Mini Ticks!

[tickerbox]

We have found 7 ticks on us in less than a week! That is; on me and my family. 3 on my wife, 1 on my son, 1 on my daughter, and 2 on me.

How do you deal with these little critters in your garden??? I'm referring to the little tiny ticks. These suckers are about half a match head in size. We live next to the Lane Cove National Park. There are heaps of Bandicoots in our yard every night. Is there any truth to the bandicoot/tick combo?

Any suggestions are most welcome.

 

[Bluetongue1]

Yes, bandicoots do carry ticks. It is not really possible to help with the ID from the description given and even then my knowledge of tick species is very limited. Your nearest of the Agriculture Department branch or the Australian Museum can ID it. Just preserve specimens in a bit of alcohol.

You do need to correctly remove ticks so that the body is not squeezed, causing the contents of the digestive tube to be regurgitated into the host's blood. You can purchase a hook-shaped set of plastic forceps designed specifically for this job.

The following information is from the following website: http://medent.usyd.edu.au/fact/ticks.htm#treat, which has other likely relevant information as well....
The paralysis tick, to which Bandicoots are immune, seems to be the one to worry about in your area. If you want you can put in a low barrier fence (part underground) to exclude the bandicoots from your yard. The paralysis tick survives in a moist environment. So reducing moisture holding plants, keeping grasses mown low and allowing mulches and soil to at least dry out on top between watering will help. You can also use insect repellent containing DEET or Picaridin. Another good reference with pics is: http://www.pittwateranimalhospital.com.au/ticks.html

Blue

 

[tickerbox]

Thanks Blue for this info. Much appreciated. I have followed the links that you have given me and we are having a guy come out tomorrow to spray repellant. We also removed all the low hanging vegetation from around the clothes line. Cheers.

 

[Bluetongue1]

I deliberately omitted mention of repellant as it is mentioned in the links and I feel that is a decision you needed to make on your own without any outside encouragement form someone who has no experience with it. From what I gather it is the equivalent of getting a yard sprayed for fleas. While ticks do climb vegetation along pathways to wait for a passing animal to brush past, it only low - less than a metre. I have seen them in summer actively walk across a bush path towards me when I sat down to have something to eat. Obviously it was their lunchtime too but something tells me they were not really interested in sharing my Vegemite sandwich...

Good luck with it.
Blue

 

[princessparrot]

What effect would a tick have on a bird?
There's quite a few of them around our new coast house which backs onto wetlands. I've found 8 ticks on myself in my lifetime three of which were from this backyard and my mum had never had any until we got this place and now she's had four. I know we have paralysis ticks in the yard but I'm not sure what the other one is. I think they're bush ticks-tiny, dark brown with all the legs down near its head(unlike the paralysis)

 

[Leasdraco]

The brown ones are bush ticks.
Princessparrot, it depends on the type of bird. Adult native birds are fairly safe from paralysis ticks. Any animals' health can be impacted by a heavy burden of ticks though.

 

[princessparrot]

The brown ones are bush ticks.
Princessparrot, it depends on the type of bird. Adult native birds are fairly safe from paralysis ticks. Any animals' health can be impacted by a heavy burden of ticks though.

the birds are a Quaker, princess parrot and cockatiel

 

[Leasdraco]

Using mite/lice spray should protect cage birds.

 

[tickerbox]

I deliberately omitted mention of repellant as it is mentioned in the links and I feel that is a decision you needed to make on your own without any outside encouragement form someone who has no experience with it. From what I gather it is the equivalent of getting a yard sprayed for fleas. While ticks do climb vegetation along pathways to wait for a passing animal to brush past, it only low - less than a metre. I have seen them in summer actively walk across a bush path towards me when I sat down to have something to eat. Obviously it was their lunchtime too but something tells me they were not really interested in sharing my Vegemite sandwich...

Good luck with it.
Blue

Hahaha, wow, the ticks in your area are keen! :shock: I wish the ones here were actually big enough to be able to see coming.

The garden is now sprayed... let's see what comes of it. They sprayed it with Bifenthren. They also told me that the best time to spray is at the end of summer / beginning of Autumn so it kills the larvae. Since they sprayed now, they will have to come again in 2 months. No problem on my behalf.

The Dr gave me Lyclear (Formaldihyde) cream. It's used for Scabies and other bugs. It kills ticks in about 5 seconds upon contact. Apparently it's better to have them dead before pulling them out so that they're not resisting.

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View attachment 311916

This is what the tick bites look like...

(and I'd rather not explain where that is on my body...) hahaha