Ticks

[ZEROPILOT]

I wonder if @ALDABRAMAN or @ZEROPILOT have a problem with ticks?

No
In fact I've never seen a tick in Florida.
I found them almost every day when I was a kid in South Carolina.
I spent a lot more time in the woods back then.

 

[Pastel Tortie]

No
In fact I've never seen a tick in Florida.
I found them almost every day when I was a kid in South Carolina.
I spent a lot more time in the woods back then.

We have ticks in North Florida. And woods. And deer.
Those are probably related.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

We have ticks in North Florida. And woods. And deer.
Those are probably related.

Probably
There is very little in the way of wild mammals around here.
Maybe a feral cat.....Or 20.
This area is suburbia.
The Everglades are a few miles away.

 

[Ray--Opo]

You don't happen to remember what year that was, do you?

It was the mid nineties.

 

[Ray--Opo]

Probably
There is very little in the way of wild mammals around here.
Maybe a feral cat.....Or 20.
This area is suburbia.
The Everglades are a few miles away.

I always checked for ticks when I was in the woods in Michigan. I had a friend who got lyme disease from a tick bite. Pretty much messed him up when he had a episode. Those were very small ticks.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Tons of “deer ticks” here, all over in our back woods. Can pretty much guarantee one or two on your arms or legs after a walk in the back garden. Nasty little buggers. Perfect conditions here.

 

[Ray--Opo]

A little trivia. They named it Lyme disease after a outbreak in Lyme Connecticut.

 

[Jacqui]

A little trivia. They named it Lyme disease after a outbreak in Lyme Connecticut.

I didn't know that.

 

[Pastel Tortie]

It was the mid nineties.

That sort of makes me feel better. I mean, I think that's consistent with the timeline. We had an infested premises in Florida, but that wasn't what got folks riled up, got things moving nationally. It was something earlier, somewhere else. It could have been Ohio/Kentucky. That sort of flickers at the back of my mind, but it was a couple decades or more ago. It probably made it into an academic paper. The expert on exotic ticks was at UF... name of Michael Burridge.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

I wonder if @ALDABRAMAN or @ZEROPILOT have a problem with ticks?

~ Never ticks. Bot flys many years ago, one female had them.

Video's @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/TORTOISETALKGROUP/

 

[Tom]

~ Never ticks. Bot flys many years ago, one female had them.
View attachment 301916
Video's @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/TORTOISETALKGROUP/

That ain't no female in your pic! Not with a tail like that.

How are you my friend? Glad to see you posting! Also glad you don't have tortoise ticks there.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

That ain't no female in your pic!

~ LOL

 

[Ray--Opo]

That sort of makes me feel better. I mean, I think that's consistent with the timeline. We had an infested premises in Florida, but that wasn't what got folks riled up, got things moving nationally. It was something earlier, somewhere else. It could have been Ohio/Kentucky. That sort of flickers at the back of my mind, but it was a couple decades or more ago. It probably made it into an academic paper. The expert on exotic ticks was at UF... name of Michael Burridge.

Do you think those ticks I experienced were that exotic species?

 

[BrookeB]

Ok so the ticks are absolutely gross and I’m happy to know that we don’t have the kind of ticks tortoises get here in California. But is anyone else really bothered by the fact that a teenager has some of the most expensive and rare tortoises in the world (ok maybe I’m just jealous?) But on top of that he kept like hitting them? idk if it’s just me but I was practically yelling at my phone telling him to stop hitting them lmao... I don’t like any of the YouTubers that are tortoise keepers, all the information and care they talk about just ends up frustrating me ??‍♀️

 

[Ray--Opo]

Ok so the ticks are absolutely gross and I’m happy to know that we don’t have the kind of ticks tortoises get here in California. But is anyone else really bothered by the fact that a teenager has some of the most expensive and rare tortoises in the world (ok maybe I’m just jealous?) But on top of that he kept like hitting them? idk if it’s just me but I was practically yelling at my phone telling him to stop hitting them lmao... I don’t like any of the YouTubers that are tortoise keepers, all the information and care they talk about just ends up frustrating me ??‍♀️

I agree! To think I was depending on YouTube info when I first got Opo.
It was a blessing to finally find TFO.

 

[Pastel Tortie]

Do you think those ticks I experienced were that exotic species?

Our native, North American ticks don't get that big.
If it engorges to the size of a nickel (no exaggerating), it's exotic.

 

[Pastel Tortie]

Do you think those ticks I experienced were that exotic species?

I don't know what species of exotic tick they would have been, but if they swelled up to the size of a nickel, they weren't native. So I'm sort of relieved you're talking about something that occurred in the 1990s.

I'm a little curious, though. This thread keeps going long enough, and I might be motivated enough to go looking.

 

[Farcryjj]

I saw a video online that showed a guy with a couple of 3 year old Galapagos tortoises. Not sure where he was located.
But each tortoise had 5 or 6 ticks on them.
He was showing how he removed the ticks. He mentioned that he had done it the week before also.
Living in Florida do I need to be concerned? I know in other states they are a big problem.
Does anyone have a problem with ticks?

I was watching Kamp Kenan YouTube before for a while. His camp locates in South Florida, where he keeps a huge amount of tortoises and turtles. It seems that very often his tortoises have ticks. His friends' tortoises also have ticks. I thought ticks is a common issue in Florida...

 

[Pastel Tortie]

I was watching Kamp Kenan YouTube before for a while. His camp locates in South Florida, where he keeps a huge amount of tortoises and turtles. It seems that very often his tortoises have ticks. His friends' tortoises also have ticks. I thought ticks is a common issue in Florida...

Regular, normal North American ticks, yes. Depending on what part of Florida you're in, apparently. Where we have woods and wilderness, we have ticks.

Just not exotic ticks. If those show up, we have a problem.

 

[Pastel Tortie]

Ticks generally prefer some hosts over others, and their preferences in hosts may change with different stages of the tick's life cycle. However, if its preferred host species is not on the available menu, a hungry bloodsucking parasite may feed on other available, less-preferred hosts.