Post by jes on Oct 13, 2015 17:04:07 GMT -5
After riding this past Saturday, I had the pleasure of finding 12 larval Lone Star ticks crawling on me. Needless to say, this not how you want to finish your day of riding.
Vowing to not have it happen again I decided to educate myself on Tick prevention. During the course of my online study, I learned that simply spraying yourself with Deep Woods Off doesn't adequately protect you from these blood thirsty/disease carrying insects.
The answer is simple but two-fold, DEET for your exposed skin and Permethrin for your clothing. DEET is ineffective on your clothing and it doesn't stop the ticks. Conversely, permethrin is ineffective on your skin.
Permethrin is a neurotoxin. However, it is not known to harm most mammals or birds. Warning, it is dangerously toxic to fish and to cats (in cats it may induce hyperexcitability, tremors, seizures, and even death). In general, it has a low mammalian toxicity and is poorly absorbed by skin. The good news for us is that permethrin is over 2,500 times more toxic to ticks then it is to you.
To ensure you're fully protected you need to pretreat your riding gear (or work clothing) with a 0.5% Permethrin based soak or spray. You must apply a minimum of three ounces of formula to each article of clothing (i.e., six ounces per outfit, and your socks and gloves count into the six ounces). It doesn't matter whether the garment is a size small or extra large, you are simply seeking to apply the molecules in three ounces of formula to adequately protect you. You can apply more formula and it does offer more protection, but it will not last any longer. After you've thoroughly treated them you need to hang them up to dry for at least two hours. After your clothes are treated, the permethrin remains effective for six wash cycles. If you encounter any ticks while wearing your treated clothes the ticks will either just drop off and look for someone else or even better, actually die.
Hopefully this will help you from becoming the main course on a tick's menu.
Vowing to not have it happen again I decided to educate myself on Tick prevention. During the course of my online study, I learned that simply spraying yourself with Deep Woods Off doesn't adequately protect you from these blood thirsty/disease carrying insects.
The answer is simple but two-fold, DEET for your exposed skin and Permethrin for your clothing. DEET is ineffective on your clothing and it doesn't stop the ticks. Conversely, permethrin is ineffective on your skin.
Permethrin is a neurotoxin. However, it is not known to harm most mammals or birds. Warning, it is dangerously toxic to fish and to cats (in cats it may induce hyperexcitability, tremors, seizures, and even death). In general, it has a low mammalian toxicity and is poorly absorbed by skin. The good news for us is that permethrin is over 2,500 times more toxic to ticks then it is to you.
To ensure you're fully protected you need to pretreat your riding gear (or work clothing) with a 0.5% Permethrin based soak or spray. You must apply a minimum of three ounces of formula to each article of clothing (i.e., six ounces per outfit, and your socks and gloves count into the six ounces). It doesn't matter whether the garment is a size small or extra large, you are simply seeking to apply the molecules in three ounces of formula to adequately protect you. You can apply more formula and it does offer more protection, but it will not last any longer. After you've thoroughly treated them you need to hang them up to dry for at least two hours. After your clothes are treated, the permethrin remains effective for six wash cycles. If you encounter any ticks while wearing your treated clothes the ticks will either just drop off and look for someone else or even better, actually die.
Hopefully this will help you from becoming the main course on a tick's menu.