Ticks???

[dave1949]

Yeah, we used to get dogs vaccinated for rabies once a year and that was all; pretty cheap, too. But now it's $200 worth of vaccinations and heartworm medicines to prevent a whole bunch of possible diseases.

Some of that is because many tend to take better care of pets now than earlier - I think. You are right, the pet care industry has grown tremendously. It's hard to separate the actual need for care from the marketing perceptions planted in our heads?
Dave.

 

[Thomas]

Dave 1949.
Mrs. remove one tick from back of my leg,months later found another tick on me...late spring.
Friend harvest two deer months a part,both deer had ticks...think the insect world starting to get even w/us humans.

 

[AMR]

As a kid in the late '70s around CT I never remember seeing a tick, and we pheasant hunted hard throughout the fall. For the last 10 years it really feels like the tick popuplation is on the rise. When I go deer hunting I sit in my stand and scan my clothes for ticks. There isn't a time I go in the early to mid fall that I don't find at least a couple crawling around.

I had one tick stuck behind my left knee and one in my waist this year already. My 4 yo son had a tick stuck in his scalp that my wife found while brushing his hair a couple weeks back. When I rake the leaves I am sure to find a couple around my ankles. I am not sure I can tell the difference between a deer tick and any other kind, all the ones I see are pretty small and about the same size. I have read that the potential lyme carrying carrying ticks are much small deer ticks, not sure what those are candidly.

Indeed they are pretty nasty and I would rather not have them around.

Every single deer I take has several stuck in around their necks and under their legs. When you skin them and take a hard look at the inside of their skin you can see all the wholes made by the ticks, must be frustrating for the deer.

 

[dave1949]

Dave 1949.
Mrs. remove one tick from back of my leg,months later found another tick on me...late spring.
Friend harvest two deer months a part,both deer had ticks...think the insect world starting to get even w/us humans.

You are just going to have move a bit faster Keep ahead of those ticks. I keep a spray bottle of Deep Woods Off on the tractor all summer. I'd rather smell the stinking DEET than get bit up - or worse.

I am pretty sure the insects could outlast humans in any sort of calamity. I saw on the news last night, the Maine Fish and Game folks are collecting blood samples from deer tagging stations all over the state to see if EEE is present or not. It will be interesting to know the results. They expect to release them in the Spring.
Dave.

 

[NSBound]

There are two specific parts of Nova Scotia that have the deer ticks (or black-legged ticks) that carry lyme disease. There's an interesting write-up with photos here...CBC News - Health - Lyme disease: Tiny tick, big problem

 

[Bird]

Some of that is because many tend to take better care of pets now than earlier - I think. You are right, the pet care industry has grown tremendously. It's hard to separate the actual need for care from the marketing perceptions planted in our heads?
Dave.

I agree completely.

 

[dmccarty]

We live in Tickville. That is not the official Chamber of Commerce name but our area is infested with ticks. At least it is November and the chiggers should be gone though we are late for a real hard freeze to finally get rid of the Redbugs.

Like George's thread a few months ago the tick/flea repellent we used on the dog stopped working. The dog has been infested with fleas which we have never seen at our place. The new repellent is working thankfully.

Even in the winter we will see some ticks but not many. We know of a person who found a tick on their body after walking around the woods with two feet of snow on the ground.

My two cents is that the ticks and chiggers are bad for two reasons. Deer, more forests, and fire prevention. The deer spread the ticks and we have many more deer than ever before. And with the more farm land going back to woods there is more space for more deer thus more ticks. Then we don't let fires go like we used too. I just don't see spraying the woods or my yard with chemicals really putting a dent in the fleas, ticks or chiggers. A wildfire sure would though.

We had a flea problem in our city house and I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed a very small yard. It did not seem to work much. What did was Frontline and the flea pill.

We can do control burns in NC but our local forester frowns upon them since it means work for him....

Later,
Dan

 

[tallyho8]

Years ago they used DDT we did not have such a large number of Ticks and Mosquito's that carry Lyme disease EEE WNV, and I don't remember dogs having Heartworms,now we have even more threats of pest brought into the US with the influx of imports such as ALB.
I think they should bring DDT back for a year or two so we can control these pest.

There are many safer pesticides than DDT now. I hope they never legalize it for outdoor use again. I live in Louisiana, the Pelican State, and I didn't see my first pelican till I was 30 years old and took a trip to Florida. Now they finally took them off the endangered list after 40 years. The bald eagles have made a major comeback in our area also. Both were devastated by DDT.

My first dog died of heartworms in 1955 so it is nothing new. There have been new diseases discovered that are carried by mosquitoes and ticks but are these new diseases or just new discoveries?

I protect my horses and dogs as well as possible with vaccinations plus I protect my dogs from fleas and ticks with Frontline and from heartworm infection with a cheap generic preventative. I protect myself with a DEET formula when in risky areas.

Instead of spraying as much in our area now, Mosquito Control educates people on how to reduce mosquito breeding by getting rid of standing water sources and other means such as putting goldfish in our stock water tanks.

 

[WayneB]

We have had an active Tick year up around us. Keep a jar of bleach around and place them into it. Sure fun to watch them swim to death.

We us Frontline and are careful walking out into the woods. Seems like weekly we are finding a tick or two on us.

Won't be too long and it will be cold enough that the fight will be over for another year.

 

[Western]

Bird,

Now that you bring it up, I haven't seen a tick in a few years or have gotten one at our place..When we lived in town, our dogs got them religiously, I think from our neighbor who thought she could "save" all the strays of the world and would just dump them in her back yard..I would treat the yard and my dogs about every other month. Living out here now, we haven't found a single tick..That is kind of strange..