Just a cautionary tale - I spent $188 today to have a tiny tick removed from my belly button. The bite itself was incredibly painful, which I was thankful for, otherwise I might not have known it was there. It was about the size of a flea. I have talked with some other neighbors who have also been bit in the last few weeks - very small, very painful. Two things I learned today - 1) Ticks burrow in clockwise, and so need to be gently twisted out COUNTER-clockwise. 2) I was told that it takes at least 24 to 36 hours of someone hosting a tick, for any possibility of Lyme disease to manifest.
This happened while I was sleeping in bed. We have cats - one of which we are now referring to as "The Tick Bus".
I was just given this information.... Pretty awesome, even more reason to love our lizards! Tick's that feed on the Western Fence Lizard (our most common lizard in the 'hood), seems to neutralize the lyme disease in our local ticks!
https://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Lizards-Slow-Lyme-Disease-in-West-Ticks-bite-3009330.php
thank you Jessica for the educational cautionary account. Noted!
Super gross. I tried for many hours to pretend it wasn't happening, but that did not work.
Yeech... Belly Button = Burrowing with anatomical mapping ability... double yeech!
Gross.