Safely remove a tick with a cotton ball soaked in liquid hand soap.Keep it on the tick for at least 20 seconds. The tick will cease biting, back out, and will remain stuck to the cotton ball when its pulled away. If the tick has been embedded for awhile, keep it in a jar so you can test it for Lyme disease.
#26 would probably be closer to 8 or 9 eggs, definitely not 89 eggs
Rule #1 for any of this is to try it out BEFORE you go camping. Some of it sounds like Bull Shark.