Louse in my House

If you live in Costa Rica, you probably have dogs. If you have dogs, eventually (especially during rainy season), you will have ticks. I have not had a problem for almost five years but two weeks ago, I had an EXPLOSION of ticks in my house.

Macha (one of my dogs) was watching a dot on the wall and it sparked my curiosity to see what had caught her intense interest. From my perspective, it just looked like a black dot until IT MOVED. Well, the hunt was on. She had found a big fat momma tick. I found two more big fat ones. Then I noticed tiny, tiny dots on my white curtains. They were baby ticks still in a cocoon of sorts (not moving). I tweezer picked them all off and then started inspecting the dogs. Surprise, surprise! They had baby ticks stuck in their ears and between their paws. I was totally creeped out! The WAR WAS ON!

Canine Ehrlichia is serious stuff and A TICK can be deadly to a dog. The solution is to act fast and furious. First, I took my dogs to the vet and Jose Manuel gave them a shot for ticks and fleas. I haven't a clue what medicine it is but it keeps ticks off for 30-45 days*. It's not recommended as "a permanent solution" because liver damage is one of the side effects. It takes about three days for it to kick in. In the meantime, I had to kill the fleas on their bodies. I used the Banol dip (diluted) and cotton swabbed their ears inside. They all have touchy toes so I had to use the squirt bottle to soak their paws (underneath, between the pads, I used a syringe to satuate the skin). These were all baby ticks so they were in all the soft spaces. Under arms, belly - places like that. I gave them all a tick shampoo bath and then sponged on the dip (all over). They have to drip dry. For the house, I vacuumed with my beloved Rainbow vacuum cleaner OFTEN. I also sprayed inside the house and the entire grounds with this great pesticide, Peretroide. I had let the grass grow too high and hadn't sprayed in a LONG TIME. That is probably the root of the tick problem. During rainy season, creepy crawlers flourish.

I have had all sorts of vermits in my house when I purchased it. The house had open-brick (and open windows) in some areas and was 'Open to the Public'. I had bats that wouldn't give up their day spot until I glassed-in the area, a momma rat and nine of her babies, crabs, frogs, spiders, you name it. They all lived in this house before I bought it and I finally ran 'em out renovating.
The rat was the most amazing. My dog discovered her. She had dragged a dishcloth into some stack concrete blocks and made a pretty comfy nest for her newborn. No, I didn't kill them... they were transported over to the river to live. Pura Vida.

This whole process of getting a grip on the tick invasion has really been a battle. The only other things that are equally amazing are the crabs when they are laying their eggs (they go to and fro from the mountain in masses) and the ants. One special type of ant comes and sweeps through your house. Things that multiple quickly amaze me.

Gotta love it to live it - 'in the jungle'.

* The injection for ticks/fleas is Ivermectina (Thanks Wolfie for the info)