Tick prevention

[WinterDeere]

I have often wondered how difficult it must be for those with darker skin tone to find ticks on themselves. They stand out pretty well on light colored skin, but it would seem they would blend in pretty well with dark skin.

I suspect most find them by feel, before sight. I know I do, and I'm English-German... not exactly dark.

 

[lman]

Mostly a southern problem, as I understand it. But you've got a bunch of posters from PA, NY, VT, and CT on this thread!

I remember hearing of chiggers from a friend as a kid, he was from Georgia, but I've never actually seen one.

When I was a kid, we went to Kentucky one summer and I had some severe itching and was told it was chiggers but I never saw them. I don't think you can see them unless you have microscopic eyes.

 

[WinterDeere]

When I was a kid, we went to Kentucky one summer and I had some severe itching and was told it was chiggers but I never saw them. I don't think you can see them unless you have microscopic eyes.

I guess if you spent time in a place where they were common, you'd know that! But it's aside from the point.

Very first hit on Google, to "chiggers primary habitat":

I checked the next three as well, none mentioned the American Northeast. If they exist at all up here, they certainly aren't common.

A polar bear was once spotted as far south as Fort Yukon, but don't count on ever finding one there, yourself!

 

[Bocephous]

Don't overlook what many say "The only good snake is a dead snake". Barn cats are also good rodent control but prey on birds as well.

I leave snakes alone, generally speaking. Water snakes in my pond sometimes get the machete, but garter snakes in my yard are entirely safe from me.

 

[WinterDeere]

Same. The many garter and few corn or black snakes I've seen, I've let them all live. I have hit a garter with the mower once, felt real bad about it, as the poor guy seemed to be just napping by the woodpile when I rolled up on him too fast.

That said, my great-grandfather was killed by a local rattler, and my dad has come across local copperhead nests. If I ever saw either of those in my yard, it'd be a shotgun target, but I never have.

 

[garry1p]

In the south I should think anyone who has picked wild blackberry's knows they are chigger condos.

Deet works good for keeping chiggers off however, once on and itching like crazy I wet a paper towel and dab Clorox on the area. Nail polish has never worked for me but a lot of people say it works.

 

[ponytug]

I was in the nail polish camp myself, but even with that it is/was a multi day itch. I came across something that is prescription use only, and really pricey, but as an off label use cuts the chigger reaction to a few minutes of itch, and no wheals.

@WinterDeere I'm glad that you haven't experienced chiggers personally. May you always be so fortunate. I've encountered them in Massachusetts and north, so they are around, even if they aren't common where you are. So, I read the "low" on the map above as "present", but not "omnipresent". A google search for chiggers and Pennsylvania turns up lots of folks saying that they are around. Perhaps your property is dry enough to not have very many?

All the best, Peter