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I agree, woods are not needed for there to be ticks... the WORST tick problem I have ever seen was when I live in AZ... It was such a shock... two very small trees in the yard, hardly any grass (the lawn was dead when I moved in... actually no one in town really had lawns, just dirt & rocks & long dead grass). My poor dog went out to play in the evening and when I called him back in I had to sit for over an hour picking ticks. The next day I went to the store & bought all sorts of things to kill the darn things in the yard. Still gives me the heebie jeebies thinking about all those little ticks!
I live in Ct., and am surrounded by several acres of woods. We do have ticks. They come from the mice/chipmunks/deer, there is no keeping them away, even with a fence or lawn treatments, although that might minimize them. Even our cats get ticks. I do put topical tick/flea meds on our cats and dog, so generally the ticks die and fall off the pets. All that said, there is no keeping my family out of Ct.'s woods, we hike through them all year long. (we do tend to avoid our own woods in the summer, as they are too dense and rocky to really hike through-our pets don't often go into them, either) Even gardening in our yard I am constantly flicking deer ticks off me. We are careful how we dress, and shower first thing after coming inside. I wash the clothes right away. Ticks are inconvenient and can be a health hazard, but you can successfully live with them if you are very, very careful.
Last edited by andthentherewere3; 03-09-2010 at 07:06 AM..
Wear light colored long sleeve shirt and pants if you go anywhere near the wooded area. I tie my pants so they are tight, tuck in my shirt and when I come out, I check for ticks. Everyone always check the dogs for the ticks as well.
Smartest move is to examine you body daily for any ticks or other bites. You don't want them attaching and you need to get other bugs off anyway.
We have deer, coyote, rabbits,skunk, raccoon, woodchuck and many other animals. We don't take chances.
Assuming it is not a small fence, it should be affective at keeping back larger animals such as deer. .
A friend of mine raises Deer as a cash crop. They can clear an 8 ft fence as easily as you could step over a single brick. He lost his first herd because he thought 8 ft was tall enough. His fence is now 12 ft tall.
The ticks prefer the area that's not quite woods and not quite lawn - just on the fringe. They can be carried by deer, birds, raccoons, mice, etc and be deposited just about anywhere. If you have woods nearby, there is a likelihood you'll find a tick on your lawn at some point in time. Best prevention is to keep your garbage contained so that you're not providing food for the raccoons, mice and other small carriers; keep your lawn mowed so the ground doesn't look inviting to the tick as a drop off point; and you may want to consider treating the property or getting some tick eating pets (guineas or chickens).
Your neck of the woods, along with shoreham, mt sinai and ridge, have horrible tick problems because the deer population isn't controlled very well. (It's even worse on Fire Island & surprised diseases aren't wiping out that herd.) The old grumans plant near calverton is where the deer hide out during hunting season, snickering at hunters behind the chain link fence LOL.
My ex landlady and her neighbors 'hosted' a pack of wild turkeys and guinea hens that roamed the block keeping the population under control. Something like a neighborhood watch program for ticks and grubs to be kept under control. Horse country you really have to do something. Yes the basic maint of landscaping is important, but when wildlife abound nearby, ticks will inevitably be introduced.
I'm in Northern NJ and also live in a wooded area, this weekend I went to grab some chinese food after doing some yard work and I ran into one of the cops I know in the area he told me to be very careful, treat my yard especially this time of year and if I've really been out for long and am worried to shower with that shampoo they sell to get rid of head lice, just use it like body wash and let it sit for a while.
I agree, woods are not needed for there to be ticks... the WORST tick problem I have ever seen was when I live in AZ... It was such a shock... two very small trees in the yard, hardly any grass (the lawn was dead when I moved in... actually no one in town really had lawns, just dirt & rocks & long dead grass). My poor dog went out to play in the evening and when I called him back in I had to sit for over an hour picking ticks. The next day I went to the store & bought all sorts of things to kill the darn things in the yard. Still gives me the heebie jeebies thinking about all those little ticks!
funny you would say that, one of the worse we ever had was a little planter area on our patio in Arcadia Ca. We had almost no trees and no woods. We also had them in NO Ca where we did have trees and in Glendora where we had vacant land and trees. Here we just make sure the dog gets his treatment every month for Feb or March until Oct or Nov. and we pay close attention to ourselves when we are working in the garden.
Nita
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