel better, but they are unlikely to spend much time there.

Me? I'd just flick any I find over the side and get back to whatever I was doing.

[RaymondR]

Do gecko lizards eat ticks?

[Ian R]

Ticks can also cause meat allergy.
Tick bite causes meat allergy › Dr Karl's Great Moments In Science (ABC Science)

[JPA Cate]

cburger,

On another thread here meeki007 wrote that pyrethrins will discourage ticks, as well as the rat mites that he got following a rat coming aboard.

[hellosailor]

Pyrethrins are supposed to kill ticks on contact, not just repel them. Any good camping supply in the NE US will sell bottles of the stuff, to spray or soak clothing in. Supposedly no harm to the mammal wearing the clothes, but a repellant and kill effect on any bugs that contact them. One treatment lasts though quite a number of washings.

FWIW.