Ticks in Tasmania

[corvus]

Had a conversation with an incomer Mate from the "big island" who happened to mention that the Ticks on Bandicoots that we have visiting out yard can be deadly to domestic dogs and cats Fast forward via our Google friend wherein they mention that the "deadly" Paralysis Tick is contained to the North East of Tasmania
What if any have you had with Ticks personally or on your animals
corvus

[taswegian]

Our cats often come home (N'west Tas) with ticks and we remove them without any drama.
My memory of ticks are from Canberra when one embedded itself in my head and I became quite ill and required 'medical intervention'. It was not pleasant.
Have had several lock on here in Tassie, but never had any (from all parts of Tassie) affect me thankfully.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Cats had one. My little boy had one on his head, and i've had 2.

[Binder]

G'day all.

Haven't had much problem with them in Tas yet, but as an ex Q'lander can vouch for their punch. The paralysis tick in Qld were always a small bodied thing. Often we would get the bigger ticks on us but they seemed only to cause a bit of local swelling, then fall off. The little paralysis ticks could easisly kill dogs, cats ( ) and native animals. Another issue is the disease they can carry. A mate of mine was bitten by a paralysis tick and contracted Q Fever, spent 3 months in intensive care and 6 weeks in an induced coma. He got through it eventually but lost a third of his body weight and the use of a percentage of a couple of organs. Not a bad punch for something the size of a match head when full !
I'm no tick expert, and not sure if the paralysis ticks down here are the same as QLD and will need to consult Dr google, but I treat them with due respect all the same.

Cheers

[wander]

Picked us this beauty in the South West, possibly on Mt Rugby, we noticed plenty about while we were there. But did not notice this on my back until a couple days after we got back from the trip to Adelaide.

No ill effects. We did take some trouble to extract it with out breaking it after a bit of gooogle for info on how to remove. Those squares in the pic are 5mm x 5mm.

[corvus]

I guess these Ticks are not the Paralysis variety
corvus

[ILUVSWTAS]

I guess these Ticks are not the Paralysis variety
corvus

No the one I had in my ear wasnt, and the one my lad had wernt. They were the same ones as in the above photo. However, the one i had in my armpit required treatment and had the dr's baffled. I got a huge rash and suffered for weeks.
Have photos of both, but wont post due to the graphc nature.

[hikingoz]

I've had two ticks attach in SW tassie. One on the back and one on the leg. The were firmly attached but removed with no dramas. They were skin colored and shaped like a corn kernel.

I got one on the neck yesterday at Barrington Tops near newcastle. He looked more like a gnat with legs all around and orange in color.

Never had any adverse reactions.

[doogs]

My dog had a tick in his head. We examined it, had a look on google and then convinced ourselves it was a paralysis tick. Whether it was or not I don't know, but I do live close to NE Tas. Can't remember exactly how it looked but it was very ugly!!!!

[ULWalkingPhil]

I got a tick on my wrist recently while hiking the Conondale Range Great Walk in QLD from the looks of it, I think it was a paralysis tick, that was about 6 weeks ago. Still have a mark on my wrist from where the tick attached. Had to pull out of the walk half way through. The tick got me on my right wrist, I felt numb on my right side and than pain hit me. Lucky to get out as well as I did. I don't think it was attached for long. Feet got beat up pretty bad, as I had to walk down a very steep climb, Black toes and lost toe nails followed. Still recuperating from that trip.

[phan_TOM]

I pulled this fella out of my head last weekend whilst camping down the coast (I should say sheila as ticks with a 'beak' like this one are actually female and I believe are more potent), I must have been camped near a nest as I pulled at least 6 'out' of me over the weekend and had another 10 or so that I spotted bushwalking through my leg/arm hair Didn't have any problems apart from some annoying itchiness which is persisting but I do know of people who have had hundreds over the years (They are fairly common where I live) with no serious ill-effects and then one day they got a tick and it had a serious effect. For example a close family friend & neighbour was found collapsed on the kitchen floor after suffering an adverse reaction and it was only the arrival of the ambo's with an adrenalin shot that saved his life, he was someone who had lived in the bush for ~30 years and had many ticks and never a problem. He now has an adrenaclick epipen in the car and another at home to treat any anaphylaxis if it happens again... and he's now moved to the city.

I've talked to a few people who believe we are having a bad year for ticks and there was even an article in the local paper this week from a local vet warning of the dangers of them to pets. A clear sign that your dog has a bad tick is when their back legs are starting to go wobbly but by this stage you really want to get them some professional treatment and trust me its a lot cheaper to find the ticks before this happens, the vet bill is enough to make your back legs wobble

I wonder what effect the warming climate will have on the proliferation of ticks and mosquitos etc around the world? they'll probably ALL go to Tasmania (sorry, the title was about ticks in Tas I thought I'd better make my post relevant )

[wander]

camping down the coast

I assumed this meant the coast in Tassie until I got to the last sentence then decided it could mean anywhere the water meets the land which did not help me much. So where is your tick zone?

[phan_TOM]

Sorry wander, I should have made it a bit clearer, I'm on the coast of NSW near the QLD border. Heres a map of paralysis tick distribution that I found on the net at http://www.animaloptions.com.au/index.php?page=paralysis-ticks.

Theres some interesting stuff on that site "Humid conditions are essential for survival of the paralysis tick. Dry conditions, relatively high (32°C) and low (7°C) temperatures will kill all stages after a few days. An ambient temperature of 27°C and high relative humidity is thought to be optimal for rapid development (Clunies-Ross, 1935)." I found the stuff regarding the danger to pets and humans (especially children) on using pesticides to deal with ticks interesting if not suprising...

Quoting from Kathleen Dudley, Belvoir Publications, Inc 2002

“Given enough time, most pesticides eventually cause enough injuries that they are identified as hazards and are removed from the market.

All the “active” ingredients (<1%) in spot-on preparations-such as Frontline, Advantix, Advantage…- have been linked to serious health effects in laboratory animals.

The inert ingredients (99%) used in pesticides are as toxic, or more and are generally need to be tested only for acute toxicity in short-term studies (3-13 weeks using exaggerated dosages to compensate for the short testing periods).

Inert ingredients are protected by industry as “trade secrets” which supersedes the public’s right to know to what we being exposed and the health hazard are resulting from these posures.”

To save our pets from ticks we must poison them and ourselves, wow...

[wander]

Excellent.