With the warmth and the beginning of Quest season this past month, I’ve dealt will my fair share of ticks. Questing can be fickle. Many of the Valley Quests are along trails, or lead through tall grassy fields–places my mortal enemy resides, waiting to cling to clothes and crawl onto skin.
Ticks make me squirm. But I can’t let that keep me from enjoying the special places Valley Quest’s lead me to.
Since the ticks have come out, I’ve developed–or rather looked up–some tactics on keeping those blood-suckers at bay.
- Wear light-colored clothing
- Ticks are often blackish brown or grey and can be more easily spotted on outerwear while out in the woods.
- Tuck your pants into your socks–although this isn’t fashionable, it will protect you from having ticks crawl up your leg–ticks have a tendency to crawl lightly without being noticed.
- Use a lint roller after Questing in the woods, and grassy terrains.
- This will again help with ticks that have yet to crawl under your clothes. Be sure to use a few sheets to pick up what you can before doing a full-on tick check.
- Wear tick repellant
- DEET, though smelly, is a relatively effective tick repellent. However, ticks can still bite you if you’re wearing DEET alone.
- Permethrin, a clothing treatment, can actually kill ticks on contact, but is a more severe measure to take, as you must soak your clothes in the stuff and it only lasts a few washes.
The above tips are only preventative measures. It is also very important to complete thorough tick checks right after a Quest or other outdoor activities!