TICKS: bad this year?

gstrom99 · May 28, 2022

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?

thclimer · May 28, 2022

Cold weather (-15 F) will not kill ticks, I'm not sure even -40 F/C would have any significant effect on them.

Sawyer's and other companies make a spray containing Permethrin which you spray your clothing with then let it dry and it can be washed many times and still be effective at killing ticks if they come in contact with it.

It is my understanding that Permethrin is a synthetic chemical similar in structure to one of the chemicals found in the Chrysanthemum (daisy) flower.

Do you own research so that you are comfortable using it.

If you don't want to go the chemical route I've heard possums and ginny hens are great tick eaters. 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.

Jstpssng · May 28, 2022

^^^^
Also, just keeping the grass mowed down seems to help immensely. So much for "No mow May"...

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. I give him a pill every month, and haven't found a tick on him in years. I keep asking for the the same pill for me, but they won't give it to me.

Fixastuff · May 28, 2022

Every year is a bad year for ticks here.

deserteagle71 · May 28, 2022

Seems to be area specific.

I'm retired, and do a lot of outback exploring when the weather is warmer. For the past couple months I've been out at least once a week in the back country in various parts of Nevada. On just one of those trips did I come home with ticks (two crawling around on me, and two found in the clothes I wore that day).

At least the ticks we have here in Nevada are big boys - easy to see. Not like the tiny deer ticks we used to have where I grew up in Pennsylvania.

tacticalturnip · May 28, 2022

I don't recall ticks being remotely as bad as they've been the last yew years, not when I was younger anyhow. I'm always finding the little monsters on me; I set them on an ashtray and take a lighter to them. I want chickens, but the missus isn't on board.

ljjhouser · May 28, 2022

They seem to be starting now here. I think about the same as usual.

As far as cold weather - I saw a video where someone put a tick in an ice cube tray with water - froze it in the ice cube. Three days later, they put the ice cube on the counter and let the ice cube melt. The tick walked away as though nothing happened.

I also read that a tick only needs to eat one time in their lifetime and can go for years without eating.

We have used sulfur, Avon skin so soft (did well, but got expensive), and sometimes deet spray.

ponytug · May 28, 2022

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 saw an article about a tick researcher who had a remote controlled car that they drove around with white cloth strips trailing off the back. Apparently the ticks latch onto the cloth as it comes by, and they could count the ticks to estimate the population. I believe that the article mentioned that if the cloth was treated with permethrin it worked as a tick selective exterminator.

@thclimer's suggestion of permethrin is one that I see often, though I don't use it myself. I tend to tuck my pants into my boots or socks when out, and have a hot soapy shower when I get back. Clothes go straight into the washer. After years of dealing with ticks, I find that I am hypersensitive to their movements on my body. Of course finding one makes me itchy/jumpy for the rest of the day.

I don't miss the little deer ticks one bit. Nor the wet weather leeches that leapt off of wet grass. Moving on...

All the best,

Peter

Thomas · May 28, 2022

Ticks here no signs of decreasing,about 3 weeks ago on strong windy day walking edge of field had 3 ticks on me...guessing wind put them upon me.

CloverKnollFarms · May 28, 2022

Yes, in central Indiana. We have kept the entire 8 acres mowed and they are still thick,

Wagtail · May 28, 2022

thclimer said:
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 · May 29, 2022

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 · May 29, 2022

Spray deet on your clothes.

dmccarty · May 29, 2022

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 · May 29, 2022

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 · May 29, 2022

Jstpssng said:
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 · May 30, 2022

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 · May 30, 2022

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 · May 30, 2022

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.