Florida. Great vacation state? Maybe. It’s getting a bit crowded for my tastes. But one thing none of us can deny is that it’s a breeding ground for ticks. Sit down in your own front yard for a moment on a piece of plastic or a fallen log and you’re probably gonna come up with a bloodsucker. With our dry, not so cold winter and spring, tick hosts abound – think squirrels, raccoons, deer, and mice – and so do ticks. Did you know one female tick can lay up to 6,000 eggs at one go? Yikes!
If you haven’t noticed, almost every year now is the hottest on record. But, we’ll not go too far into global warming in today’s article. Instead, I’m going to tell you about ticks and the best ways to keep them away.
From 2004 to 2016 the number of diseases caused by bloodsuckers has more than tripled. Since it’s getting hotter every year, mild winters and a larger livable range is leading to an increase in populations of these insects. In 2016 there were nearly a hundred thousand cases as opposed to 2004 when there was about thirty thousand.
“The numbers on some of these diseases have gone to astronomical levels,” said the CDC’s director of vector-borne diseases Lyle Petersen, as reported by the New York Times. Petersen avoided pointing to climate change directly, but did say, “What I can tell you is increasing temperatures have a number of effects on all these vector-borne diseases.”
And the only thing you can really do to avoid ticks and the diseases they carry? Be vigilant. We’ve always recommended wearing light-colored long pants when hiking here. This is so you can see ticks but also avoid flying insect bites – and the CDC suggests long sleeves as well. While non-DEET repellents work fine for flying insects, DEET and Permetherin (which gets sprayed on your clothes, not you) are your front lines of defense against ticks. Gaiters, or at least pulling up your socks over your pant cuffs, helps keep them out of your shoes. Spray shoes, socks, and pants below the leg very heavily with DEET.
The issue is, ticks aren’t only in the woods. You can pick them up almost anywhere outside. In your yard, off the pets, even from your own garden. There are a few steps you can take, thankfully, to keep from attracting these little biters.
For one, wash your clothes in hot water and use high heat in the dryer. Cold and medium temperatures don’t kill ticks. Also, soaking in a hot bath or a hot tub can work to kill any attached blood-sucking pests. This goes for both chiggers and ticks. If you do find a tick on yourself or your pet, remove it properly. Follow these guidelines from the CDC. It’s smart to have tweezers (even those in a Swiss Army knife) with you whenever you’re outdoors, for this very purpose.
And, worst comes to worst, you may want to hire a pest control company. But with all the issues from cancer to population destruction of beneficial insects, make sure to go with a company that uses natural pest control.