One Advantage of The Deep Snow Cover This Year Is.......

[maplestudent]

I haven't encountered any ticks yet!

well, that I am aware of

[Four D Acre Farms]

LOL gotta look for the bright side!!!:lol:

[KevinS]

bonus! I really dislike those things. I have always wondered just what eats the dang things. they have to have a place in the food chain and a purpose.. but for the life of me I can not find any value to them.

[jbravo54]

bonus! I really dislike those things. I have always wondered just what eats the dang things. they have to have a place in the food chain and a purpose.. but for the life of me I can not find any value to them.

chickens and guinea hens

[Clarkfield Farms]

www.caryinstitute.org/discover-ecology/podcasts/why-you-should-brake-possums

[maplestudent]

www.caryinstitute.org/discover-ecology/podcasts/why-you-should-brake-possums

Interesting. still learning something new every day. thanks

[BlueberryHill]

+1 to Guinea Hens! Tick eating machines!

[KevinS]

Chickens just moved up many notches on my favored critter list.

[Jmsmithy]

Wild turkey polts too!

[ryebrye]

I haven't encountered any ticks yet!

well, that I am aware of

The ticks are not likely to be killed off by the freeze since the adult ones spend winter embedded in larger mammals like deer or moose. They will drop off in the spring and reproduce :(

[maplestudent]

The ticks are not likely to be killed off by the freeze since the adult ones spend winter embedded in larger mammals like deer or moose. They will drop off in the spring and reproduce :(

That's so true. In previous years I have usually started finding them on me once the snow has disappeared and the leaves on the ground and low brush is exposed. Since I'm out in the woods pretty much every day....and have been seeing lost of deer tracks, I'm okay with the snow for now

[efoyt]

Indian running ducks also will put a dent in the tick population.

[maplestudent]

Indian running ducks also will put a dent in the tick population.

had to look up these guys because I've never heard of them before.

[harrison6jd]

100% agree with chickens and guinea hens. we free range ours here and as long as we and the dog dont go outside their feeding zone, we have 0 ticks found on us in 5 years.

[Ittiz]

The ticks are not likely to be killed off by the freeze since the adult ones spend winter embedded in larger mammals like deer or moose. They will drop off in the spring and reproduce :(

Ticks over winter in the leaf little and duff layers on the forest floor and are killed by the freeze if they don't get there by the time things freeze up. They do not over winter on a host. If the adults managed to find a host before the freeze they would complete their life cycle and die. The nymph ticks (hatched the previous) over winter deeper down in the layers than the adults do and emerge later. A tick staying attached to a host throughout the winter is much more dangerous than staying in the leaf litter. Winter lasts a long time and if they were discovered at any point it would mean almost certain death.

Check out this page it's a good overview of tick activity throughout the year: http://www.aldf.com/deerTickEcology.shtml

[maplestudent]

of course even the heavy snow cover doesn't prevent me from getting the heebee geebees every time I walk out there (daily).

[happy thoughts]

Anyone that thinks freezing kills ticks might want to check out this page (http://www.tickencounter.org/faq/seasonal_information) from the Tick Encounter Resource Center at the University of RI. Watch the video called polar vorticks. From what they say, seasonal tick activity depends on the species of tick. Peak adult Deer Tick activity starts in the fall and will continue through the winter months anytime the ground is not frozen or snow covered. Lots of good tick info on that site.


Adult-stage deer ticks become active in October and remain active throughout the winter whenever the ground is not frozen.

Let's all be careful out there as the snow melts with warmer temps.

[maplestudent]

Let's all be careful out there as the snow melts with warmer temps.

Yup. That's what really matters.

We don't even dry washed clothes out on a line anymore because we've found ticks on them after bringing them in. Wind will carry them to places you might not expect them to be.

[happy thoughts]

Yup. That's what really matters.

We don't even dry washed clothes out on a line anymore because we've found ticks on them after bringing them in. Wind will carry them to places you might not expect them to be.

LOL then you definitely don't want to know what I read about ticks being able to survive the washing machine and up to an hour in a hot clothes dryer :o After 3 tick bites last year I'm wishing they made Frontline Plus for humans.

[Maplewalnut]

Had two ticks on me yesterday after walking thru a field and it was not above 30 degrees all day

[happy thoughts]

Had two ticks on me yesterday after walking thru a field and it was not above 30 degrees all day

Be careful. Hope you got them before they embedded. If you read the link I left above, ticks that are active this time of year are most likely to be deer ticks.

[maplestudent]

LOL then you definitely don't want to know what I read about ticks being able to survive the washing machine and up to an hour in a hot clothes dryer :o After 3 tick bites last year I'm wishing they made Frontline Plus for humans.

Frontline for humans....LOL. There is a repellant that is supposed to work pretty good (bought some at a pharmacy last fall and haven't seen a tick since....but I don't think there were many out at the time so I'm not really sure how well it works....I'll check to see what it is and post the name here). I usually go through my clothes, inside and out, after being in the woods. Sometimes even after being on the back lawn. Too many tick bites/trips to the doctor's office in the past. There are clothes that are treated with....I don't know what....that are supposed to repel ticks and can withstand numerous washes. Can't say how good they work though.

A couple years ago I went to the doctor for a tick bite.....while the nurse was prescreening me....I was telling her that sometimes we can't even walk across the lawn without picking up a tick, and then I noticed one on my arm. Said "look, here's one right now" and picked it off my shirt sleeve to show to her. I thought she was going to freak.

[saphead]

I've been using powdered sulfur for a few years now.Put some in an old sock then put that inside another old sock and tie up the top. Smack it on my lower pant legs before heading into the woods. If you want your wife to still like you ... do not put those pants in with a regular load of wash!

[Cabin]

During tick season I shower using fels naptha soap. Not sure what it does but I get very few tick on me.

[maplestudent]

saphead and Cabin.....I haven't heard of the use of sulfur or fels naptha soap before. I'll have to look into these when I have a chance.

happy thoughts.....had a chance last night to check out the Tick Encounter Resource Center, and I must say that website is an excellent resource and one that I think I will use often. Thanks for posting that link. There are so many areas of that site that I liked. Definitely will have to get a permethrin home-application kit and apply it to my "woods clothes". Although I do disagree with a few statements that come across as being definitive (whether they were meant to be or not, I don't know, some seemed to be contradicted elsewhere on the site) I found it to be an extremely informative website on the subject of ticks.

I think the bottom line is: no matter what precautions you take before venturing out, always check yourself over afterward, because no precaution is 100% effective.

[Clarkfield Farms]

Some friends that trap often have to freeze pelts before fleshing them, sometimes for 4-6 months, and they all talk about how most of the ticks are perfectly fine after thawing.

Frontline? Happy, that makes me think of all the times I've had to get a blood test for Lyme disease; it was expensive, it took (better now than long ago) over a week to come back, and even then accompanied by the caveat that it was only 45-60% accurate. I KNOW, for those of you who can't wait to type out a counter reply, it's gotten better, that's not my point! My point is, take the dog to the vet, they do the blood test, sometimes the results are ready by the time I leave, those results are very accurate, and it's a fraction of the cost that MINE were. And yes, I've asked if they can do mine but of course you already know the answer to that one. :D