There are some pretty scary critters in the Wisconsin woods these days.
A few weeks ago the dog scared up a snake that looked like a cobra. It hissed and raised up and spread out the sides of its neck. A careful look reassured me there were no rattles on the tail and I was positive cobras do not inhabit the wilds of Wisconsin. Of course, there’s always the possibility it could have escaped from somewhere like that ‘gator the other day. (A found alligator was reported on in the Events earlier)
I guess many animals take on characteristics of their more lethal cousins as a protection. But one wonders how this snake knew we’d all seen those flute playing snake charming pictures from India. We carefully helped the visitor into a bucket and relocated him.
We haven’t had a snapping turtle sighting lately. Occasionally we’d spot him surfacing in the middle of the pond. We don’t swim in the pond anymore – too scary. My uncle confronted him on a path a few years ago. By his account the thing was huge, prehistoric looking and didn’t stand down an inch.
But, by far, the scariest of all of critters in the woods is the lowly tick. Every year we say, “bad year for ticks because of … mild winter, late winter, wet spring…” With the threat of Lyme disease the discovery of a tick somewhere on the body sends us to visions of bubonic plague, or the specter of a long, unidentifiable and incurable illness. No matter that the disease can be treated fairly easily once diagnosed with antibiotics. And also never mind that ticks that give us and our animals Lyme disease are not the ones we are horrified to find attached to our scalp under the hair like a little scab.
The Lyme disease ticks are only a little bigger than the period at the end of this sentence. I know, because I’ve seen ones they have on display at the Baraboo hospital urgent care clinic.
I have many memories of scary ticks. When I was about ten or eleven I got a tick imbedded on my thigh. These were the days when the recommended treatment was to burn the little thing until it “backed out” of the skin. I guess I screamed and had quite a fit, I’ve repressed most of the ordeal.
Now, when I find a tick on my dog or even (shudder) on me, I get a good hold of it down by the head and yank. If a little skin comes off with it so much the better, that means you didn’t leave any parts imbedded (dire, un-nameable consequences – leaving something imbedded).
They are found much more often on the dog than on people and if they are not removed right away they can swell up to the size of a grape. Yuck.
This information is all in the category of “family tick lore” so I thought I better get some more “official” information for this story. Consulting the internet only increased my tick paranoia since now I know it is also possible to get Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever from a wood tick and also Colorado Tick Fever. But there was nothing about these diseases in Wisconsin; only Colorado, Washington, Idaho and Montana.
I was glad to find that my method of grasping the tick near the place it is imbedded and pulling it out is recommended, although one site said the tick would disengage. I don’t want to wait even a millisecond for the thing to disengage.
Most sites also recommended insect repellent to discourage ticks and tucking socks in pantlegs while walking in tall grass or wooded areas. The University of Wisconsin Urban Horticulture website (http://www.uwex.edu/ces/wihort/pests/DeerTicks.htm) says it takes a deer tick (one of those small ones) 24 or 48 hours of feeding before they can transmit Lyme disease – that’s some comfort.
“Tick checks, everybody.”
June 24, 2002
Addendum, September 6,2009 As I transfer my dated Family Times columns to my new website, I found this one, written in a lighthearted manner. It is very ironic since at some point during my life in the Dells I did contract Lyme disease. It wasn’t diagnosed at that time — no bulls eye rash that would have alerted me.
It was finally diagnosed years later after my move to Minnesota by a very persistent MD who ruled out lots of things before ordering an extensive test for Lyme. I am now on the mend and feeling stronger, but it has taken nearly a year of treatment with various antibiotics and supplements. The warning in this column is real.