Friday, June 2, 2017

Ticks (more than you want to know)

This is by far the very worst tick season we've ever had. April 25th, Tom found the first tick on himself, and I found one a couple days later. From then on I have tried to avoid being outdoors in the grass. It wasn't hard to do because April and May were chilly and rainy for the most part. However, Tom takes Lucy up the hill twice a day (Labradors need a lot of exercise!). He rides the four-wheeler so you'd think he would be protected but he still finds them on himself. Lucy runs through the tall grasses and woods and comes home with ticks. We find a lot of them still crawling over her body. Luckily she is light colored so we can see them, but try as we may we still miss some and have pulled off a few big ones. And the other delightful thing is that they get caught in clothes, and I've found live ones crawling up the cloth laundry holder, and even inside the washing machine. I've found them crawling on the floor and crawling on the walls. Not many, but still.... Tom pulls them off Lucy with his bare hands and squishes them. I take them off with a kleenex and burn it in the woodstove. And though we check ourselves every day, we are still apt to wake up in the morning with a tick crawling around or semi-attached. Yuck, yuck, and yuck. They were never here in my childhood or my children's childhoods. They seemed to show up in the early 2000s. I did a search to see if this was recognized as the worst year by anyone else, and got this result. In a way, it is heartening to know there is an answer. Matt thought it might be the warm winter, and I thought it might be the wet spring, but it looks like we can blame acorns! Who knew? What I do know is they should be mostly gone by July, and I can lose my vigilante persona. If you can't get enough of this subject, I've mentioned ticks in my letters - here and here.


Acorns, Not Weather, To Blame for More Ticks
National Pest Management Association explains why 2010's crop puts people at risk for tick-borne disease

The National Pest Management Association (NPMA) is forecasting a heavier tick season than in previous years, but it's not due to the unseasonably mild winter as one might expect. Rather, acorns can be blamed for the predicted surge in tick populations this year, particularly in the Northeastern U.S.

Oak trees produced an extremely large acorn crop in 2010, which led to a boom in the white-footed mouse population last year. As a result, the blacklegged (deer) tick population also increased because the ticks had an abundance of mice to feed on when they hatched. However, this spring those same ticks will be looking for their second meal as nymphs, but a decline in the mice population may force them to find new warm-blooded host - humans.

Experts are concerned about an increase in human cases of tick-borne disease. "Many of these nymphal ticks may have contracted Lyme disease from feeding on infected mice as larvae," said Jim Fredericks, technical services director for NPMA. "These hungry ticks will soon be looking for another blood meal, which puts people at risk as they head outside to enjoy the weather."

NPMA offers the following tick tips:

• Use tick repellent when outdoors and wear long sleeved shirts and pants, preferably light in color, so ticks are easier to detect.
• Use preventative medicine on pets, as prescribed by your veterinarian.
• Once indoors, inspect clothing and your entire body. Check family members and pets that have been outdoors.
• Keep grass cut low, including around fences, sheds, trees, shrubs and swing sets. Remove weeds, woodpiles and other debris from the yard.
• If you find a tick on your body, remove it with a slow, steady pull so as not to break off the mouthparts and leave them in the skin. Then, wash hands and bite site thoroughly with soap and water.  Ticks should be flushed down a toilet or wrapped in tissue before disposing in a closed receptacle.
• If you suspect a tick bite, seek medical attention.
For more information on ticks, please visit www.pestworld.org.

16 comments:

  1. You'd be seeking medical attention a lot, it sounds like. I hate ticks, we had a lot of them at our old house in the country but have only found one here so far. One tick bite can disturb your sleep for three nights. And that's if you don't get tick born illness from it.

    Do the experts really think it will improve by July? I just remember being glad every year when the first frost came. Of course here at our new house, when we moved in, we were welcomed by stink bugs that stayed until May. Gross, gross, gross. Maybe they don't hurt you but they scare me to death.

    Do you have plenty of anti-itch cream available at all times now?

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  2. No, we won't be going to doctors. These ticks aren't the kind that carry Lyme disease. Those are tiny ones that are hard to see. These are like the size of a small spider. There isn't any itch, other than the imaginary one you get from seeing one on you and then getting itchy because you think there are more! So, no big terrible problems, just a huge annoyance. I don't know what experts say, but around here by July they are barely there.It seems to be a spring 'event.' Ah, the joys of spring! haha. Not sure what stink bugs are.

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  3. UGH - I had 2 tick bite in 2006 and diagnosed with Lyme disease as a result, but, fortunately no long term effects as I had the intense 30-day antibiotics early. Our cats brought them in even though they were treated with Frontline. Now our 2 remaining cats are indoor only. stay safe!

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    1. It's good to keep them in anyway! We lost two to fishers and two to coyotes years ago, and vowed we would never let any cats out again. Since then I've read that cats kill a tremendous amount of birds. Glad you are okay.

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  4. It's been around 20 years since I last had a tick. I spend a lot of time outdoors on weekends, running, hiking and walking, but somehow they don't seem to "find" me, probably partly because I avoid walking or sitting in high grass. I am not keen on flying insects that can sting or bite me, and so usually apply a repellant when I am out. Have you tried tick repellant?
    Yuck, yuck, yuck indeed, but I suppose it is a natural cycle and we are part of it.

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    1. I think some areas are more prone than others. I think when certain creatures move in, they bring other, perhaps less wanted, companions with them. I don't use repellant. I'm not out that much and I don't want to put it on for 2 minutes in the grass. They should be gone before long. In fact, I have seen quite a lot fewer since writing the post!

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  5. We have had them here too. Seems worse than usual. Had one crawling up the bathroom wall and several other places. Tick Check is done each time we go anyplace. UGH...

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    1. Yeah, tick check happens every day, but still they show up!

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  6. Another thought along the line of ticks. I took a picture of a rabbit in my garden and on it was a big fat tick. I know when that thing fell of it probably had babies in or near my garden. UGH... I hope you are right about the July deadline. It is so creepy. My skin crawls just thinking about this subject.

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    1. I think blood, from the rabbit, not babies. Thank goodness! They usually fall off when they've drunk their fill. Honestly, so gross!

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  7. We are in the woods and yes, the ticks are a constant problem. Since our dog is cream colored like yours, it's easier to pull them off but they are so yucky. You tend to feel like they are all over your body!

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  8. Big article in the morning newspaper here in Santa Fe, NM, Re. the imploding tick situation.

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    1. Wow! I thought probably the dry, warm weather there meant there weren't any ticks. Thanks for letting me know.

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  9. Yuck, yuck, yuck! When we were in Nebraska, ticks were a big problem, although I only had one on me (that I can recall). Annie had a bunch once after romping in a big field of tall grass, but around the yard she didn't have any trouble. I didn't think there were ticks here in Oregon, but I just checked (to be safe!) and discovered this:

    In Oregon, ticks tend to be found east of the Cascades and in Southern Oregon. They tend to be at lower elevations. Some areas they're common at are Dog Mountain, Catherine Creek, and McCall Preserve in the gorge and along the Rogue River. Some people have been infected on the Eagle Creek Trail (not east of Cascades) so wherever you go, be careful. They are more active in May, June, and July.

    I guess I shouldn't be concerned until we start camping in other parts of the state.

    As far as the type and lyme disease, I found this:

    The biggest danger to a tick bite is the possibility of contracted Lyme disease. Lyme disease is caused by bacteria called ‘’Borrelia burgdorferi’’. This bacteria inhabits the digestive tracts of Western Black-Legged Ticks. Recent studies show that only 1-5% of ticks in our area carry the bacteria. When ticks bite humans, the bacteria can be transmitted to the people. It typically takes 24 hours or more before the Lyme Disease bacteria will enter the host, so prompt tick removal is very important. Unfortunately, the Western Black Legged Tick is very small. Nymphs are about the size of a poppy seed and often go unnoticed.

    Lyme Disease is a bigger problem in the Northeast U.S. and Colorado where in 2006 (a year that the CDC had statistics for) there were 20 to 60 cases per 100,000 population. In Oregon, Washington, and California there were 0.2 cases per 100,000 population.

    Only a few more weeks until July! :)

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  10. I live in a development but belong to a CSA farm. They warned us this year about the exploding tick situation. I don't have any animals, but do worry when I go out into the fields to pick produce. I forgot about my essential oil tick spray that I bought last year. I'm going to start using it again! thanks for all the helpful ino

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