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I saw briefly on another posting about using a small square piece of panty hose to remove needles and nair hair remover for the small ones.

How does this work and what's the best "spine/needle removal" tools to include in my Arizona first aid kit?

I find a high power LED light at an angle and a pair of tweezers to be my best friend. Pretty sure I won't be buying panty hose or nair regardless of how good it works ;)

Prevention is probably among the best steps. Hank always seems to be prepared for whatever the trail may have to offer. I tend to take on lots of abuse before I learn

I have heard that a comb is useful with cholla. Only heard it, never got the use it. I was hiking and had some "jumping" cholla snatch only my leg. I ended up wrapping my belt around and pulling it out. Talk about pain.

My swiss army knife has a tweezers for the tiny ones, otherwise I just yank them out by hand?

allanalxndr wrote:I have heard that a comb is useful with cholla. Only heard it, never got the use it. I was hiking and had some "jumping" cholla snatch only my leg. I ended up wrapping my belt around and pulling it out. Talk about pain.

A comb is very helpful for getting the big chunks of cholla off but you still need to get the individual spines out. The pliers on my Gerber multi-tool has been my best friend for those boogers. I have successfully used duct tape for the really small/fine spines you sometimes run into.

In the field the comb is the best method. If you get teddy-bear cholla or some other nasty one with fine needles and can't get them all out, body hair removal wax is the way to go. It will get them all the first time. You just have to agonize through until you get home...

i was at a nursery once lookin at plants and i swiped my hand on a cactus with super fine little prickers.. this navajo woman walked by and noticed my struggle with them and she offered some help.. her traditional method of removal was to rub her hair (very long) on my hand and somehow that pulled out all the thorns..

only helpful if someone in your group has long hair, and def only useful on very fine stickers..

I don't tend to have trouble getting them out of me - however, getting them out of my dog's mouth without getting them in me IS more of a consideration. It usually goes something like this:
Dog gets cholla in paw
Dog limps over to me
Dog sticks paw in mouth, cholla now on tongue/lip/nose
Dog whines pitifully and I have to help
I sit on ground (in cholla more than likely), hug dog to me (more cholla), dig out my pliers and dog FREAKS OUT.
Hug squirming dog tighter with one hand, try to grab cholla with pliers in other hand, fail, dog runs off.
Dog comes back sans cholla spines because somewhere out in the desert is a magical spine remover that only they know about.
I use pliers on myself, put pliers in pocket forgetting that spines are still stuck to them, etc.

writelots wrote:I don't tend to have trouble getting them out of me - however, getting them out of my dog's mouth without getting them in me IS more of a consideration. It usually goes something like this:
Dog gets cholla in paw
Dog limps over to me
Dog sticks paw in mouth, cholla now on tongue/lip/nose
Dog whines pitifully and I have to help
I sit on ground (in cholla more than likely), hug dog to me (more cholla), dig out my pliers and dog FREAKS OUT.
Hug squirming dog tighter with one hand, try to grab cholla with pliers in other hand, fail, dog runs off.
Dog comes back sans cholla spines because somewhere out in the desert is a magical spine remover that only they know about.
I use pliers on myself, put pliers in pocket forgetting that spines are still stuck to them, etc.

I hope this is okay

allanalxndr wrote:I have heard that a comb is useful with cholla. Only heard it, never got the use it. I was hiking and had some "jumping" cholla snatch only my leg. I ended up wrapping my belt around and pulling it out. Talk about pain.

I carry a comb in my pack everywhere I go just for that purpose. Unfortunately, trying to climb a steep portion of McDowell Peak hiking alone last summer I slipped on some loose dirt and had to use the comb...multiple times.

Comb works.

Tweezers on the trail for the most annoying or painful spines. A good soap brush and Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Castille full strength will remove or at least identify the location of those you missed on the trail. (Ouch that stings!) The rest work their way out over the next couple of months 'til the next bushwacking adventure or wrong turn. I think I found cactus spines occasionally for two or three months after a wrong turn that forced me to bushwack to Devil's Chasm. Anyone else experience this? I have never gone back in shorts.

Oh yeah, those buggers can stay in you for months. And writelots, your dog story was too much! I still don't understand how all the time I have spent down in Yuma with my dogs, the most I ever had to do was swipe a comb across a cholla blob. (Or whatever they are called.)

writelots wrote:I don't tend to have trouble getting them out of me - however, getting them out of my dog's mouth without getting them in me IS more of a consideration. It usually goes something like this:
Dog gets cholla in paw
Dog limps over to me
Dog sticks paw in mouth, cholla now on tongue/lip/nose
Dog whines pitifully and I have to help
I sit on ground (in cholla more than likely), hug dog to me (more cholla), dig out my pliers and dog FREAKS OUT.
Hug squirming dog tighter with one hand, try to grab cholla with pliers in other hand, fail, dog runs off.
Dog comes back sans cholla spines because somewhere out in the desert is a magical spine remover that only they know about.
I use pliers on myself, put pliers in pocket forgetting that spines are still stuck to them, etc.

My dog learned the hard lesson about cholla by lifting his leg over the wrong bush. I noticed him walking funny in front of me and to my surprise, he had a little something extra going on down there! Try gettin' a dog to stay still while you got your pliers pluckin' those babies out!

We had a base jumper land in a cholla patch once. Took two hours to remove it all. He was a tough guy, but he did shed a single tear at one point!

One of my buddies flipped off his bike into a prickly pair patch. Said his wife used a full roll of duct tape in the extraction process. I'll spare the other details...

Normally I wouldn't post but I found out he doesn't read the forum

stacelms wrote:

allanalxndr wrote:I have heard that a comb is useful with cholla. Only heard it, never got the use it. I was hiking and had some "jumping" cholla snatch only my leg. I ended up wrapping my belt around and pulling it out. Talk about pain.

A comb is very helpful for getting the big chunks of cholla off but you still need to get the individual spines out. The pliers on my Gerber multi-tool has been my best friend for those boogers. I have successfully used duct tape for the really small/fine spines you sometimes run into.

I also carry a small Gerber utility tool with small pliers that work on me and the ones on my dogs. I find that I don't have to carry a comb, although they work, as a rock or stick will knock off the large cholla chucks. Will have to try the hair remover for the really fine ones that are left behind from my field work.

In response to joe bartels:

So it sounds like tweezers and duct tape are what you need. Thanks.

bart01 wrote:The rest work their way out over the next couple of months 'til the next bushwacking adventure or wrong turn. I think I found cactus spines occasionally for two or three months after a wrong turn that forced me to bushwack to Devil's Chasm.

This can be worrisome depending on where you get them. Be very careful with spines that get near your finger joints. I knew of a fellow landscaper who got a rose thorn in the second knuckle of his index finger. The tip of the thorn broke off in the joint and he let it go, thinking it would work it's way out. Instead, it got infected and the infection worked into the joint. When it was all said and done his joint was fused and he won't be able to bend his right index finger for the rest of his life. Of course, this was probably due to the bacteria that is in the mulch around the roses and cactus thorns probably have far less (if any of) that stuff but it is something to think about.

In response to pencak:
Good to consider. Most of the time the lingering ones are in the legs and arms. In an attempt to learn from past mistakes I generally hike in the ever fashionable convertible pants and I carry a pair of gloves particularly if I haven't done the hike before. My friends I drag out usually laugh at me carrying garden gloves or wearing them, but usually show up with gloves the next time they hike with me.