# Vampires



## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

Gross! Yuck! Nasty!

TICKS!!!!!!!!!! :gaah:

The little blood suckers are thick this year! I'm about ready to axe my guineas for not doing their JOB!!!!! One would think with the winter we had some of them would have been killed off. :gaah:


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## Littlebit (Apr 20, 2010)

I don't mean to laugh, but thats to funny. Please don,t hurt the guineas. I think animals and insects alike are adapting to the earths changes faster then we are. (It is wise to watch nature and pull ones socks up)


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## Seneschal (Dec 12, 2008)

Lol, the title had me going "Whaaat in the world??? Twilight fans?! THEY INVADE EVERYWHERE."

In retrospect, it was about the same reaction you had to the ticks...

In any case, vampires: sucky things all around. We're already getting a bunch of 'skeeters.


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

Littlebit - You sound like my dad ... when nature speaks, one should listen.
and it wouldn't hunt to pull ones socks up. 

Seneschal - No Twilight fan (but my girls loved it. lol) skeeters  We have not had a big problem with 'those blood suckers' ... We have a large group of bats that live in the ol dairy barn (down the road) and they keep them in check. :2thumb: 

But I do feel your pain ... I remember the skeeters from S.C. they were huge! (makes me itch just thinking about them )


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## Seneschal (Dec 12, 2008)

Haha, we have some bats too, but there's only so much they can do considering we live surrounded by swamp!


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

I only have had problems with leaches and skeeters around here. The city did a good thing a few years back - they decided to quit spraying skeeter-killer and instead spend the money on dragon-flys. The dragon-fly population has seriously controlled the population of skeeters.

I only wish that the city had the dragon-flys before I was WestNile'd


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## allen_idaho (Oct 21, 2009)

The ticks are out in force here already. My two dogs have already brought in four of the little buggers. So I got them some anti tick ointment. Seems to be working pretty well. 

Did you know that ticks are attracted to the Carbon Dioxide that you exhale? I learned that recently.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

I heard that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas - so - maybe we should all stop exhaling carbon dioxide, eh? :wave:


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

Don't have issues with ticks to bad down here but Chiggers is a different story. I'm not looking forward to that itchy debacle.

Trombiculidae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I just learned a lot about them.


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

Chiggers and blackberry picking go hand in hand around here. :surrender: 

There are more vampire critters out there than I was thinking.  lol


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

*Andi said:


> Chiggers and blackberry picking go hand in hand around here. :surrender:
> 
> There are more vampire critters out there than I was thinking.  lol


There are places on lakes around here where the leeches have become an issue. I hate them most of all.


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## Seneschal (Dec 12, 2008)

Oh, ew, leeches? How do you deal with them if/when you get one attached to you? I've heard they can be hard to get off.


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## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

My great grandfather used to keep leeches in case anyone needed to be bled. I am so glad I never had to meet him!


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## Seneschal (Dec 12, 2008)

mdprepper said:


> My great grandfather used to keep leeches in case anyone needed to be bled. I am so glad I never had to meet him!


 I am so glad I wasn't born back when leeches were commonly used in medicine as a cure-all...


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

Seneschal said:


> Oh, ew, leeches? How do you deal with them if/when you get one attached to you? I've heard they can be hard to get off.


I have used a stick from a tree, a "sun-hot" thin rock, chop-sticks ... just stuff to make it want to release. If you have salt handy, that also works to make it release.


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## HozayBuck (Jan 27, 2010)

Well there's always the old Grunt trick of using the lit cigarette.. but in this day and age may be hard to find... But back in the day!! 

As for ticks... I must have something in me because ticks will crawl right across me to jump on somebody else...

I do not feel slighted...

On the other hand, they did have some old time uses..same with maggots... I never understood the " bleeding" thing tho...

another thing about tobacco, a bit of it in the palm of your hand, spit on it and mulch it and put it on a bee or wasp sting, stops the pain right now...


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## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

My son had a tick on his scalp when we were at a friends house. She put a drop of peppermint oil on the tick, it backed out almost instantly.


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

mdprepper said:


> My son had a tick on his scalp when we were at a friends house. She put a drop of peppermint oil on the tick, it backed out almost instantly.


Cool ... I will have to remember that.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

Last summer we were walking a trail; along a small lake up near Lake Pymatuning in NW PA and we found a young turtle with a leech stuck to its shell! I was really surprised that it could penetrate the shell. And why did it go that route rather than just crawl under to the belly?

Naekid-my Aunt's sister (probably late 50/early 60s age range) got the West Nile last fall from a mosquito when she visited one of the Carolinas. I forget exactly where she went. Anyway, she came close to death-they couldn't figure out what the heck was the matter with her for a couple days. It's been many months and she's still not quite right. She gets tired easily, moves slowly, and is very self conscious because she speaks very slowly now. I know you said it took you a LONG time to totally recover and you are young and healthy. 

For older folks (or anyone, really)living around bugs who carry West Nile, it's worth learning about.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

It is almost 4 years now since I was WestNile'd and I am still not the same as I was before being bitten, but, I am able to function fairly normally now. I still get tired quicker than I used to, I need to take more breaks in a day than I used to, I spend more time on the couch or in the tub than I used to, I can't dance the night away like I used to, but, when I dance, I give it my all.

I do realize that I am 4 years older and things do change, but, damn, I have never heard of anyone my age becomming an 80-year-old because of a damn bite. Oh ya - if anyone cares, I am not quite 40 yet.


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## kyfarmer (Feb 22, 2009)

We have the west nile threat here in east KY. but not as bad as the central and west part of the state. The ticks are out in force here. I try to keep the yards low and the edges trimed to. I just found one of my conoes full of water i thought all of my boats were turned over but i forgot one. It had to have had water in it for over a week, more than enough time for a huge hatch. Flat full of wigglers when i turned it over. Simple slip of the mind, musta hatched a couple thousand outa that dang thang. I always try and keep standing water outa stuff and i forgot a granddaddy hatchery.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

Our problem is old unmounted tires. We keep a bunch around for use on wagons. 14 inch car tires do surprisingly well on a hay wagon. Anyway, the darn things always collect water. We can't just get rid of them because we do have a use for them but we are starting to get them moved either under roof or far away from the buildings. We don't have hundreds of them-maybe a total of 20, but it's enough to hold some stagnant water.


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## horseman09 (Mar 2, 2010)

Jason said:


> Our problem is old unmounted tires. We keep a bunch around for use on wagons. 14 inch car tires do surprisingly well on a hay wagon. Anyway, the darn things always collect water. We can't just get rid of them because we do have a use for them but we are starting to get them moved either under roof or far away from the buildings. We don't have hundreds of them-maybe a total of 20, but it's enough to hold some stagnant water.


Jason, one squirt of Absorbine Ultra Shield horse fly spray in each tire will kill the skeeter larvae for the rest of the summer. Wouldn't work well if you had hundreds of tires, but only a few dozen -- easy.


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## rhrobert (Apr 27, 2009)

Wish I was a chick-magnet, unfortunately God had a sense of humor and I'm a tick-magnet.
Spent a couple hours going over my new property, and came home with 9 LoneStar ticks Lone Star Tick My son had 5, and my wife 1...guess you know who does the traipsing 
I gotta get it fenced, and get a coop up there soon.


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

I spent most of my weekend outside and man the Mosquitoes are out in full force.


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

A couple of those drier sheets rolled up and pinned to you will run off skeeters.

A light mist of kerosene on your trouser cuffs will keep away the chiggers and ticks,just don't get too close to the camp fire!


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## HozayBuck (Jan 27, 2010)

I have a very interesting thing with Ticks.. they will walk right over me to get on somebody else... never understood it, thought for a while it was the Jim Beam in my blood but no...quit that many years ago... should I feel slighted by this?.....


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

mdprepper said:


> My son had a tick on his scalp when we were at a friends house. She put a drop of peppermint oil on the tick, it backed out almost instantly.


Just a note (and a thanks to mdpepper) The peppermint oil and ticks WORKS! Thanks again! We have had to use this more than a few times this year ... :2thumb:


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## wolfwhisper (Aug 13, 2010)

The skeeters in georgia this year are bad as well, in my eyes they are huge. i'm always the one with a target on them to start sucking, i must have blood they love


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## wolfwhisper (Aug 13, 2010)

peppermit oil works will to repelling mice as well. any openings you think they are getting in at just pour it around, helps out alot in winter time:congrat:


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## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

When I worked in a grocery store, we would wipe the inside of the bakery "sweet" cases (donut, danish, cinnamon bums, etc) with peppermint extract to keep out the gnats.

Andi, I am glad it worked for you!


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## HarleyRider (Mar 1, 2010)

Mosquitoes are the State Bird of Florida. Those salt water marsh mosquitoes are so bad they could suck blood out of a rock.


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