The Ticks Are Back In Town
As I was resting in bed one night last week, I felt something crawling up my arm. I was horrified to see a small brown tick, meandering aimlessly on my skin. I immediately removed his sorry carcass from my person with a tissue and promptly flushed him down the toilet.
Several days later while dusting my blinds, I noticed an insect on the window sill. I removed it as gently as I could, and noticed on further inspection that it was another brown tick. He met the same sorry fate as his arm-hiking buddy.
Less than a week later, our daughter returned from a hike on one of the local trails. After hearing her piercing screech, I ran to her aid, only to find that there was another small brown tick crawling down her puppy’s leg.
The ticks are back in town. (Apologies to Thin Lizzy.)
While I am aware that the ticks most likely hitched a ride during our trail walks, I’m also aware that we’ve been using a repellent on ourselves and on our dogs. It was my fondest desire that this would deter the ticks from attaching themselves to our clothing or skin, especially since we were using the “deep woods” variety. We were using Mycodex for the dogs, as this not only repels ticks and fleas, but kills them on contact. I wondered if we were perhaps dealing with a strain of super-ticks that were resistant to the chemicals we had applied.
My husband regularly treats the perimeter of our yard (as well as the bushes and trees) with Sevin and had only treated our yard several days prior to finding the tick on my arm. This ready-to-spray chemical has worked well in the past, as evidenced by the absence of ticks in our dogs’ fur. He informed me that any ready to spray acaricide will do; an acaricide is a pesticide that is used to treat spiders. (Ticks are a member of the arachnid family.) Since finding the ticks, he is on “high alert” to treat our yard more often.
Ticks seem to be out in force this year and there is scientific evidence as to why their numbers have been steadily increasing. A humid climate is the perfect breeding ground for ticks. Given our most recent wet winter, the conditions were ripe for tick breeding to flourish. Local wildlife, such as birds and mice, serve as hosts to ticks. Moist climate plus easily accessible hosts equals very happy, proliferating ticks.
The brown tick, which is the tick we found in our home, carries several diseases that can make both a human and a dog incredibly ill. It’s essential that you take proper precautions to minimize your chances of getting bitten. For your pets, application of certain insecticides, such as Frontline and Advantage for dogs or cats, should be done so sparingly, to prevent irritation to the skin and toxicity to humans, especially pregnant women and children. Regular washing of bedding (human and pet), as well as regular vacuuming will reduce the risk further, as will regular bathing of your pet. For those who do not wish to use insecticides, beware of using natural remedies such as geranium and eucalyptus oils. These can cause burning of the skin to humans and pets alike, if not mixed properly. Pennyroyal oil can actually cause seizures and death to small pets, so beware of some of these remedies. Because they are natural doesn’t necessarily mean they are safe.
Ticks are always going to be part of our humid climate. By following precautions for yourself and your pets, you can continue to enjoy the great outdoors and stay safe at the same time.
