Ticks come in all shapes and sizes, often times tiny and naked to the eye. A deer tick is black and about the size of a speck of pepper. A dog tick is brown and about the size of the head of a pin.
Usually painless, bites can be difficult to notice.
Here is a list with a few prevention and removal tips from Barnstable County Public Health Nurse Deidre Arvidson.
Prevention:
-Avoid tall grass and wooded area.
-Wear light colored pants with the bottom tucked into the top of white socks when hiking.
-Use repellent with DEET on shoes and clothes and skin.
- Permethrin is good to use as a repellent on clothing an camping gear, make sure to follow manufacturer's directions.
-Keep grass short.
-Check your pets for ticks and use tick collars and repellents that are not harmful for dogs and cats.
-Most important: Do a daily tick check of your body.
-Use your hands to feel your skin when checking for ticks due to the small size of nymps.
Removal:
-Use pointed tweezers and grasp the tick by the head and gently pull straight out.
-Clean the wound with antiseptic and wash hands.
-If you don't know how long the tick has been attached, you may submit it to the UMass Extension to have the tick tested for Lyme disease. Go to www.umass.edu/tick to print a submission form.
Wear light colored clothing and long sleeves; tuck pants into socks, especially when walking in densely wooded areas.
Throw clothes in the dryer set on high heat to kill ticks, and do routine tick checks: behind the ears, knees, underarms, hair and so on. Two sets of eyes are better than one; check friends, too.
Perform tick checks on animals and try to not let them on furniture, especially bedding.
Ticks can carry bacterial infections, such as Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever and can pass them to people.
If you or your animal has a tick, examine the area and safely pull them off with tweezers and save them in a jar for examination.