Health professionals say tick season usually begins when the temperatures begin to rise and dormant ticks start looking for food.
*****
My area is loaded with them. I can spray around the house and it remains a tick-free area, and most of the ones I get off the dogs are from them getting down into the brush. Even with tick and flea meds from the vet, I still find one or two a week on them.
I used to have to pull several off me when I mowed, them getting attached when I brushed against the brush on the edges of the property or around the trees in the yard, until a couple years ago when one of my readers suggested taking a daily dose of low-odor garlic tabs. That shit works. Since then, I've found exactly one tick on me, and that was last week. I was actually kinda surprised when I did find it.
There are many ticks in Maine too. I had one attach to me in the winter after is warmed for a day or two.
ReplyDeleteJoe
Yeah but those ones up there by you have to worry about Lyme disease. Not so much down here in the south. But we do have Ehrlichia (spread by ticks) so there's that.
DeleteWorking yesterday on my job site yesterday, I felt that sticky crawl they have. Yep it was a dang tick. Now all I need to see is a Copperhead and the season has officially begun in Beautiful Alabama!!
ReplyDeleteDon't have a serious problem here in NE Georgia. Yet I did have one beloved Rottweiler die a horrible death due to Tick Paralysis. Even the Vet missed the tick behind his ear we examined for difficulty in his hind quarters. "Tick paralysis occurs when an engorged and gravid (egg-laden) female tick produces a neurotoxin in its salivary glands and transmits it to its host during feeding."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.aldf.com/tick-paralysis/
Wow, I've never even heard of that.
DeleteLast week we saw our first one at the clinic. Have seen several since. I've seen them as early as March so this year was pretty typical. That's a shame about the paralysis. I've seen dozens if not hundreds of those cases over the years but never saw a fatality. The fact that it was so close to the spinal column is what contributes to the severity.
DeleteSpeaking of bloodsucking pests, don't forget the IRS has delayed its filing deadline until May 17th, 2021.
ReplyDeleteTrue but watch out, not all states have done the same.
DeleteTalstar Xtra granules will eliminate ticks, fire ants and lots of other insects from your yard for 4 months with one application. I use it and talstar p liquid to spray the perimeter and eaves of the house, and also bushes to eliminate mosquitoes, spiders etc. Its also safe for pets and indoor use.
ReplyDeleteChiggers is what used to tear my ass up. I always spread triazoxide granular around the house. Did it every three months starting early spring and stopped around Nov. No ticks, chiggers er fleas. I think it kept snakes away too.
ReplyDeleteBe kind to your local opossums.
ReplyDeleteThey eat ticks and snakes.
I eat a fair amount of garlic, and have for years. Even mosquitos stay away.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, my vet recommended Bravecto for Sophie & Tiko. It isn't inexpensive (I get the 3-month dose), but it works better than anything else I've used.
Bravecto is spectacular for cats (one time application every three months). Most cost effective product for dogs is Seresto collars. All places sell them. We vets get a rebate to give to clients so it's usually a few buck cheaper than the other stores.
DeleteI've never heard of the garlic tabs. My wife and I got both bit by ticks a few years ago. Mine happened right before a business trip although I never saw the tick. Took a two weeks to figure out what it was, until I went to a doctor and got the right antibiotics. I didn't get a fever but did have a lot of fatigue and felt off. My wife got bit on her toe and went to 3 different doctors and no one diagnosed her issues as a tick bite. It was really bad for her. She had wild fever swings, nasuea, blacked out a few times, and had a mild seizure at one point. Finally, her dermatologist recognized the symptoms and got her on the right meds.
ReplyDeleteI've declared war on those little blood sucker and bought some Bifen I/T.
What about the blood-sucking ticks that get elected to office?
ReplyDeleteBest treated with liberal application of rope and tree. If they're moving 30-06 could be more effective.
DeleteWhen I worked in the field as a measurement tech I would buy good quality dog flea and tick collars and drop them arould my boots. It kept the ticks chiggers and bugs in general from crawling up on my legs or onto my jeans. Yea the guys back at the shop would make fun of me while they were scratching their legs.
ReplyDeleteGood idea Gregg. BUT the products like preventic and Seresto would not work because the product has to have dermal absorption to illicit and effect (some type of physiology). The best ones to use the way you describe are the cheap ass, stinky ones. Whenever I'm bush hogging or mending fence in my horse pasture, that's what I do.
DeleteAt camp last year, middle of May, we were sitting outside enjoying the weather and a couple cold ones after mowing the grass down to the dirt with a weed whacker. We checked ourselves after we were done and found a few on each of us. Deer ticks. As we're sitting there we kept finding them. I think they were dropping out of the trees overhead. We were keeping track of how many we found on ourselves. One of the guys had over a hundred by the time we left, after a couple days.
ReplyDeleteI eat a couple cloves of cooked garlic every day. It seems to keep he mosquito's away but doesn't appear to work against the ticks where I am, dog and deer. I got bit by a dog tick a couple years ago. Those things are particularly nasty. They carry several types of disease that will kill you slowly and painfully, in addition to lyme.
If you do get bit, doxycycline is your friend. CDC recommends a prophylaxis dose during tick season in areas that have high tick counts (which is most of the continental US).
Nemo
I haven't had a problem with them for several years now, thank god. I used to do the garlic trick when I was more active and got out into the woods more, always seemed to work.
ReplyDeleteJD
Thats the nice thing of living so far north. No ticks or rats. Though we have too many mosquitoes and gophers.
ReplyDeleteExile1981
I reckon it's the luck of the draw. I've been bitten by ticks an chiggers more times than I can count. Never went to a doctor. The chigger bites last the longest and boy do those bastards itch. If I went to a Doc every time I got bit I'd be better off hiring my own personal physician.
ReplyDeleteSo as not to offend sensibilities around here, we refer to the little buggers as "chegroes" rather than chiggers.
DeleteGuinea hens thrive on ticks . Strange that no here mentioned them .
ReplyDeleteWhen i was in the Marines when in the field we put flea and tic collars on our ankles and wrist, worked for us! Chiggers is a different story, panty hose works great, they can not get thru the fabric! For chigger bites cover the bite site with vaseline or go swimming for a good while, the chiggers can not breath and they die! The sand fleas were the worst at Camp Lejeune!!!!! grayman
ReplyDeleteJust a desperate tick, though, and probably wanting to get away....
ReplyDeleteFor folks reading this. All the vet sold products are VERY good (Bravecto, Nexgard, Simparica Trio and Credilio) and safe. The most cost effective product is Seresto collars. You can buy them online, in stores and at vet clinics. The mfg give us vets a rebate coupon to give owners and with that, most of us vets have it for just a few dollars cheaper than the other venues. But for $60 for an 8 month supply of flea and tick prevention, you'll find nothing cheaper that actually works.
ReplyDeleteAnybody have info on garlic tab dosage for us peoples?
ReplyDeleteI take a single 1,000mg odor-controlled garlic tab a day. Just go to your local pharmacy and look in the vitamin section. It's sometimes labeled 'Heart Healthy'.
DeleteJust make sure it says odor controlled on the label or you'll end up smelling like an Italian.
Ha! Don’t want that to happen- thanks Ken
Delete