Friday, April 22, 2011

Ticks Don't Drown

I had a nice conversation with my 14-year old daughter this evening, which is rare. She seldom talks to me. Sad, I know. So, here is how it went...

Funny Face: There was like this huge spider on the ceiling of the shower this morning. Did you like hear me scream?

Me: I thought I heard something, but I was still half asleep.

Funny Face: I threw a wash cloth up to it and knocked it down into the water. But, I didn't want the spider to go down the drain because I thought it would climb back up the drain. So, I like scooped it up with a cup and flushed it down the toilet.

Me: That was pretty smart. I probably would have rinsed it down the drain and then kept a watchful eye on the drain while I was showering in hopes that the spider would not crawl back up.

Funny Face: I wasn't sure if a spider would drown.

Me: Why wouldn't you think so?

Funny Face: Well, a tick can hold it's breath for 45 minutes.

Me: What? (giggle) I never heard such a thing. Who told you that?

Funny Face: Mr. Moul, my fourth grade teacher. He said you should always burn ticks and not drown them.

Me: Hmmm, I'm not so sure about that one.

Turns out, after my Google research, Mr. Moul was right. Ticks can live totally submerged in water for a very very very long time - 81.3 weeks to be exact (depending on the species). So yeah...random fact for the day...ticks don't drown easily.  They can and have climbed back up thousands of household toilets after being flushed. (I'm just making that part up). But truth be told, if you want to rid of a tick once and for all...you better burn it!   


8 comments:

Jan n Jer said...

Wow That is so interesting. In the past I always burned tics...but I have also flushed them down the commode! Hope I remember this tid bit the next time I encounted a tic!!!

Lois Evensen said...

What a fascinating piece of information. I never knew that, either. :))

gayle said...

Your daughter will probably start speaking more in a few year :))

We always burn tics!!

betty said...

Koda had a tick on him one time and we had to take him to the vet to get it removed; now I'm wondering how they disposed of it. I didn't know they could live that long in water!

Hang in there; those teen years are tough!! They become "human" again years later and they actually become enjoyable to be around again.....but it sure is a struggle getting to that point!!

betty

Pamela said...

EEEEEWWWWWW

Good Company said...

Okay, that's a scary thought -- all the ticks uniting to climb out and take over the world! Them, plus cockroaches.

Barry said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Wow I was wondering! I threw one in the toilet and it was still alive like a half hour later just sitting at the bottom of the toilet. I spit in the toilet and the tick started to crawl. Are dog has them and it is the biggest pain.

Our dog seems to brought ticks in the house. None of the tick/flea medicine that you buy worked on our dog. We tried all the stuff the VET recommended. I read on yahoo that they will not infest your house. Boy that is wrong. We let off 10 bombs this week and have seen a big improvement. The bombs seem to be the only thing that helped.
It is a horrible experience....

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