'That's Insane': Hack To Avoid Tick Bites While Gardening Amazes Internet

With the sunny season now around the corner, what better time to clear up your garden? If you're not a professional gardener and you need a heads up on how to avoid tick bites, then one viral hack may be for you.

A hack to avoid tick bites while gardening was posted to Reddit a few days ago, and the platform's users didn't hold back their thoughts on it.

In the post, which has so far received almost 10,000 upvotes and 1,200 comments, the poster, who goes by the username prolific_ideas, shared a picture of a foot wrapped in tape with a dozen ticks on it.

The caption to the photo read: "Something to keep in mind while doing spring yard work! Wrapping tape sticky side out around the ankles seems to work pretty good for catching ticks."

Ticks can transmit pathogens that can cause disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Once a tick finds a feeding spot, it grasps the skin, cutting into the surface, and then inserts a feeding tube.

But during their feeding process, they can also secrete small amounts of saliva, and when that enters a person's skin, they can transmit any disease to the new host. Some diseases ticks can carry include anaplasmosis, babesiosis, Lyme disease, bourbon virus and ehrlichiosis, among others.

While the original poster seemed very pleased to share their idea with the r/gardening subreddit, some users were baffled by the advice.

One user, BootsyMistletoe, commented: "Omg. That's insane."

Another user, Queef_Stroganoff44, added: "I work around 1200 lb animals on a regular basis. I've camped in bear country. I've startled a mama and baby moose. This is 100x's more skeeze inducing than any of that."

While Wyrdletini added: "That's terrifying!"

Other users shared their experience of dealing with a tick bite.

BURN3D_P0TAT0 wrote: "Those can kill you, or cripple you, but they can't make you allergic to (potentially all) mammalian products & byproducts like some ticks. By far the most dangerous is the tick. Got bit once last year. Now I have to carry 2 epi-pens at all times. Weeeeeee. I'd much rather have to deal with an angry 2500lb+ bull."

Pryml710 commented: "I've had Lyme's Disease for over 10 years, and people look at me crazy when I say that at 27yo I feel like I'm 87 sometimes. Worst part is it just kind of fades in throughout the day to the point where I can barely move, like all of my joints are concrete & lead. But yeah, it's all in my head!"

Some users also mentioned other unconventional tick theories.

CK_America commented: "Another reddit said that chickens will eat them, maybe that's a viable solution?" And culinarychris answered: "Since I've had my chickens I haven't found any ticks on my dog or cat!"

Newsweek has reached out to prolific_ideas for comment.