Are tarp campers more likely to get ticks?

[Just Tom]

Being at ground-zero for Lyme disease, this question has been on my mind lately.

Does utilizing a tarp setup without a bug net, or with only a partial bug net, make you more likely to get a tick? I know that ticks don't jump, they effectively hitch a ride as a potential host animanl passes by. But I've also read that adult male ticks "quest", seeking out the best place to locate an animal host. Does that include actually locating and climbing on a sleeping hiker?

Thoughts, opinions, evidence?

[Walkintom]

I get 95% of my ticks while hiking, not while in camp.

I suppose you might be *slightly* more likely to get a tick without an enclosed sleeping area but I certainly wouldn't consider it a factor worth worry.

[Damn Yankee]

ticks as well as mosquitos are attracted by carbine dioxide gas our body produces. While it may be true that you may get more while hiking by brushing up on grass and shrubs, I would not want to sleep without some sort of screen to protect me.

[Lyle]

I throw in with Walkintom, but maybe that's just because I use a tarp and want to feel better. Never seemed to have any great problem with ticks while tarp camping. I don't think they like crossing the ground cloth, also, pay attention to where you set up, bare ground/short grass would offer less hospitable area for the ticks.

[Just Tom]

The room seems divided so far. I am surprised this isn't something that has come up before. I wonder how far a tick can travel in an 8 hour span, and if it would be pure luck to find a sleeping warm body or if they have any kind of range beyond say a foot or so to be able to detect CO2 as suggested above. For a tick, 2 feet is like a mile right?

[Tuckahoe]

Ticks like tall grasses and leaf litter. So while there is a potential for tick exposure while in camp, in my experience most folks pick up ticks on a trail, especially when they hug one side of the trail coming into contact with standing vegetation. Trails mean traffic, and that means something to latch onto. Aimlessly wandering the woods means less opportunity to latch onto an animal.

[Miner]

I've been using a tarp since 2007 and cowboy camp often. Never picked one up in camp. Picked up several while hiking though.

I know since I check myself after getting to camp by stripping down and going through everything. Never found one in the morning when doing a quick check before getting dressed in case I missed one the night before.

That said, if you pick a camp in the middle of them, you'll likely have poorer results. In recent years, I treat everything with permithrin, including my gear; my pack seemed more prone to picking them up. Works for both ticks and mosquitoes.

[1234]

The room seems divided so far. I am surprised this isn't something that has come up before.

I wonder how far a tick can travel in an 8 hour span, and if it would be pure luck to find a sleeping warm body or if they have any kind of range beyond say a foot or so to be able to detect CO2 as suggested above. For a tick, 2 feet is like a mile right?

Sorry no offense but I had to chuckle, Have you ever been the first one out on the trail on a summer day? You will walk through miles and miles of spider webs. Do spiders fly? Are spiders about the size of a tick? Do ticks have 8 legs? Me thinks spiders can out walk hikers.

[Just Tom]

Ha, I certainly have gotten my face full of webs a few times Though the ticks I worry about (deer ticks) are far, far smaller than most spiders, and have no webs to help then catch a draft and relocate.

Interestingly, in the Straightforward forum there is a thread on ticks where posters claim that camp is where you will get most of your ticks as opposed to the trail. Opposite of some opinions here (and I guess opposite my own experience).

I guess that is the issue really, we all have anecdotes, but less science.

[Walkintom]

I have had ticks fall out of trees on me in my yard where that meant a drop of 30+ feet. They can get into some odd places.

However I maintain that the majority of tick/person encounters occur when a person travels to the tick who lies in wait on grass or shrubbery. It's just their MO.

[QiWiz]

Ticks hang out on grasses or brush waiting for you to walk by so they can transfer to you and start to look for a good spot to embed. Not impossible, but VERY much less likely to have a tick latch onto you while you are under a tarp, not moving around.

[MuddyWaters]

Being at ground-zero for Lyme disease, this question has been on my mind lately.

Does utilizing a tarp setup without a bug net, or with only a partial bug net, make you more likely to get a tick? I know that ticks don't jump, they effectively hitch a ride as a potential host animanl passes by. But I've also read that adult male ticks "quest", seeking out the best place to locate an animal host. Does that include actually locating and climbing on a sleeping hiker?

Thoughts, opinions, evidence?

They are certainly NOT less likely.

[Jim Adams]

2 thrus, 2 tarps, 2 ticks...both while walking.

[Pedaling Fool]

I would say no if you're sleeping on typical hard-packed, vegetation-free areas, including areas with no mulch/leaf litter. They very much need humidity, that's how they drink. If you're sleeping in heavy mulchy areas or on grasses, then maybe... http://www.asknature.org/strategy/f7...4#.VTY6PLmlGM8


Summary

"The ability to absorb water vapor from the atmosphere enables ticks to survive without drinking water for many months. The tick rehydrates using a three-stage process. First, it uses its foremost pair of legs to detect microregions of high humidity, such as those surrounding water droplets. Once a suitable water source is detected, the tick secretes a hydrophilic solution from its mouth. Once it is saturated, the tick draws the now hydrated secretion back into its mouth. The secretion is a hygroscopic salt solution. Once ejected from the mouth, the solution dries at low ambient humidities, leaving a crystalline substance behind. When the humidity increases, the hydrophilic crystalline substance dissolves and is swallowed back into the body of the tick. The adaptation allows exophilic ticks to absorb water vapor from close to saturation down to 43% relative humidity. Mites and soil-dwelling arachnids use a similar mechanism to absorb water vapor. This strategy might inspire innovation in the development of desiccants, building envelope design, and HVAC engineering." (Biomimicry Guild unpublished report)

"The salivary glands are the organs of osmoregulation in ticks and, as such, are critical to the biological success of ticks both during the extended period off the host and also during the feeding period on the host. Absorption of water vapour from unsaturated air into hygroscopic fluid produced by the salivary glands permit the tick to remain hydrated and viable during the many months between blood-meals. When feeding, the tick is able to return about 70% of the fluid and ion content of the blood-meal into the host by salivation into the feeding site. This saliva also contains many bioactive protein and lipid components that aid acquisition of the blood-meal. The salivary glands are the site of pathogen development and the saliva the route of transmission. The importance of the multifunctional salivary glands to tick survival and vector competency makes the glands a potential target for intervention." (Bowman and Sauer 2004:S67)

[joshuasdad]

Ticks are less active in colder temperatures (I think 50 F is the magic number), so it would make sense that it would be easier to get a tick during the warm day, rather than the cool/cold night. That being said, I usually slept in an enclosed tent. Picked up only one lone star tick climbing from the James River in the heat of July.