Things that bite me tend to curl up and die. Ticks, spiders, leeches ... I can't imagine why.

Killing the damn things with fire tends to not work out so hot. I don't think poisoning is effective either, particularly with iodine tincture (to kill disease when it regurgitates), as it will probably get the tick to let go but it probably won't penetrate deep enough to disinfect whatever it injects into your body.