Not the sort of tick I'm after


I was scratching my stomach yesterday morning (it's a bloke thing), when my finger nail detected a hard object inside my navel. It was what I suspected it was - a tick. It certainly didn't want to give up its comfy spot and was a devil to pull off, but looking at the image above I think I got it all. If you find yourself ticked, just pull it off (that enough double entendres!) with a pair of tweezers - do not use a naked flame or neat alcohol.

I have now filled said navel with Vaseline (other brands of petroleum jelly are available) because this will apparently do harm to anything living that might be left. There is now one less bit of mystery about me as I have fessed up to having a concave navel and not one of those sticky out ones.

It is sore around the site, a bit inflamed, but Lyme's Disease is still not suspected. If I get flu-like symptoms in the next week or two I'll start to panic.

By the way, if anybody knows what species the tick is, please let me know. I can then tick the tick!

Comments

Mark G. Telfer said…
Steve,
I recently discovered that you can send your ticks here and get them identified:
http://www.hpa.org.uk/Topics/InfectiousDiseases/InfectionsAZ/Ticks/TickRecordingScheme/

My first tick tick was Ixodes ricinus. They even posted the specimen back to me.
Mark
12 June 2012 at 21:05
Gavin Haig said…
Steve, I think yours too is Ixodes ricinus (Sheep Tick). I used the following site (recommended by Andrew Cunningham) to identify the little beastie stuck in my calf a couple of months back, and it came up with the same ID. Same basic link as Mark's, but some helpful photos...

http://www.hpa.org.uk/Topics/InfectiousDiseases/InfectionsAZ/Ticks/TickSpeciesProfiles/001Residentspecies/

Tick equivalent of Dunnock, clearly.
12 June 2012 at 23:24
Steve Gale said…
Thanks chaps - my tick knowledge will go forward in leaps and bounds....
13 June 2012 at 09:01
Nyctalus said…
Quality post Steve. One concludes then that ticks are not repelled by fluff. We have a gripping little book in our house called 'Arthropod Vectors of Disease'. It describes the mechanisms by which ticks transmit infections to people thus - 'by persistent salivation, by extrusion of coxal fluid, or copious defaecation' and I offer that by way of encouragement to inspect all your other concave crevices.
Allan
13 June 2012 at 20:32
Steve Gale said…
I feel even grubbier now Allan!
13 June 2012 at 20:43
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