Every year I see dry ice marketed for use by campers, and it’s certainly effective for keeping things cooler longer, but I never see anyone talk about the fact that it’s a tick magnet, to the point that a cooler containing dry ice, even fully closed, is the go-to lure used by field researchers who WANT to attract as many ticks as possible. Here are some tick traps in action:
The fact that people are told to take dry ice with them into the woods, and not told that this is a thing, feels kind of glaring to me???
This happens because dry ice is solid carbon dioxide, and the carbon dioxide in our breath is what ticks use to track us. Not just ticks, either; mosquitoes and other blood-feeding organisms also rely on it. I’ve never been camping myself, but I imagine if you do use dry ice, you should keep it away from where you intend to sit, eat or sleep.
The fact that people are told to take dry ice with them into the woods, and not told that this is a thing, feels kind of glaring to me???
That’s terrifying! It also sounds a way to kill somebody by giving them tick-borne diseases with 100% deniability.
