TICKS - when do they go away????????????

[Cruz Azul Guy]

I wanna say my dog got a tick during the summer of 2008 but I haven't seen any since then.

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by Slig

I wanna say my dog got a tick during the summer of 2008 but I haven't seen any since then.

I should qualify my observations in that I live in acreage north of the metro that has a mix of pasture, woods and wetland. Don't recall seeing any ticks in Bloomington/Minneapolis when I lived there. Believe the chickens keep them under control.

[golfgal]

We used to get quite a few ticks as kids growing up in the metro area but now, I rarely see any. Our kids have maybe had a handful of ticks ever.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

I think they are around in the city if you're in the park areas, etc. but obviously far less prevalent than heavily wooded areas outside the city. Dogs seem much more prone to them but as long as we apply intercept once a month they haven't been an issue.

[nurider2002]

I live in Maryland and despite cold winters, the ticks never "die off". We have them 12 months of the year and, have one of the highest lyme disease rates in the country. Two neighbors and 3 dogs within two houses of me have had lyme. But I cannot ever remember a month when they were non-existant. My dogs have good results with Preventic tick collars (much better than the chemicals applied to the skin). If you live in the country or near deer, you are going to have ticks, they are here to stay.

[ColdRedRain]

I was bitten by two this summer already, a wood tick and a deer tick, respectively. My advice if you're bitten by ticks is make sure that you remove the tick slowly by the head, put it in a vat or a bag full of petroleum jelly, bring the tick to the doctor, get the tick tested for Lyme disease/Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and then take some antibiotics. Avoid urban hospitals or clinics if you're going to get it removed by a professional, as many doctors in urban areas are unfamiliar with tick bites.

A personal anecdote about urban hospitals and clinics: When I had my deer tick, I rushed to the hospital to get the tick removed and to get antibiotics. The inexperienced doctor nearly sent me home, thinking I had a scab. I then told the doctor that scabs don't have legs... The embarrassed doctor then removed the tick and threw it away (Which is always a No-No, especially with a deer tick!) and gave me antibiotics and had me on my way.

The larger wood ticks are annoying but give you less of a chance for an infection, but the smaller deer ticks are the ones that you should be afraid of. If bitten by a deer tick, pull the tick off, save the body in the manner I described above and take it to the hospital ASAP.

[haiki]

Sorry, Susie to hear about your Lyme sickness. I hope you eventually overcome this. But as a young boy in Northeast Minnesota I too was bitten by a tick and remember the bulls eye that accompanies a bite. Not knowing about anything, or ever heard of Lyme desease until years later. However, I never was sick because of it. Those venturing outside stay out of dry grass, and check yourself, with a mirror if you have to, because they can end up anywhere. These ticks are all over. If you remember what David Letterman had said, because he brings up the subject of ticks all the time. At his home, when having guests over, he sends the kids out first, so the adults can them enjoy and relax outside.

[lazlaz]

yep OFF is a must, put all over you and on your clothes to keep them from staying and climbing up. nothing like pulling a tick from inside your ear.

[tvdxer]

Where I live (in rural Hermantown, outside Duluth), mid-May to mid-June are prime tick season. In a normal year, they're mostly gone by mid-to-late July. That's one reason I think August and September is the best time of year up here.

Mowing your lawn (or if you already mow your lawn, mowing it more extensively) helps. Also, ticks are rare in urban Duluth or the Twin Cities metro area (come to think of it, even mosquitoes are a rare site in Minneapolis).

[DeeDubb]

You may want to try drinking a mixture of raw apple cider vinegar and water along with eating some garlic. The little pests do not like the smell of these natural remedies. You could also grind the ingredients up into a spray that you can spray on yourself also. Just do not plan on going out for a night on the town for awhile.