> Thanks to climate change and exploding deer populations, ticks are expanding their ranges—and carrying diseases with them.
We’ve had our first run ins with ticks in our suburban Chicago backyard recently. They were never an issue before, and never literally just outside the door. I’m sure the unseasonably warm start to the year is to blame.
Look into "tick tubes", which you scatter around your yard. Tick tubes have permethrin impregnated cotton inside them, which mice collect and use as bedding. Mice are a critical part of the tick life cycle. The permethrin kills ticks that feed on the mice, and over a season or two you can seriously eliminate infestations of ticks without indiscriminate pesticide spraying.
The good thing is, we're just approaching the best time to apply tick tubes, early spring to summer.
I've used this in the suburbs, and anecdotally it doesn't seem like any small critters are picking up the cotton at all. I guess I should be happy that I don't have any mice or rats in the area?
I was under the understanding that any animal with fur or feathers can carry ticks. It's probably also an issue that smaller animals that eat ticks, like possums, are getting squeezed out.
Ever since I found out that ticks carry a disease that makes you allergic to meat, I became extra worried about them. However, despite living in a major tick area, I've luckily never seen one. I just make it a point to wear long pants and sleeves when working in the yard and then immediately shower afterwards.
If you don’t mind some chemical treatments, a really effective combo is permethrin and picaridin.
Pick a set of outerwear to be your yard work clothing. I’ve got a pair of overalls, a light long sleeve shirt, and a hat. Treat them with permethrin. This doesn’t repel ticks and mosquitos, but can actually incapacitate or kill them on contact.
Tuck your pants in your boots, and sleeves in your gloves if you’re wearing any.
Every time before you go out, spray yourself (particularly any exposed skin) with the picaridin repellent.
I live in the middle of a forest that’s sitting on wetlands. The bugs are out of control here. I haven’t found a tick on me (not in me, on me at all) in years. I also get very, very few mosquito bites.
(If you don’t want to go this crazy… just long pants tucked in and some picaridin repellent before you go out is all my wife does and she’s had similar results, though spends less time outside and less wandering through dense forest and stuff.)
We’ve had our first run ins with ticks in our suburban Chicago backyard recently. They were never an issue before, and never literally just outside the door. I’m sure the unseasonably warm start to the year is to blame.