Ticks / Lyme Disease in NE Ohio

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by SlideRules99

This article gives great advice for steps to take in tick habitat. Yes to the shower, along with washing your clothes and drying them on HOT. Light colored long pants improve your ability to spot nymphs, which contrast against the light color (like dark poppy seeds). Read these additional tips as well.

https://americanhiking.org/resources/ticks/

In my experience, ticks often nestle into the first patch of skin after they’ve crawled up your pant leg, sock, shirt sleeve, collar, etc. On backpacking trips, I’ve had bites just inside my sock band where it meets my calf, and also on my side at my waist band area.

I’m no expert, but learned enough to help improve my odds.

BTW, I wouldn’t expect the tick blooms to be that severe in our area. I’ve seen situations elsewhere where you could literally spot them at the tips of almost every blade of tall grass that overhangs the trail. Not so here.

Great tips. Thanks.


I wonder in some areas of Ohio with larger concentrations of deer, such as even perhaps Cuyahoga Valley NP, if the tick density isn't much higher. It would be great if park systems actually did tick population surveys, but they likely don't want to scare persons away.


I wonder what happened to this study?


https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/tick-project/


I couldn't find any information about the results of the study, but I did find this site. Dutchess County, according to the above article, has among the highest incidences of tick-borne disease in NY.


https://www.dutchessny.gov/Departmen...Prevention.htm

[Unicorn hunter]

ok, so I have a family of deer that frequently hang out in my back yard. What advice is there (if any) to prevent/eliminate ticks in the yard? I would like to be able to play badminton, garden, etc in the yard and don't want to be freaking out about ticks all the time! Is keeping the grass short sufficient? Is there some sort of organic non-lethal to bees type spray? Help!

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by Unicorn hunter

ok, so I have a family of deer that frequently hang out in my back yard. What advice is there (if any) to prevent/eliminate ticks in the yard? I would like to be able to play badminton, garden, etc in the yard and don't want to be freaking out about ticks all the time! Is keeping the grass short sufficient? Is there some sort of organic non-lethal to bees type spray? Help!

Yes, it always amazed me that there are deer on 260th St.!!! I've seen them many times crossing that busy street. I always wondered why. Do they range from the Lake Metroparks Gully Brook Park and Chagrin River Park? Do they forage on the Pine Ridge and Briardale Greens Golf courses? Personally, I would inquire about asking Euclid to electronically tag them, because it seems that a culling program is needed if they frequent such a heavily residential neighborhood in search of food.


I've often wondered about ticks on lawns frequented by deers. I would be more concerned about them falling from trees or shrubs. Always wear a wide-rimmed hat, when mowing or working around trees and shrubs IMO, and shower immediately after mowing or working around possible tick habitats. Perhaps I've been living with a myth, based on the following.


https://wgme.com/news/i-team/ask-the...es-onto-people


Perhaps ticks on mowed lawns also aren't an issue, but shrubs still are a concern, especially if the deer feed on them.


https://hortnews.extension.iastate.e...4-5/ticks.html


Urban deer only need a patch of woods for shelter, while ranging outwards to feast on residents' flowers and shrubs. They especially like geraniums and roses in my experience.

[SlideRules99]

Originally Posted by Unicorn hunter

ok, so I have a family of deer that frequently hang out in my back yard. What advice is there (if any) to prevent/eliminate ticks in the yard? I would like to be able to play badminton, garden, etc in the yard and don't want to be freaking out about ticks all the time! Is keeping the grass short sufficient? Is there some sort of organic non-lethal to bees type spray? Help!

From the CDC web page:

https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/prev/in_the_yard.html

<<You can make your yard less attractive to ticks depending on how you landscape. Here are some simple landscaping techniques that can help reduce tick populations:

- Clear tall grasses and brush around homes and at the edge of lawns.
- Place a 3-ft wide barrier of wood chips or gravel between lawns and wooded areas and around patios and play equipment. This will restrict tick migration into recreational areas.
- Mow the lawn frequently and keep leaves raked.
- Stack wood neatly and in a dry area (discourages rodents that ticks feed on).
- Keep playground equipment, decks, and patios away from yard edges and trees and place them a sunny location, if possible.
- Remove any old furniture, mattresses, or trash from the yard that may give ticks a place to hide.>>

I wouldn’t worry nearly as much about short lawns as I would tall grasses and brush. They often hang out on the tips of tall grasses, weeds, and bushes waiting to latch on to a passing mammal.

There is also advice about pesticides on that same site, but personally I don’t condone that. But it’s a free country, so YMMV.

[Unicorn hunter]

Originally Posted by WRnative

Yes, it always amazed me that there are deer on 260th St.!!! I've seen them many times crossing that busy street. I always wondered why. Do they range from the Lake Metroparks Gully Brook Park and Chagrin River Park? Do they forage on the Pine Ridge and Briardale Greens Golf courses? Personally, I would inquire about asking Euclid to electronically tag them, because it seems that a culling program is needed if they frequent such a heavily residential neighborhood in search of food.


I've often wondered about ticks on lawns frequented by deers. I would be more concerned about them falling from trees or shrubs. Always wear a wide-rimmed hat, when mowing or working around trees and shrubs IMO, and shower immediately after mowing or working around possible tick habitats. Perhaps I've been living with a myth, based on the following.


https://wgme.com/news/i-team/ask-the...es-onto-people


Perhaps ticks on mowed lawns also aren't an issue, but shrubs still are a concern, especially if the deer feed on them.


https://hortnews.extension.iastate.e...4-5/ticks.html


Urban deer only need a patch of woods for shelter, while ranging outwards to feast on residents' flowers and shrubs. They especially like geraniums and roses in my experience.

The most frightening thing I saw, in relation to deer in urban areas, was a group of four or five running back and forth along Som Center Road, trying to find a place to cross through traffic! That road even scares me!

I can't imagine ticks would climb trees! Unless they were some sort of bird tick!

When I was in Mansfield I had planted a bunch of tulip bulbs and was so glad to see them come up in the spring and so unhappy when I woke up one morning and deer had bitten all of their heads off just leaving the stems!!! I did see one of the deer nosing around my rose bushes, but didn't seem to actually eat anything...of course they are all pretty much just thorns at the moment....