TICKS: bad this year?

[Doughknob]

Yes, more here too.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I'm a hunter (turkey and deer - for over 20 years) so I'm used to coming home from the woods and checking for and finding a tick or two... This year (I moved to rural Iowa a year ago this week) , I'm picking them off me without having been anywhere except around the yard - mowing, cleanup, etc... I've had about 20 w/in the last month. I've found two (dead) on the dog. I just found the third one within the last 12 hours! I even woke up at 3am, feeling one crawling up my leg. At least only one had latched on. How do they survive these winters? Are there tick "nests"? Any good way to kill them w/o spraying the whole place (3 acres)? At least the repelent medication for the dog seems to work (for him...).

Anyone else notice a huge increase this year?

Yes. We have had a wet spring in KY which could be a factor.

 

[Oaktree]

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

That may explain the relative lack of them here this year...May was warmer and drier than usual, following a rather cold, wet April.

 

[3gunr]

The wife had to pick a tick of me in the middle of my back last night after a weekend at the farm. Lots of ticks up there, I had to change the belt on the finish mower and they were crawling all over the mower, I do usually spray down with deet or permethrin, Chiggers are really bad also,

 

[2LaneCruzer]

The wife had to pick a tick of me in the middle ofnight after a weekend at the farm. Lots of ticks up there, I had to change the belt on the finish mower and they were crawling all over the mower, I do usually spray down with deet or permethrin, Chiggers are really bad also,

We lived in SW Missouri for about three years; chiggers and ticks were ALWAYS bad there. As newbies, first thing we did was go pick some wild blackberries! We were eaten alive by chiggers and ticks!

 

[BnRidge]

I'm a hunter (turkey and deer - for over 20 years) so I'm used to coming home from the woods and checking for and finding a tick or two... This year (I moved to rural Iowa a year ago this week) , I'm picking them off me without having been anywhere except around the yard - mowing, cleanup, etc... I've had about 20 w/in the last month. I've found two (dead) on the dog. I just found the third one within the last 12 hours! I even woke up at 3am, feeling one crawling up my leg. At least only one had latched on. How do they survive these winters? Are there tick "nests"? Any good way to kill them w/o spraying the whole place (3 acres)? At least the repelent medication for the dog seems to work (for him...).

Anyone else notice a huge increase this year?

I wonder if tick populations are more regional than cyclical. Here I can walk all day everyday in woods, tall grass, fields, and see maybe one in a year. I visited Rhinelander, WI, where we walked a utility right of way, and came back with hundreds. Both places have lots of deer.

As @deserteagle71 says, it is area specific; weather, water, habitat and animal reservoirs make a huge difference in the population. With the generally warmer weather, there are more ticks and they are more active. It was thought to correlate with increases in deer populations, but it doesn't appear to.

I would tend to agree with this.

 

[Pixguy]

They are plentiful this year in New Hampshire finding a couple every day off myself and dog after our daily hike in the woods.

 

[Oaktree]

They are plentiful this year in New Hampshire finding a couple every day off myself and dog after our daily hike in the woods.

Maybe BnRidge is on to something. I also live in N.H., and we've had very few ticks this year up my way. Waay less than usual.

 

[PuffyC]

Anyone else notice a huge increase this year?

I’m glad you posted this because I was just thinking the same thing. We’ve never seen ticks as bad as they are this year but I have no idea why. Starting to get a lot of feedback from the wife that Something Must Be Done too. We use permethrin on the goats and they seem to be tick free but when I’m armpit deep in the woods they always find a way to get me.

 

[777777]

south western Ontario near lake Erie and lots of ticks here. Is brutal at times. Picked a few off my shirt, few off the dogs and even found 1 crawling up and indoor door frame the otherd day. Little black tick on a white door frame showed up well.

 

[oosik]

No great problem here yet. It's just to darn cold. Only see the tiny ones - this years hatch. I know there will be more if it ever warms up.

 

[fiddlearound]

Forty years ago when we first moved here (central Texas), ticks were terrible.
Then the imported fire ant arrived. NO TICKS for the last 30 years.
Even eliminated the big red carrier ants! Hmmmm, haven't noticed any chiggers either.

So get yourself a bunch of FIRE ANTS!

 

[PuffyC]

Forty years ago when we first moved here (central Texas), ticks were terrible.
Then the imported fire ant arrived. NO TICKS for the last 30 years.
Even eliminated the big red carrier ants! Hmmmm, haven't noticed any chiggers either.

So get yourself a bunch of FIRE ANTS!

Here in Oklahoma the fire ants and ticks seem to have signed a nonaggression pact with each other. Instead they both target their common enemy which is us.

 

[BnRidge]

Here in Oklahoma the fire ants and ticks seem to have signed a nonaggression pact with each other. Instead they both target their common enemy which is us.

No fire ants here. No fire ants, ticks, venomous snakes, bears or wolves. Coons eat the sweet corn, deer nip off the soybeans, woodchucks burrow under the foundations, other than that, we're kind of in a "not much hassle from the wildlife" zone.

 

[dirttoys]

guineas rock, if you dig the built in alarm, and can keep other things from eating them, they will thin the population.

Personal defense is deet or Permethrin deet seems to be the most effective. Permethrin can be used on clothing/camping gear with out harming it.

biphen or the like through a mister does very well when creating safe areas and will last 30 days or so.

Ticks are a critter I wish god would have passed on.

Best,

ed

 

[dmccarty]

Here in Oklahoma the fire ants and ticks seem to have signed a nonaggression pact with each other. Instead they both target their common enemy which is us.

Yeah, here in NC, the fire ants don't seem to have bothered the ticks or chiggers that much. When I lived in Florida, I don't remember finding ticks on me, but chiggers, Oh Lordy, Yes. My dad thinks the lack of ticks in Florida, at least back then, was because of all of the dipping of the cattle killed off the ticks. He said the ranchers used to dig a trench, which would fill with water, and was then treated with a chemical to kill ticks and other pests. The cattle were driven through the trench for treatment. If you did that today, one would be in jail.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

My dad's farm had a concrete dip tank that was probably built in the 1920s. Even back then they didn't want insecticides contaminating their wells.

 

[oosik]

It's been cool and wet all the month of June. Very few ticks. Now it's beginning to warm up - time will tell.

 

[drizler]

https://web.uri.edu/tickencounter/files/TERC_Permethrin_FactSheet.pdf

Tip #7: Tuck in your shirt tail when adult ticks are active but tuck your pant cuffs all the time

Did you know…nymph and adult stage ticks tend to hang out at different heights in the landscape? Nymphs stay close to the ground while adults adventure up just a bit onto vegetation. Because of that, adult ticks typically latch on about knee level as hosts pass by, while nymphs commonly latch on...

web.uri.edu

We get our permitherin at Tractor Supply. Back in the livestock medical section

 

[Torvy]

Used to have ticks all over in NE South Dakota. I haven't run into any here in North Texas. Chiggers are another story. Fire ants, too. Ticks are annoying, but the bad part of ticks is random chance. Every chigger or fire ant bite is bad.