Perhaps at this point it is common knowledge that ticks on Nantucket are rampant and can give you Lyme disease or worse.
It is best practice to wear light clothes if you are going to be out in the woods tramping around, this makes it easier to see ticks crawling on your clothes. We also make it a habit to be certain to bathe on the days we are out walking. Just having the kids naked makes it possible to see into all of the places the ticks like to hide (behind ears, between toes and on the inside of the groin). Deer ticks range in size from poppy seed size to apple seed size. They are pretty easily seen if you are looking.
If you find one of the little parasites stuck to one of your kids, you should remove the tick with a tweezers – grabbing not the body but the head as close to the skin as you can get. Then clean the area with alcohol and dispose of the tick – I throw them down the toilet. Don’t panic, ticks have to be attached for over 24 hours to infect a victim.
Photo Courtesy of American Lyme Disease Foundation
Watch the area for a bulls eye rash. The rash can take up to a month to show itself, so exercise some patience and don’t dismiss your patient! It may be long after you have returned your Nantucket Cribs baby rental equipment and returned home.
Also, not all ticks are infected with Lyme disease – so the chances that if you are bitten and infected are not really as large as they seem.
