Tick Warning

mjarrels · Apr 2, 2007

Just had the wife remove three ticks from ME... yikes. Embeded in me petty good. Must have picked them up on my evening walk on the golf course? Must be the season.

mark

JDGREEN4ME · Apr 3, 2007

Haven't seen any here yet but spent the day outdoors last Saturday and the thought of ticks crossed my mind a few times...

John D · Apr 3, 2007

Got them down here along with the flies. we didnt have much of a good long freez to kill anything this year. time to get out the old sulfur sock. jb

MuncyBob · Apr 3, 2007

I'm told that ticks will be worse this year than last due to lack of good long freeze....and last year was bad!! We found a few ticks on our dogs this winter so I'm inlcined to believe the warning! We tried "Advantage" drops on our dogs last year and did not seem very effective, have gone to "Advantix" for this year....I'll have to look myself over every night at this time of the year when I am pruning and cleaning up after winter.

RonMar · Apr 3, 2007

I have heard of some using animal flea/tic collars worn on the lower leg around the boots. Don't pewrsonally know how effective this is. I guess if you are out in the brush, you might wind up picking them up above ground level tough.

meadowlarkponds · Apr 3, 2007

The old saying "there is something good in everything" may apply here to fire ants....with fire ants we see very few ticks and almost zero chiggers...but you better watch where you stand!

N80 · Apr 3, 2007

The fire ants are thriving here. Haven't seen a tick yet but turkey season is in and I'll be cruising their territory a good bit. Ticks don't bother me, pull 'em off, squish 'em. Chiggers drive me nuts and I'm a magnet for them. DEET around boots, waist, etc usually does the trick. I just tend to forget and pay the price.

I had not heard the fire any theory about ticks and chiggers. I'm thinking maybe chiggers have not been as bad the last few years and the fire ants have been getting worse every season. So maybe there's something to it? It would be nice. If we have to have fire ants, and apparently we do, getting some benefit would ease the pain.

Gooseneck · Apr 3, 2007

I've pulled 4 ticks off me and have my first case of poison ivy. I think it is going to be a long summer.

Geri · Apr 4, 2007

We've had a few bad years with ticks. We'd do a tick search every night on the dogs that stayed inside. Then, I'd search the living room carpet. Amazing what you can find! Last year wasn't bad. Haven't seen any let. Advantix did work better than Advantage though, roaming chickens worked the best.

schmism · Apr 4, 2007

not real worried about the ticks hear... it was real warm for the past 10 days... now we have an arctic cold front moving in.... lowes are to be at or below freezeing through the weekend with the coldest temp at 24 in STL metro.

out at the property they are calling for 22.... it will be a hard freeze. THe peach tree has blumed and has half mature leaves.... im intrested to see how it fairs...

MuncyBob · Apr 4, 2007

I guess I need some of those chickens!! Pulled a tick off one of the dogs last night...I was hoping the switch to Advantix would make a difference...not so far! We had thunder/lightning ealry this am announcing that cold front coming in after 2 absolutely beautiful days here. Hope this is winter's last hurrah!

Soundguy · Apr 4, 2007

Fleas are becomming a problem in fl.. no real freeze to kill em this winter..

( No rain either.. so no grass.. GRRRR )

Soundguy

rback33 · Apr 4, 2007

Plucked the first tick of the season off of one of my dogs on Sunday... never thought I would WANT fire ants, but ticks and chigger are both HORRIBLE in my neck of the woods or plains...

N80 · Apr 4, 2007

We're expecting temps in the mid 20's here this weekend. That'll set the ticks, chigger and skeeters back a little bit. Might set the peach (and other) crops back a bit too.

I don't know which one of the meds my wife puts on our dog, but we never see a tick on him and he is constantly in the woods. I think it is Frontline and it works _far_ better than the other things we've tried.

ToddW · Apr 5, 2007

Soundguy said:
Fleas are becomming a problem in fl.. no real freeze to kill em this winter..

( No rain either.. so no grass.. GRRRR )

Soundguy

Soundguy, we just got rid of a minor flea invasion. Treated the house with the usual cocktail of Cynoff with a chaser of Precor. Flea's gone now. I usually spray a 10' swath around the house at the same time.

It is dry, dryer than last year if that is possible. I was walking in the woods over the weekend and it was tinder dry. Scary....

/Todd

Soundguy · Apr 5, 2007

I'm having to water my vegi garden when i get up in the AM.. and at night when i get home.. if not it wilts out bad..

Ignorant forcasters predicted rain in my area yesterday.. yet it was sunny and hot right till the sun went down..

Soundguy

Oleozz · Apr 5, 2007

I have Lyme disease and it isn't a fun thing to get. I believe it's something that you never really get rid of unless you're willing to take antibiotics for at least a year, that according to the Lyme specialist I saw for about a year and a half. Arthritic symptons, heart problems, and a multitude of other conditions can arise from Lyme. Many dog trainers that I know have had Lyme and is near the epidemic level in this country.

schmism · Apr 5, 2007

We use frontline on our dogs due to its better 'water proof" as we have labs.

Read the fine print on the package. THe application is effective for 3 months for flees, but only ONE month for ticks.

Durring the summer they get monthly applications with there heart worm "treat"
in the winter we slack off to every other month as ticks arnt a problem.

We have NEVER had a problem with either on the dogs.

We (well at least i) seem to love to find chiggers which SUCK! (pun intended)

AB4D · Apr 5, 2007

Yesterday, I pulled two ticks off of my cat when he came inside the house. We are getting a cold front and snow here this weekend. Hopefully, it will help cut down on the tick population. I use frontline on the cats, it seems to be somewhat effective, but not 100%.

dmccarty · Apr 5, 2007

Yep, Da Ticks have arrived. Course they never leave. When we bought our land we had a bad snow storm in January. This held off the perc test until Febuary since it snowed almost two feet. The selling agent pulled a tick off while we where in the woods for the perc test...

Yesterday, after two years, we finally had the time and money to finish pushing the gravel driveway back to the barn with 135ish tons of ABC. All day long I'm on the tractor spreading the gravel over the geotextile fabric. The truck dumped the first load at 9:30ish and the last of nine loads around 3:30ish. I had parked my truck off to the side of the "old" driveway to keep it out of the way. When we where finished I went back to the truck to pay the dump truck driver which took about 10 minutes of talk'n and jaw'n.

He pulled a tick off his leg. A couple of hours later I'm in the shower and found a tick crawling on me.

Better than chiggers I suppose.

The cold that will hit tonight will set them back a bit but it really won't help much. I really wish/need to do a controled burn. That would take care of the critters for a year or two...

Later,
Dan