Live in upstate NY- Someone recently told me it's unlikely that I was bitten by a tick because the rash (I believe to by Lyme rash) appeared in February.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Yes, they are active .. not as much but they are there!!
Posted by Hambone (Member # 29535) on :
I was bitten in Florida in the winter. I know it doesn't get as cold here, though.
Posted by t9im (Member # 25489) on :
I had a friend in December bring a deer back and hang it in his shed. Now the shed is as cold as outside, just not in the wind.
He said about 60 ticks fell off of it. I assume they died from the cold but had stayed warm on the deer.
Posted by onlyflippin (Member # 32260) on :
After a kill the tics fresh blood supply runs out and they detach, I kinda doubt they were dead. It usually doesnt take too long at all.I have seen this a hundred times.. Sometimes they run around like spiders.
Posted by onlyflippin (Member # 32260) on :
Oh yeah, we get em on our dogs year round.
Posted by Sammi (Member # 110) on :
You can be bitten any time of year. Also, a bulls-eye rash can appear at any time.
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
From the Vermont LYme Network:
"In cold weather, ticks become dormant and hide in litter and other protected places. When temperatures are above freezing, both adult and nymph ticks climb onto the tips of grasses and shrubs to wait for a warm-blooded animal to brush against it."
So, the cold does not kill a tick. Instead, it goes dormant (like hybernating) until the temp again goes above freezing. Then, it gets lively again.
One lady that used to post on LymeNet said she got lyme from a tick that came off of a Christmas tree brought into the home at Christmas.
So, you could get a lyme rash in February in NY. It is just not as common in the winter as in the summer due to the hybernation of ticks when temps are below freezing.
Posted by anonymiss (Member # 32018) on :
Absolutely, as long as the temperature is above freezing like everyone else said. Even ONE DAY with temps above freezing, and the dormant ticks become active.
I have a greenhouse, so even when it's freezing outside it's like spring in the greenhouse. We get a lot of migratory birds that come and nest here in the winter, too, so I'm sure they bring millions of ticks with them, straight from the east coast of NY where Lyme is particularly rampant.
I found an ADULT deer tick inside the house back in January. I figure it came in from outside on my clothing or shoe or something...it wasn't attached to me, I found it crawling up the curtain in the living room right behind the couch where I was sitting at the time.
Anyway, like everyone else says - YES, ticks are active in the winter. =)
Posted by map1131 (Member # 2022) on :
When you need a blood meal to survive...you'd step outside even upstate NY through 2 ft of snow if that's what it took.
Then I'd go hide back in the tree bark or under whatever pile crap I needed to stay warm.
Even better it could hop a ride on a deer, bird, mouse, chipmunk until your warm body came along.
Doesn't that give you the creeps? Wonder what type crap a field mouse has in nasty bloodstream.
Parasites, bacteria, lyme or any number of things.