TICKS: bad this year?

[Wagtail]

We have friends who have ginny hens. They are great at alerting you of an intruder with their incredibly loud calls, too noisy for me though.

I've only every found one (1) tick here at "Wagtail Park" in the 10 years I've lived here. It was on the chest of a horse and he came up to me, bobbing his head, to indicate that it was there.

My neighbour has a flock of guineafowls that roam his and my properties. The sound of them doesn't bother me at all and they're quite amusing... certainly not as loud as when the kookaburras go off with their calls.

(I thank the LORD that there are no Sulphur Crested Cockatoos here on the East coast of Tassie... a flock of them is deafening!)

 

[2manyrocks]

My vet had to put down a stray cat with Bobcat fever last week. Bobcat fever is spread by ticks. The vet said it's bad around here (Middle Tennessee).

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Spray deet on your clothes.

 

[dmccarty]

I have used Permethrin for years. It works. Soak your work clothes in it, let it dry, and off you go. It will last a tick season of washing. Permethrin will chase off, or kill, ticks and chiggers.

This year seems a bit worse than usual but it was a warm winter. For the last couple of winters we had temperatures down to 6F and 9F degrees which is unusual. I do think the cold weather affects ticks, and if it is warmer than usual, at a minimum, the ticks are more active earlier. I have gotten a tick in January with two feet of snow on the ground.

Decades ago, I read of a method to reduce the tick population. You can build or buy a deer feeding station that had rollers which are soaked in Permethrin. When the deer come to feed, the rollers would put the Permethrin on the deer. A single feed station would reduce ticks over a 50 acre area. It would take a 2-3 years as I remember but the tick reduction was pretty decent.

 

[Fixastuff]

If cold weather kills ticks and mosquitoes how tf do they survive and thrive I Alaska? I think the only way weather hurts them is if there is an early warming followed by getting cold again. Wakes them up gets them out then kills them. This is really all just my speculation I haven't done any studies on it.

 

[Oaktree]

I haven't seen as many as in the past, although I don't spend much time in high tick areas anymore. There was a time when I would take 30 off me and as many off my dog every night.

Same here, hardly any ticks around this year. I don't think I've had more than 3 or 4 on me all season, other years not uncommon to get that many in one day. Even blackflies weren't as bad as usual this year. Mosquitoes, about the same.
Not doing anything different than other years.

 

[dougtrr2]

After living on 9 acres of mainly forest, this is the first time I had a tick get attached and get blood from me. I got the classic bullseye rash. Went to urgent care, got antibiotics and all is well. No ill effects for me this time.

Doug in SW IA

 

[newbury]

Ticks are terrible.
For the residential setting look into "tick tubes". For "out and about" spray your clothes with Permethrin. I've never
"soaked" my outdoor clothes in Permethrin.
CDC guidelines

 

[fruitcakesa]

We live in the woods but keep the acreage around the house mowed regularly and use a cedar oil spray [which is supposed to be toxic to ticks] but safe for humans and animals.
They still manage to occasionally get through these defenses and of course, the surrounding woodlands is untreated and a walk in the woods can and will likely result in a tick attack.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

My research indicates that ticks thrive in wet and warm weather, but hot and DRY weather kills them off.