Back to Subject of Bugs in NWA (Fayetteville, Rogers: real estate, medicine)

[HoneysuckleHobo]

Can someone help with more info on the bug situation. In reading some posts on the other cities (in Tenn for example) I'm considering, I notice that the Arkansas people can tell the worst stories regarding the bug situation, particularly remarks about chiggers and ticks.

My question to NWA people: (I don't trust what the real estate people say, frankly, they will tell you what you want to hear): If you have a house in the city, such as a house in Fayetteville, not an "au naturel" lot but one that is planted with gardens, will it have those chiggers and ticks in it also? I know the woods will have them, of course. But...city yards? I ask because I like to garden and walk (on trails, sidewalks, etc).

When I lived in Maryland, right outside D.C., horrifyingly, there were many, many ticks in your yard during the springtime. They would overrun your yard and get on your pets and walk right into your house. These were very manicured yards. There was no way to spray for them, I was told. These were "molts" and they would walk in a straight line right for you, relentlessly.

Thank you for any additional info on the chigger/tick situation.

[katmark2008]

I dont know about NWA, but i'm from about 150+ south (as the crow flies) and we dont have a big tick or chigger problem. We live in an older suburb outside of hot springs, Ar, and have a fairly large yard and have not seen any ticks or chiggers this year except when we've been walking in the woods. For the most part, i think if the yard is well kept and free of underbrush, you wouldnt have much of a problem. Of course, it may be different for my northern arkansan neighbors.

[HoneysuckleHobo]

katmark I sure hope you are right about being able to keep them out by having the yard nicely kept!!!

[rackensack]

Originally Posted by HoneysuckleHobo

Can someone help with more info on the bug situation. In reading some posts on the other cities (in Tenn for example) I'm considering, I notice that the Arkansas people can tell the worst stories regarding the bug situation, particularly remarks about chiggers and ticks.

My question to NWA people: (I don't trust what the real estate people say, frankly, they will tell you what you want to hear): If you have a house in the city, such as a house in Fayetteville, not an "au naturel" lot but one that is planted with gardens, will it have those chiggers and ticks in it also? I know the woods will have them, of course. But...city yards? I ask because I like to garden and walk (on trails, sidewalks, etc).

We lived in Fayetteville for five years in the late 70s/early 80s, and my parents have been in Rogers since 1986, both in typical ranch houses in subdivisions near the edge of the developed parts of town. Neither place has had any issues at all with ticks or chiggers. When we moved to Fayetteville, our house was on the only developed street in the middle of a cow pasture with a couple of groves of woods on it, but even then it was never an issue. Out in the woods in rural areas, sure, but not in town.

[Stormcrow73]

Yeah the other posts are giving you good info. If you don't keep your yard and the areas near your home in check growth-wise then you stand a higher chance of getting both ticks and chiggers but it still isn't all that bad. Also, if you're on the fringes of town, don't do anything to encourage deer to come up. The infamous deer tick is the typical carrier of Lyme's disease and that's not fun. As for chiggers, well, if you walk through any fairly tall grass you're going to get them. But they're barely a nuisance if you ask me. You'll probably never really take the time to realize that itch on your leg is actually a chigger.

We just moved back to AR from MD and I frankly never encountered the tick problem up there you speak of. Yes they are VERY plentiful out in the woods or in fields but we never found many in our yard.

[RogMar]

I live in the hills, and I find it's variable. I don't have a bug problem at all, but I currently don't have dogs, and don't put out bird feeders, so the birds stay very active in my mowed areas.

I've had a couple of ticks over the years, but nothing to speak of.

A friend, who bush hogs for a living, takes sulpher tablets and swears that if a tick does bite him, it dies.

Keeping your dogs on a tick preventative helps also.

Now, for those tarantulas that come crawling around in the fall...........

[HoneysuckleHobo]

Thanks for the additional information one and all!

Stormcrow, we had the tick "molt" problems in Greenbelt. It was terrible. They would even get on a cat, that's how many there were. They would get on the back of the cats' necks and cluster there. Wretched bloodsuckers, did they think they were politicians or something? This was before the new kind of tick medicines, though. This was in the days of (worthless) flea collars.

I have 2 elderly animals (out of 6) that can't be on the flea and tick preventatives. It affected them really bad and the vet said keep 'em off of it. They have bad livers. So for them, I am concerned. My animals are my precious babies. All the others are on the medicine.

Rackensack, your post gives me hope that I can keep them out the yard!

But hold the presses RogMar, what do you mean, about the tarantulas??? I remember being told that they'd make the highway slick down in the southern part of Arkansas, trying to cross, are you telling me those monsters (LOL) are in NWA too???

[Stormcrow73]

Well, if your cats are outside animals then I'll guarentee they'll get a few ticks no matter where you live. You might only find one or two a year on yourself but your animals will get plenty more. Like RogMar says, it varies from year to year on how bad they are. I can remember summers when I was kid when our dog's ears would be covered by them. We were out in the boonies though. This summer is probably going to be pretty bad because winter wasn't particularly cold.

You can buy tick granules to spread in the lawn to help kill them. We got to where we would do that and we had both cats and dogs and they never had any ill effects.

As far as the tarantulas go, the ones we have here are harmless. You'll see them when they migrate and that's about it. We do have scorpions too but again, you'll likely never see one unless you make a habit of rolling over rotten logs or wood piles looking for little beasties.

[HoneysuckleHobo]

Many thanks Stormcrow. My cats enjoy laying around in the yard and on the porch at night, so I guess the ticks would get on them then. Maybe I could put the granuales you mention in the flower beds.

Glad the tarantulas are harmless. I don't like to bother them, just don't want to accidentally get one into biting mode. I can well remember big black scorpions when my father would grub out tree stumps. I don't plan on any stump-grubbing.

[Sam I Am]

Also try sprinkling diotomaceous (oh, I'm sure my spelling is horrendous there) earth on your yard - you can get it at the pool supply store. It nicks the shells of ticks and fleas and causes them to die. Bathe your animals in Dawn and it will kill fleas, don't know about ticks. We keep ours on preventive year-round because it rarely gets cold for long enough to kill everything off. Feed your dogs a little garlic, that repels them, or give them garlic tablets. If you're into the green thing, there are new flea/tick collars that repel - I cannot endorse them, haven't used them, but they're made with essential oils. The most important thing may be to talk with your vet about the Lyme vaccination, but usually they will not give it to older or sickly animals...but ticks carry all kinds of nasty diseases for pets (and people) - I'd rather be safe than sorry and just use the liquid drops. Expensive, yes, and well worth it.

By the way - I'm dead center of Russellville and we get errant ticks and fleas but mostly because of crummy neighbors. In town there really isn't a bad problem...knock wood.