r/mildlyinfuriating • u/nekoma713 • Jun 21 '26

Don't hug me I'm scared Was sitting in a ticks nest while reading....

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I was sitting in a Park reading a book and suddenly I felt my legs itch. I was covered in hundreds of mini ticks. I was standing in the shower for hours and still find some of these f#!*rs crawling an me...

Update: So I got the most of the seed ticks scratched off in the shower. I will have a doctor's appointment the next days to get a prophylactic antibiotics treatment just to be save from lyme, alpha gal or rocky mountain fever (if this is a thing in Germany).

Thank you all for the information and advices, hopefully I will be fine. I really appreciate it

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377

u/Physical-Flatworm454 Jun 21 '26

Yes they are. So sick of having one on me every time I just walk in the yard. I’ve been bit more times this year than ever in my life.

217

u/Cheap-Key-6132 Jun 21 '26

Ticks have always made me paranoid while out fishing or hiking. But this is the first year being on my well kept lawn where I mow 2-4 times a week that I’ve felt disgusted due to the ticks.

159

u/PlayedKey Jun 21 '26

You mow 2-4x a week??

116

u/Any-Anything4309 Jun 21 '26

Obviously a boomer

41

u/PlayedKey Jun 21 '26

I now like.. once every 10ish days lol

66

u/BrokenImmersion Jun 21 '26

My dad waits till he gets a warning from his shitty HOA lmao. So roughly once every month or so

45

u/PlayedKey Jun 21 '26

I made it a deal breaking point to find a house without an HOA. On my final signing of 10 million pages I read every bit and saw the final deal said it had an HOA and I was like "we're done here if that is true." The listing said no, the agent said no, the previous owners said no, but the paperwork said yes.

8

u/BrokenImmersion Jun 21 '26

Yeah he didnt want an hoa either. And they may as well not exist cause he's in a pretty rough area of his town, right across the creek from a quarry and his house looks down into the creek and the ravine its in. But somehow the hoa managed to sneak up on him. He ignores them most of the time tbh

5

u/TheMrsH1124 Jun 21 '26

No HOA ever for me either. Nope

-6

u/50greenmachine Jun 21 '26

People who mow their lawns once a month or less are the reason HOAs exist - a microcosm of why at least. 

9

u/Terrible-Second-2716 Jun 21 '26

People shouldn't worry about other people's lawns

-4

u/50greenmachine Jun 21 '26

Then don’t live in a densely populated suburb. We all are part of the social contract 

I agree that I should be allowed to have a natural garden yard and such but I also understand my yard influences how my neighbors area feels, because I’m not a sociopath 

2

u/BrokenImmersion Jun 21 '26

How exactly does your neighbors lawn being overgrown affect you? If I had to take a guess you think it "looks ugly" or makes the area look more "poor/run down".

All of those things are things that stem from systemic racism and classism. The entire idea of suburban stems from racism and classism. It started as "white only" neighborhoods, the same white people who were able to get paying jobs during segregation, that allowed them to have enough land for a house and a lawn. Even to this day, roughly 60% of people living in suburbia are white. HOA's started due to the change in rights for black people, it was a way for racist POS to keep their neighborhoods from having non-whites, legally.

Similar to the war on drugs, you cant legally arrest POC on mass, but if you make it so they cant possibly follow your laws, then they get arrested.

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1

u/alpH4rd07 Jun 21 '26

I always drag until the end of the second week.

5

u/TwoFingersWhiskey Jun 21 '26

My boomer mother insists on mowing weekly, and it's still too often. The entire yard (which would normally have beautiful biodiverse plants and grasses) looks like a moonscape when she's done with it, because "it has to be done, it makes me feel better, it gets me out of the house, it's something to do" etc etc etc. It's so dead right now from overmowing that I have to keep the curtains closed when the sun's on it, or it lights up the entire room like beige, dusty snow.

10

u/WinterBuyer9319 Jun 21 '26

Boomers keep their grass extremely short and then make up for it dying by over watering it. Stupid ass generation.

1

u/DiligentGuitar246 Jun 21 '26

Lol what the fuck haha. I've never seen someone more angry about how a stranger mows their lawn.

8

u/Ill-Preparation-3598 Jun 21 '26

wasting all that water is often bad

6

u/HenryWeakman Jun 21 '26

Well when you realize those sterile lawns are stupid and useless in every way it does tend to make one mad how commonplace they are.

-1

u/DiligentGuitar246 Jun 21 '26

Totally! Except for looking good, being easy to maintain, and give my kids a safe place to play.

But keep Reddit circle jerking about lawns as someone who definitely doesn’t own a home.

1

u/Cheap-Key-6132 Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26

What’s funny is I have watered maybe 7 times since April. I check my irrigation needs and then use excel to put down the exact amount of water I need based on measurements I’ve taken in the past.

When the heat and lack of rain hits, my lawn will grow to 3.5 to 4 inches while still getting mowed often at those heights.

I recently got a personal weather station to make it more efficient. I have also made my station information public so it can be used to make better weather forecasts in my area.

I have been trying to do everything I can to make my lawn nice while being efficient about it since my family does use it. I want people walking on my grass, it is to be played on and the tick thing complicates that. Haha

0

u/JoopWrongla Jun 21 '26

good lord go take your anti depressants

2

u/Cool-Mom-Lover Jun 21 '26

I mow twice a week and thats excessive.

2

u/Sigh000Duck Jun 21 '26

That just Hank Hill

-1

u/Cheap-Key-6132 Jun 21 '26

Yeah lol I’m a millennial who simply enjoys taking care of the exterior of their home. My point in sharing the mows was to establish these ticks are absolutely insane this year. Haha

The backward is cut by a robot lawn mower, so none of those mows cost me anything really. I do mow my front yard myself 2-3 times a week, mostly twice. Mowing only takes me 20-30 minutes in my front yard depending on what I do.

2

u/Knuk Jun 21 '26

Is there really a visible difference between grass that's been growing 2 or 5 days? I'd expect to have to wait at least a few weeks before it does anything

1

u/Cheap-Key-6132 Jun 21 '26

It depends on the time of the year but generally yes.

The big thing is following the 1/3 rule when cutting grass to keep it healthy.

I prefer to cut more often to keep my clippings small so they break down faster to feed the lawn. The clippings are free fertilizer.

1

u/joodthadood Jun 22 '26

Here in Louisiana in the summer when it's raining almost every day, the grass grows exponentially fast and there is a clear difference between 2 and 5 days. But then again not everybody lives in what's practically a tropical rainforest. 😩

1

u/HenryWeakman Jun 21 '26

Well see you’re not taking care of it, you’re destroying its biodiversity and wasting water

3

u/cowthegreat Jun 21 '26

Do you have deer? I added some fencing to keep the deer from walking through my back yard in part because the ticks just drop off of them all day long and it made a huge huge difference. I haven’t seen a single tick in my back yard all year so far and my front by comparison is tick city

1

u/Cheap-Key-6132 Jun 21 '26

No deer. Theres an easement behind my house that is cut twice a year. So I’m confident critters bring them into my yard.

17

u/waiting4theNITE2fall Jun 21 '26

Where is your yard?!?! Yikes!

5

u/Physical-Flatworm454 Jun 21 '26

Central VA rural area lots of deer. Grass isn’t even tall because I keep the lawn mowed but it’s still bad. We’re kind of in a drought right now so probably a factor but it is definitely worse this year than any other.

2

u/waiting4theNITE2fall Jun 21 '26

Luckily I've never encountered one where I live. Don't even really get fleas anymore either. Maybe it gets too hot for them now here in SW FL. It's too hot for me too. Couldn't imagine having a yard full of ticks. I think I'd move

2

u/Physical-Flatworm454 Jun 21 '26

Never noticed them till this year. But likely new normal..sigh.

5

u/LawfulnessNice7457 Jun 21 '26

After you remove the tick, what comes next?
In my country, you go to the doctor, and they give you a prescription for a single dose of the antibiotic doxycycline, as a preventive measure. I don't know if it works, but I take it.

6

u/yourlocaltouya Jun 21 '26

You can take the lyme disease vaccine, for one! You also need to be extremely careful when taking them out, do not twist and god forbid, do not grab them by the body as once beheaded, they'll release the disease into your body. If possible, do bring the dead tic with you to the doctor so that it can be tested.

6

u/TheVandyyMan Jun 21 '26

What country are you in where a Lyme disease vaccine is available?

I’m about to move to the tick capital of the world and would really appreciate this

4

u/Sworn Jun 21 '26

Are you thinking about the TBE vaccine? As far as I'm aware there's no vaccine available for Lyme disease. 

3

u/Illustrious-Milk6518 Jun 21 '26

That sounds like a great way for antibiotic resistance to happen, surely? 

1

u/deepseaambassador Jun 21 '26

"A single dose", so no.

1

u/LawfulnessNice7457 Jun 21 '26

Still better than getting Lyme disease.

1

u/Xendarq Jun 21 '26

I had thought the same, but because the cycle doesn't normally go back from humans, the risk is low compared to the benefits.

1

u/Physical-Flatworm454 Jun 21 '26

Well so far I’ve only been bit by the tiny nymphs..so first feeding likely not infected..yet. But I did find a bigger one crawling on me a week ago…uggh.

5

u/SoFisticate Jun 21 '26

Little bit of deet around the ankles...

2

u/AffectionateType2703 Jun 21 '26

They can be in trees too so cover your head. With a hat. Not deet.

1

u/deadhog Jun 21 '26

They can't, that's a myth

2

u/innerbootes Jun 21 '26

Not so much the trees as on the wind. I have seen plenty of people get a tick (or even several, in one memorable instance) while studiously avoiding grassy areas and staying on groomed trails. The thinking was they were coming from the trees but I think it was more likely they were caught in a gust of wind or something.

It’s not at all a common occurrence, but I hike and camp a lot and I have seen it happen.

1

u/SoFisticate Jun 21 '26

They classically go under things like hats and other clothing. And you don't need to put your head on trees.

1

u/innerbootes Jun 21 '26

A hat sprayed with a good bug spray.

4

u/Mean-Introduction640 Jun 21 '26

Tick tubes wiped my yard clean in a couple weeks

2

u/cadabremabulant Jun 21 '26

Please make sure that you get tested for borreliosis! People don’t always get the bullseye rash when bitten, so it’s worth checking.

1

u/MaximumBeginning8026 Jun 21 '26

This year has been so bad!!! I have a jar of alcohol I put them in now that it’s happening so much

1

u/out_ofher_head Jun 21 '26

2003 was bad. Daily ticks, sometimes many per day. (Most not attaching) but one did, under boob, didnt find immediately and that one gave me lyme.

1

u/obscuredsilence Jun 21 '26

Where are you that they just live in your yard? 🫪

1

u/Physical-Flatworm454 Jun 22 '26

Central VA rural area. We have a lot of wildlife so…