I can't believe how many people have been pulling ticks off their pets this winter. We found one on the floor in my house. My husband had to remove one from his co-workers neck the other day. Very deep in her neck. UGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Somebody else at his work pulled 5 off his dog 2 weeks ago.
So on and so on!!! Does this mean that this summer is going to be way worse than normal. For crying out loud someone needs to do something about the tick population. It's not even like I live out in the woods. Why are they out in the freezing weather??? Sorry just had to vent!!!
Posted by ticked in ri (Member # 7736) on :
I was just talking to a co-worker about this the other day. She lives in a wooded area in RI. She found a tick crawling on her son last week and her husband found one I him a few weeks ago.
It seems that the ticks are inactive when it's really cold (below freezing) but with the warmer temps that we are having here in New England they are active on the surface of the ground. I heard the ticks can be active when its in the 40s and 50s.
Posted by Foggy (Member # 1584) on :
So comforting that there's a dearth of LLMDs in MA, too. Posted by iceskater (Member # 8655) on :
the over all climate on the east coast allows the temperature gradient that ticks need to survive. With a more temperate winter this year and somewhat wetter conditions in some areas- is more conducive to ticks. An NBC weatherman, in Philadelphia, wrote a wonderful book on climatology. I read it...( No tick refs in book,) however, Seems like the ticks like the geoography and weather on the east coast. The ticks due to warmer temps have been less dormant or less sluggish, so they are cashing in their frequent flier miles earlier this year... Lovely. More problems and more risk of exposures and bites.
Posted by DJP (Member # 5893) on :
This article talks about ticks in NE at this time of year.
South Coast Today Standard-Times Daily February 15, 2006 Top Stories LOCAL
***** Biting back: As snow melts, ticks emerge By JOSEPH R. LaPlante, Standard-Times staff writer
Call it a mixed New England blessing.
Unseasonably warm temperatures lower the thermostat and get us outside -- where the ticks wait.
All the 40- and 50-degree days this winter have been prime basking opportunities for deer ticks -- known by scientists as Ixodidae Ixodes scapularis -- the loathsome, miniscule carriers of Lyme disease and other illnesses.
The small, dark, nasty blood feeder is lurking today along paths, trails and roads, looking for its next meal as though it were July.
Beware, because animals and humans are getting bitten, according to the state Department of Public Health and local veterinarians.
"Be vigilant," said Dr. Christine Gaumont, whose Acushnet Animal Hospital has logged several reports of pet owners finding ticks on their pets.
"Check your animals and apply a good name-brand preventative -- Advantix or Frontline -- available at your vet," Dr. Gaumont advised.
Humans should be checking themselves closely after outdoor strolls in areas where ticks thrive in warmer seasons, said Dr. Bela Matyas, medical director of the epidemiology program at the state Department of Public Health.
"Check your clothes and feel your skin for bumps that are bigger," he said.
"We are receiving several scattered reports from around the state of ticks biting people."
This is an unusually active winter season for ticks, said professor Stephen Rich, a medical entomologist at UMass Amherst.
"There is usually enough snow and cold to make them inactive," he said.
But the warm temperatures and what professor Rich surmises is that a recent acclimation to cold weather, manifested in the migration of the once-coastal creature to Amherst and beyond, is making the tick a year-round pest.
A tick dining this time of year is an adult, larger and easier to detect than the nymphs that haunt us from May to October.
These adult ticks either missed their blood meals last October or November or, rather than wait for their normal meal in April or May, are making like Florida retirees and catching the early-bird specials, to liberally paraphrase Professor Rich.
Deer ticks feed mostly on deer, cattle and other large animals, but humans offer a bountiful repast.
Ticks might inflict a painful bite. Deer ticks also might carry the Lyme disease bacteria in their systems. Lyme disease causes flu-like systems in people, and often causes arthritic symptoms. Long-term neurological problems also loom when treatment is delayed. Lyme disease can be treated successfully with antibiotics administered orally.
Lyme bacteria seeps into the bloodstream of the bitten person or animal over 24 to 48 hours. Ticks should be removed with tweezers as soon as they are discovered, and medical attention should be sought.
Lyme disease was first reported in Connecticut in 1975 and is named after the town of Lyme, where it was first observed.
Last weekend's colder temperatures are not occasion to let your guard down, Dr. Matyas said.
"If it is very cold or if there is snow cover, you are not likely to encounter them," he said. "But the temperature in micro-environments can be warm enough for them, kind of like how if your car is parked in the sun on a cold day; the car is warm inside despite the cold outside. They find spots that warm in the sun despite the cold temperature."
Contact Joseph R. LaPlante at [email protected] *****
Posted by Lydie (Member # 8327) on :
Is true that only adults are around and biting right now?
Posted by lucy (Member # 7802) on :
I think the nymphs are out because I've pulled the tiniest ticks off both the cat and 2 of the dogs recently.
I've gotten many of the larger ones too, but the tiny ones,when they embed, are a ***** to get off with the puller we use. Ugh!
Posted by DJP (Member # 5893) on :
We are west of Boston and I haven't seen any yet, but with some of those warm days I was hoping they were coming out and then dying when the temps dropped.
I'm paranoid because my two little ones just stopped treatment.
Posted by valymemom (Member # 7076) on :
Early January 2005 my son came down in the morning before showering with a tick.
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