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We are moving to the Washington/New Preston Area and are buying a property that is a few acres and borders woods. While beautiful, we want to also be sure our pets (and ourselves) can be protected from ticks as much as possible. Lyme is pretty scary and we don't want to end up with it if possible.
Any self-done or paid control services you've used that you like?
Any tips (for pets or people) that have worked for you in keeping the ticks at bay?
Any thoughts are appreciated. We don't want to be paranoid, but we do want to be prepared.
We are moving to the Washington/New Preston Area and are buying a property that is a few acres and borders woods. While beautiful, we want to also be sure our pets (and ourselves) can be protected from ticks as much as possible. Lyme is pretty scary and we don't want to end up with it if possible.
Any self-done or paid control services you've used that you like?
Any tips (for pets or people) that have worked for you in keeping the ticks at bay?
Any thoughts are appreciated. We don't want to be paranoid, but we do want to be prepared.
What kind of pets do you have? I believe dogs can get shots that take care of ticks. We prefer to keep our cat flea free, and use Advantage II from Bayer. The Hartz from Walmart did not do a thing against fleas.
I pull any ticks I find off our cat. Ticks haven't been too bad this year. Last year was insane. Just check yourself every night and you should be ok.
I believe any bug repellant with DEET in it will repel ticks, but it isn't child safe do we don't have it in our house (two young kids).
Don't be paranoid. Be vigilant. Check yourself and family for ticks and if in doubt about a rash, see your doctor.
Lyme is carried by the deer tick and the black footed tick. The great big dog tick most people usually see does not carry Lyme although it can carry other diseases.
The primary hosts of the deer tick are the white footed mouse and deer. So what you want to try to do is to keep these away from your home as much as possible. Don't plant anything next to your house or bordering your property that attracts deer. Keep lawns short and as sunny as possible. Sunlight dries out ticks. Keep the areas below bird feeders clean as possible to keep mice away. Don't give mice places to live near the house ( brush piles, etc.) Keeping deer away is a lot easier than keeping mice away but do the best you can.
Keep cats inside. Not only will cats hunt and pick up ticks they may also sneak into the house carrying furry little creatures covered in ticks. Use a tick preventative on dogs. Check dogs and people daily for ticks. Lyme ticks are very hard to see. They are the size of a sesame seed or a pencil point. They are a little bit bigger when engorged. It takes 24-36 hours before ticks transmit the Lyme infection while feeding, so if you check daily you may be able to see and remove any before they infect you. They are just so hard to see. That great big tick that looks like a big pea or a lima bean when engorged is a dog tick and does not carry Lyme.. Although they can carry other nasty stuff.
Change clothes when coming in from walking in the woods or working in the yard. CT winters tend to be mild enough that even with snow on the ground I've pulled ticks off our dogs. The best you can hope for is to be as careful as you can.
The final thing to remember is that most people infected with Lyme do not show a bull's eye rash. But if you other wise have symptoms of Lyme and no rash, assume you're infected and go get the correct antibiotics. Don't let the lack of a rash fool you.
Personally not a fan of spraying the yard, as you kill off all the beneficial bugs and insects too. Not to mention human exposure. JMHO tho.
Keep your grass mowed, and clear up leaves. Also we had an intern do a project in our town and the results showed a higher density of ticks in the shady areas v sunny areas, something to bear in mind.
Maybe investigate tick-tubes? Mice bed down in the treated cotton wool filled tubes, and the ticks they are carrying get killed off. Think of it as like Frontlining mice, lol. I prefer this to spraying an entire yard with chemicals as you are targeting one of the main tick/Lyme carriers, ie the mice.
Use something like Frontline on pets, maybe not year round, but definitely during the prime tick months, ie April/May and Sept/Oct/Nov time.
Get in the habit of checking yourself daily, esp during the above months, or whenever you've been out in the woods. If you have kids teach them the importance of doing a body check every night before bed too. Nymph ticks are tiny - the size of a poppy seed, so be thorough.
If you do find an embedded tick, grasp at the base and pull out firmly, no twisting, with a pair of tweezers.
We keep a spice jar filled with rubbing alcohol in the house to drop any tick into, instant death.
If you've been hiking or working in the yard, bear in mind that the ticks on clothes can survive the wash cycle, but not the tumble dryer, so remove clothing promptly and wash/dry, don't leave it hanging around for the ticks to travel round the house.
Hope that helps, the fact you are aware that ticks are a problem is already a great start! Congrats on your move to CT!
They have organic sprays for yards. Not sure how effective it is but my neighbor swears it works. Never sees a tick each year she claims. We live in a wooded area with lots of deers. This year we have seen less deer, less squirrels, less ticks.
I have a dog and pulled a few off her this year. No shots. No horrible liquid medication. Just pet and check. If you feel an itch on yourself or a tingle look in mirror and check. Otherwise... Don't sweat it and enjoy nature there.
Yes last year was insane. Everywhere I looked I saw one even on my potted plants.
The other thing you can hope for is constant below freezing temps for long periods of time to kill them over winter. :-) Probably why last year was bad. (Warm 2011-12 winter)
Lyme is horrible, if not caught early. In some areas, if you spend time outside, it's almost inevitable that you will eventually become infected. It's not possible to kill off all the ticks on your property and in the bordering woods with insecticides. Keep the grass short, and stay out of the woods and away from the edge of the woods. You won't want to be at the edge of the woods anyway - too much poison ivy! Hire a landscaper service instead of doing it yourself, so you won't get bitten doing the yard. Use a monthly ivermectin application treatment on pets - it helps, but not fully reliable, because the tick may still transmit Lyme to the pet before it falls off. Check yourselves and the pets daily. And know that Lyme can mimic ANY disease - if your physician cannot figure out what is wrong with you or the pets, ask them to consider Lyme. Unfortunately, the test for Lyme can give a false negative result, meaning that if it says "no", it doesn't rule out Lyme. If you do find a deer tick on yourself or the pets, you/they can take a very brief course of prophylactic antibiotics (doxycycline for humans, don't know what they use on the pets) - it does reduce the risk of contracting Lyme. But it's usually contracted from the tick you never knew was on you.
Our dogs' vet swears by the new Seresto flea/tick collar. It's effective for 8 months, so no need to apply every month like frontline. Also there is a Lyme vaccine available for dogs, but I believe it's only recommended for those who never had Lyme disease before. Both our dogs have had it, so we never pursued having them vaccinated.
The Lyme vaccine for dogs does not guarantee your dog will not get Lyme disease if bitten, my dog was vaccinated annually from the time she was a puppy and at age 4 still got Lyme disease. Also, there are some risks involved with the vaccine.
We have our property sprayed organically against ticks, and I am amazed at how effective it is. The oil is derived from trees, I can't remember what tree, maybe cedar? The spray lasts about 4-6 weeks, and once they were late at spraying because it had been rainy, and I did notice an uptick in ticks. Sorry, couldn't resist. After they sprayed, I saw no more ticks. We are surrounded by woods, too.
Frontline Plus helps with ticks, although it is no longer effective against fleas for us. And even in winter you will sometimes see ticks if there is a temporary warm spell into the 50's, so be watchful. My family hikes and plays in the woods all the time, and while a few of us have had Lyme disease over the years, we don't want to hide away in the house in fear---just be sure to shower/check yourselves for ticks if you do go into brush or woodsy areas. Ticks are even present in the grass, so you should always be watchful.
Our dogs' vet swears by the new Seresto flea/tick collar. It's effective for 8 months, so no need to apply every month like frontline. Also there is a Lyme vaccine available for dogs, but I believe it's only recommended for those who never had Lyme disease before. Both our dogs have had it, so we never pursued having them vaccinated.
Another vote for Seresto. We live in the woods deep in the NW corner and we didnt find a single tick on either of our dogs using the Seresto collar this year.
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After they sprayed, I saw no more ticks. We are surrounded by woods, too.
