Has anyone noticed a massive amount of ticks recently?
It's crazy! We have been in our house almost 6 years, and in all that time I never saw any evidence of ticks. However, in the past week, I've found several on our dogs. My husband also found one on himself after mowing the lawn.
I applied a dose of tick preventive on my dogs today, so hopefully they don't get bit anymore. Is there any way to apply something in the yard to minimize them too? (Something that wouldn't be harmful to children and pets.)
I'd seen it mentioned that this should be a bad year for ticks, due to the mild winter. From what I'm seeing recently, that's definitely true. Yuck.
It's funny - I haven't seen a tick since I lived in the mountains. Last night, my son had one on his leg. I had not heard that ticks were up this year, but now I will be on the alert.
Thanks for the reminder, time get some pills for my pooch.
I think that the mild winter has a big effect on "critters". Harsh winters tend to kill off many critters and we surely didn't have one this year.
What can you do to keep them out of your yards?
I haven't encountered a single tick since I returned to Toledo 12 years ago, but I do use the Cutter brand yard spray in the gray bottle that attaches to your garden hose for fleas and mosquitoes, and it works great. It is supposed to be effective on ticks as well, and is "child and pet safe" when it dries.
Had a tick on my neck Saturday. Glad someone noticed it and was able to use a match for heat and remove the little &*%*$%*
True story: A number of years ago, after hiking in Oak Openings, I contracted Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The doctors told me the tick has to be on the host (me) for a couple of hours, yuck!
They told me this was rare and, had I been African American, I probably would have died.
Moral: check skin and scalp and get them off fast!
Aside from my dog getting his monthly flea/tick/heartworm, etc. pill, I have my lawn service put down a flea and tick application. I believe they do it three times a season.
Any hardware store should have something to spray or sprinkle powder in yard to keep them and other bugs away. Not sure how effective or safe.
I had one on my eyelid this weekend! Kayaking back in the swamp and went to swipe my eye and found it stuck there. Blech!
Offshore - we lost a dog a few years ago when he contracted lyme disease from a tick he picked up while on a walk at Oak Openings. It's a beautiful park but I refuse to go in the warm weather now.
idinspired-sorry to hear that. I've removed plenty from my dogs over the years.
In my case, I was jumping in the sand dunes with reckless abandon and I should have known better since it was late summer.
Haven't seen any yet luckily, but last year was terrible. Had to take my dog to the vet because I removed 3, but 1 looked like it was completely under the skin and didn't want to pull it apart and cause an infection. Vet was cool and didn't even charge me.