And All This Time I Thought They Were Garter Clips....

AirmetTango · Jun 7, 2020

Turns out they’re actually Victorian era tick removers!! :laughing:

Backstory: My elderly neighbor saw me detecting the weedy field behind our neighborhood yesterday evening. Today he calls me over and says, “when I saw you out there, I got concerned because the ticks are supposed to be pretty bad this year. So I thought you could use one of these...” And he hands me the yellow “Tick Remover” :lol:

I didn’t even know such a thing existed, but I was greatly amused by its resemblance to one of the items I found that evening!

Anyways, I’m actually intrigued...if it works, it’ll easily earn a place in my equipment pouch!

Bayoutalker · Jun 7, 2020

Well you know back in those days money was tight. Things had to have multiple uses. [emoji38]

Cliff

Diabolik · Jun 7, 2020

Ticks are really common here as well. I carry a Tick Twister. Similar to what you have only shaped like a tiny crowbar. They actually do work. Good idea to keep in your kit!

Martin_V3i · Jun 7, 2020

I always just yanked ticks off with my fingers, and I've had many ticks in my lifetime. I have never seen a tick remover tool. That other item is lingerie though and doesn't look like it would work well at all for ticks.

The yellow tick remover tool looks interesting, since it could keep the engorged tick's blood from being pinched into your body. With today's scary diseases from ticks, I'm not stubborn against having one of these. Majority of my tick bites were in my earlier years, before Lyme.

ToySoldier · Jun 7, 2020

It's probably better to have that device in your bathroom rather than in your metal detecting bag. Unless you keep your metal detecting bag in your bathroom, but that's just weird.

AirmetTango · Jun 7, 2020

Bayoutalker said:
Well you know back in those days money was tight. Things had to have multiple uses. [emoji38]

Cliff

A garter belt/tick remover combo sort of kills the romance, doesn’t it?? Picture a fetching young Victorian lady seductively undoing part of her garter...and then using it to flick off a tick :lol:

Diabolik said:
Ticks are really common here as well. I carry a Tick Twister. Similar to what you have only shaped like a tiny crowbar. They actually do work. Good idea to keep in your kit!

Interesting - I’ve never seen the Tick Twister before either, but I just Googled it! I like the slimmer design of this Tick Key, it just slides right into one of the small pockets of my tactical pouch I have attached to my trash/finds pouch. Hopefully it’ll work as well as your Tick Twister does for you. I agree, it’s not a bad addition to my detecting kit...one of those things you never knew you needed until you get one. Darn nice of my neighbor to think of me and offer one :yes:

Martin_V3i said:
I always just yanked ticks off with my fingers, and I've had many ticks in my lifetime. I have never seen a tick remover tool. That other item is lingerie though and doesn't look like it would work well at all for ticks.

The yellow tick remover tool looks interesting, since it could keep the engorged tick's blood from being pinched into your body. With today's scary diseases from ticks, I'm not stubborn against having one of these. Majority of my tick bites were in my earlier years, before Lyme.

Yep, that’s basically the way I’ve always always dealt with ticks in the past too...either a fast yank with my fingers, tweezers, my leather man pliers, etc. All those methods are pretty much frowned upon now, I guess, as the pathogens get squeezed into your body like a syringe. Heck, I’m even old enough to remember my parents using a lit match to remove some when I was a kid, which is probably considered especially archaic now! Anywho, I agree, it can’t hurt to give the tool a shot...

And to be clear...yep, I was only kidding about the garter clip - I just thought it was ironic that they had roughly the same shape and I happened to find it on the hunt that my neighbor saw me on. It brought a ludicrous image to mind of a fetching young Victorian lady seductively undoing part of her garter...and then using it to flick off a tick

AirmetTango · Jun 7, 2020

ToySoldier said:
It's probably better to have that device in your bathroom rather than in your metal detecting bag. Unless you keep your metal detecting bag in your bathroom, but that's just weird.

Wait...you don’t keep your finds bag in the bathroom?? :lol:

I like the idea of having it available in my detecting gear, especially since it’s so thin and virtually takes up no space. Better yet, hopefully it stays there and I never get to find out whether it works or not! I understand what you mean, though...given the propensity for ticks to snuggle into unseen spots, it may not always be practical to use the tool in the field. But on the off chance that I find one in an easy to reach place, I like the idea of having an effective method to remove it right away. My understanding is that with early removal (within a couple hours), the chances of any disease transmission is greatly reduced.

ToySoldier · Jun 7, 2020

AirmetTango said:
Wait...you don’t keep your finds bag in the bathroom??

I like the idea of having it available in my detecting gear, especially since it’s so thin and virtually takes up no space. Better yet, hopefully it stays there and I never get to find out whether it works or not! I understand what you mean, though...given the propensity for ticks to snuggle into unseen spots, it may not always be practical to use the tool in the field. But on the off chance that I find one in an easy to reach place, I like the idea of having an effective method to remove it right away. My understanding is that with early removal (within a couple hours), the chances of any disease transmission is greatly reduced.

What? You don't clean your finds in the shower?

Yeah, if I know a tick is on me in the field, then I'm not letting it hang on until I go home and clean up. Disease transmission is close to zero for the first day or two (source below) after it attaches, but nobody wants the heebie jeebies for a few hours. The most recent time I had a tick on me I felt it right away and it hadn't attached yet.

https://www.uptodate.com/contents/w...ite-to-prevent-lyme-disease-beyond-the-basics

Dan B. · Jun 7, 2020

There is several devices out there for removing ticks. I do not carry one with me. Though it is a good idea. You want to pull not crush the tick. I heavily spray my pant legs heavily with 40% Deet. About 6 years ago I had a tick bite that left a nice bullseye on my skin and it swelled up. The doctor treated me for Lyme's disease with antibiotics for quite some time. Here is a card with tick identification and prevention.

nsfr1206 · Jun 7, 2020

Another totally cool factoid about getting rid of ticks. Did you know that it’s estimated an opossum is capable of eating an estimated 5,000 ticks per season? Makes me rethink the little critters. They may not be all that cute but I’d rather have them than ticks I think.

Call Me V · Jun 7, 2020

Hahahaha!

waltr · Jun 7, 2020

nsfr1206 said:
Another totally cool factoid about getting rid of ticks. Did you know that it’s estimated an opossum is capable of eating an estimated 5,000 ticks per season? Makes me rethink the little critters. They may not be all that cute but I’d rather have them than ticks I think.

Knew that chickens and guinea hens eat lots of ticks but didn't know opossum did. Not cute but useful and North America's only marsupial.

AirmetTango · Jun 7, 2020

ToySoldier said:
What? You don't clean your finds in the shower?

Ohhh...you don’t know the trouble I already get in when I’m cleaning stuff in the kitchen sink!! If I started doing it in the shower, it might very well send my wife over the edge :lol:

Kinda makes me think of that scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, when the guy starts making models of Devil’s Tower out of everything - the wife snapped once he started shoveling dirt into the living room...that’d basically be my house if I started using the shower to clean finds :laughing:

ToySoldier said:
...Disease transmission is close to zero for the first day or two (source below) after it attaches, but nobody wants the heebie jeebies for a few hours.

Yes, eliminating the heebie jeebies is almost as high of a priority as avoiding funky diseases! No doubt, once you know one has dug in, all the scholarly knowledge in the world about disease transmission timelines goes out the window, and the heebie jeebie side takes over...that tick would be comin’ off “right now”!

nsfr1206 said:
Another totally cool factoid about getting rid of ticks. Did you know that it’s estimated an opossum is capable of eating an estimated 5,000 ticks per season? Makes me rethink the little critters. They may not be all that cute but I’d rather have them than ticks I think.

waltr said:
Knew that chickens and guinea hens eat lots of ticks but didn't know opossum did. Not cute but useful and North America's only marsupial.

I love this forum!! Where else can you start out talking about ticks and 19th century garter belts, and end up learning something about marsupials!! :lol:

AirmetTango · Jun 7, 2020

Dan B. said:
Here is a card with tick identification and prevention.

I’ve got a similar ID card that I carry in my car, except mine came from the vet. I figure as long as I don’t start taking the dog’s flea and tick meds, the remainder of the info carries over well :lol:

ToySoldier · Jun 8, 2020

AirmetTango said:
Ohhh...you don’t know the trouble I already get in when I’m cleaning stuff in the kitchen sink!! If I started doing it in the shower, it might very well send my wife over the edge

We're on an old septic system that doesn't give us any problems, and I'm trying to keep it that way. All of my finds get cleaned outside or inside in a container and the water is thrown outside. That also includes the coin tumbler water.

And All This Time I Thought They Were Garter Clips....

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