Discussions

Lots this year

It’s been hot and dry just like they like it. This is the first year I have ever had any attached to me... and there was more than one lots on the animals too

The pill for our dog works great..she has had lots of ticks this year. The ticks just bite her and they die. Finding lots of dead ticks on the floor.

The wood ticks are usually active from late April till end of June. They love the humidity and are less active when it is extremely hot and dry. Yes, they can carry many pathogens of human and veterinary importance. Many of the human pathogens are found just south of the border but with tick migration they will eventually work their way here. One female tick can lay up to 1500 eggs. DEET repellents are effective in repelling them.

The majority of ticks you'll find attaching themselves to you right now are wood ticks. Lyme disease is carried by deer ticks, which are far more rare to come by. They can be identified by their red backs while wood ticks are a bit larger with brown backs.  
 
For those worrying about diseases/bacteria that ticks carry: you are only exposed to it if the tick has been on you for more than a day or two. The tick has to have started feeding to exchange any bacteria. So if you find one just attached to you via chomping down and just securing their disgusting little bodies to your skin: you are going to be okay! Pull that vile creature off and continue on.  
 
So check yourself for ticks regularly after being out in long grasses. They like dark, moist areas like arm pits, belly buttons, the head, and behind the ears.

I gave my dogs the pill last year. It does work. Here is the but. It is an insecticide that you are giving them. Poison. I did not give it this year. I just keep checking my dogs and pulling them off. I don’t care how safe they claim it is. It is still poison.

I always hear that wood ticks are only active until the end of June, however, this is untrue. You will still find loads of wood ticks in August. Woods ticks are most active when it is extremely hot and dry, not vice versa. I would not recommend a DEET repellent as it is known to be cancer causing. Rather, I would investigate all natural remedies, there are many to be found online. Yes, there seems to be an abundance of wood ticks this year

bond1111 said "The wood ticks are usually active from late April till end of June. They love the humidity and are less active when it is extremely hot and dry. Yes, they can carry many pathogens of human and veterinary importance. Many of the human pathogens are found just south of the border but with tick migration they will eventually work their way here. One female tick can lay up to 1500 eggs. DEET repellents are effective in repelling them. "

Those pathogen-carrying ticks are in the area, however, so dilgence is called for.  
 
My daughter has had deer ticks on her from the Brandon Hills, this was probably 3 years ago now.  
 
Our dog got bitten by one two summers ago, it was obviously feeding for a couple of days before we found it. He hadn't been anywhere to get ticks for probably a week so we hadn't checked him for several days. The best we can figure is that it came home on my husband, who had been working out on the ranges in Shilo for several days that week and frequently encounters ticks there (our dog likes to sometimes sleep on dirty laundry). We had the tick sent away and our dog had a bunch of extra tests to make sure he was okay.  
 
My husband is a lot of diligent about checking his clothes now after being on the ranges, and we give the dog those tick pills even though I know they're probably not great for him. Heaven forbid one of the kids get bitten, those deer ticks are so tiny it's hard to see them when they're not engorged.

Coffeeplz said "I always hear that wood ticks are only active until the end of June, however, this is untrue. You will still find loads of wood ticks in August. Woods ticks are most active when it is extremely hot and dry, not vice versa. I would not recommend a DEET repellent as it is known to be cancer causing. Rather, I would investigate all natural remedies, there are many to be found online. Yes, there seems to be an abundance of wood ticks this year "

The best prevention, although uncomfortable in this heat, is what my grandma calls "bush gear". Back on the farm, if we needed to go in the "the bush" (basically the woodlot at the back of the property) we'd put on "bush gear" - long pants, socks over the pants, rubber boot. Long-sleeve shirts buttoned up and tucked in, sleeves tucked into gloves. Wide-brimmed hat. We'd find all kinds of ticks on our clothes, but rarely on our skin.  
 
Like mosquitoes or sun, mechanical/physical means of bite prevention is the most effective and the healthiest.

Coffeeplz said "I always hear that wood ticks are only active until the end of June, however, this is untrue. You will still find loads of wood ticks in August. Woods ticks are most active when it is extremely hot and dry, not vice versa. I would not recommend a DEET repellent as it is known to be cancer causing. Rather, I would investigate all natural remedies, there are many to be found online. Yes, there seems to be an abundance of wood ticks this year "

Yes, tick activity goes on all summer and even into the fall. The best prevention is dressing well (ie: tuck those pants into your socks so they can't climb up and hide) and regular checking after being outside.  
 
So get into the habit of searching you, your kids, and animals for ticks now because they are just easier to find! The late summer/fall ticks are actually when the nymph stages happen. This means they are smaller and much more difficult to find on your body than their adult stages we are finding now.

Okay, #1 DEET is not “known” to cause cancer. There is not enough evidence to say that is does. If there was we wouldn’t be able to buy Off repellents anymore. 2# Ticks DO NOT like hot dry days. They need moisture to survive. When you have a hot,dry day think of it like putting a tick in the dryer, bad news for the tick. They won’t be actively looking for animals on these days. #3 Their main active cycle for the adults is end of April- end of June/mid July. You may find the odd one past that time but the populations will be drastically reduced. Other types of ticks are active at different times of the year. 4# long bright pants/long socks is a good start for protection but repellents are your best bet. With pathogens like Powassan virus found in the deer tick it takes ~1 minute to contract the virus from the tick attaching itself to you. Now unless you plan on doing a tick check every minute while you are hiking....plus it repels the mosquitoes, so you can save yourself from West Nile Virus as well

Abbysmum said "    Coffeeplz said "I always hear that wood ticks are only active until the end of June, however, this is untrue. You will still find loads of wood ticks in August. Woods ticks are most active when it is extremely hot and dry, not vice versa. I would not recommend a DEET repellent as it is known to be cancer causing. Rather, I would investigate all natural remedies, there are many to be found online. Yes, there seems to be an abundance of wood ticks this year " The best prevention, although uncomfortable in this heat, is what my grandma calls "bush gear". Back on the farm, if we needed to go in the "the bush" (basically the woodlot at the back of the property) we'd put on "bush gear" - long pants, socks over the pants, rubber boot. Long-sleeve shirts buttoned up and tucked in, sleeves tucked into gloves. Wide-brimmed hat. We'd find all kinds of ticks on our clothes, but rarely on our skin.     Like mosquitoes or sun, mechanical/physical means of bite prevention is the most effective and the healthiest. "

If you do this, you should still do a full check...and all it could take is one tiny tick.  
 
My other post disappeared. In it I stated that we have hardly seen wood ticks this year. Deer ticks can be dust sized and very easy to miss. I first saw these last year.  
 
Lyme disease needs attachment of 24 hours to transmit and can also be carried by wood ticks & some spiders (according to the news anyway.)  
 
Experience in the rural areas by many, over generations, does show that ticks bite mainly when it is hot & dry, not wet. This is when they are actively seeking out "moisture."  
 
Carcinogens are sold every day. Your repellent could very well cause cancer. Many things do, but it can be difficult to trace the effects back to certain specific things and some big industries count on this. Some products have warnings. I am thinking of a certain brand of children's archery set...small print says to wash hands after touching the product because of the chemical. It is recognized as carcinogenic in California (but nowhere else requires this label? Hmm...) There is also smoking as an example. To add to this, some products sold have carcinogens (and/or other harmful ingredients) but can remain under the radar sometimes. Studies to prove something can also be biased or flawed in some other way.  
 
Edited by Flutterby, 2018-06-23 18:40:01

-wood ticks can potentially carry Lyme disease, impossible to transmit it to humans. - ticks go into the leaf litter for moisture, they climb high to find hosts. -California also wants to/has listed coffee as a carcinogen (you see cancer warnings when you buy smokes, but my DEET analogy could be improved).

There's not enough wood ticks in this world...IMO...

Flutterby said "    Abbysmum said "    Coffeeplz said "I always hear that wood ticks are only active until the end of June, however, this is untrue. You will still find loads of wood ticks in August. Woods ticks are most active when it is extremely hot and dry, not vice versa. I would not recommend a DEET repellent as it is known to be cancer causing. Rather, I would investigate all natural remedies, there are many to be found online. Yes, there seems to be an abundance of wood ticks this year " The best prevention, although uncomfortable in this heat, is what my grandma calls "bush gear". Back on the farm, if we needed to go in the "the bush" (basically the woodlot at the back of the property) we'd put on "bush gear" - long pants, socks over the pants, rubber boot. Long-sleeve shirts buttoned up and tucked in, sleeves tucked into gloves. Wide-brimmed hat. We'd find all kinds of ticks on our clothes, but rarely on our skin.     Like mosquitoes or sun, mechanical/physical means of bite prevention is the most effective and the healthiest. " If you do this, you should still do a full check...and all it could take is one tiny tick.     My other post disappeared. In it I stated that we have hardly seen wood ticks this year. Deer ticks can be dust sized and very easy to miss. I first saw these last year.     Lyme disease needs attachment of 24 hours to transmit and can also be carried by wood ticks & some spiders (according to the news anyway.)     Experience in the rural areas by many, over generations, does show that ticks bite mainly when it is hot & dry, not wet. This is when they are actively seeking out "moisture."     Carcinogens are sold every day. Your repellent could very well cause cancer. Many things do, but it can be difficult to trace the effects back to certain specific things and some big industries count on this. Some products have warnings. I am thinking of a certain brand of children's archery set...small print says to wash hands after touching the product because of the chemical. It is recognized as carcinogenic in California (but nowhere else requires this label? Hmm...) There is also smoking as an example. To add to this, some products sold have carcinogens (and/or other harmful ingredients) but can remain under the radar sometimes. Studies to prove something can also be biased or flawed in some other way.     Edited by Flutterby, 2018-06-23 18:40:01"

I agree you still need to be diligent and check yourself meticulously despite taking all kinds of precautions. We had a tick jar at the farm where my grandmother would burn them.  
 
My son was a Beaver camp at Spruce Woods overnight and my husband went with him. Despite not going in the long grass and dressing appropriately, I picked a tick off my husband this evening while he was holding the baby.

Here's an article that just popped up on CBC about tick-proof clothing that's recently been approved for sale in Canada by Mark's Work Wearhouse (although it's only marketed as being for mosquitoes, it's marketed as for ticks as well in the US).  
 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/black-legged-ticks-lyme-disease-permethrin-health-canada-1.4718278

If I am going to walk through tall grass, I tuck my pants into my socks and I spray DEET on my shoes, socks and sometimes also on the lower part of pants. That way, I am not getting the DEET on my skin. The DEET repels them from starting to crawl up. I would think that the same idea would work well on a wide brimmed hat too.