Man, it’s getting brutal on the tick front here in the U.S. If you haven’t noticed, almost every year now is the hottest on record. But, we’ll not go too far into global warming in today’s article. Instead, I’m going to tell you about ticks and the best ways to keep them away.
From 2004 to 2016 the number of diseases caused by blood suckers has more than tripled. Since it’s getting hotter every year, mild winters and a larger livable range is leading to an increase in populations of these insects. In 2016 there were nearly a hundred thousand cases as opposed to 2004 when there was about thirty thousand.
“The numbers on some of these diseases have gone to astronomical levels,” said the CDC’s director of vector-borne diseases Lyle Petersen, as reported by the New York Times. Petersen avoided pointing to climate change directly, but did say, “What I can tell you is increasing temperatures have a number of effects on all these vector-borne diseases.”
So, anyway, what I’m trying to say is that it’s getting bad. So now let’s get into some ways to keep ticks off of you.
The Tick Basics
There’s some things you can do to keep ticks off that are just common sense, so we’ll start with them.
For example, if you go through the woods or plan to spend time working in your yard, consider your clothes. When you go outside wear long pants, long socks, and long sleeves. Ticks hunt by hanging on the edge of foliage and grabbing what walks by. Creating this barrier can reduce the likelyhood of them attaching even if they do get hold of you. Even if it’s the summer, just wear more breathable fabrics that aren’t wool.
Also, use bug spray on your skin and clothes. Specifically, sprays with DEET work best to keep ticks away. And for your skin you can use a spray with the ingredient Permethrin. This clothing-only repellent, don’t get it on your skin, kills ticks on contact. This stops them from crawling up your shoes to your delicious, delicious skin.
An Ounce Of Prevention…
Ticks are a pain once they find you. They’re hard to spot and hard to remove without squeezing a glob of backwashed blood into your body. So, like anything else, it’s best if you prevent them from even getting to you. There are several methods, some pretty normal some unorthodox. We’ll discuss both.
To start with, mow your yard frequently. Keep your grass cut as much as possible. This will especially help keeping any tick from grabbing your pets. You can also do something called “hardscape”. This includes using rocks as mulch as barriers to keep plants from growing near your home.
Wildlife can help as well. If you see a possum, leave it be. These animals are tick hoovers. They are fastidious groomers, and consume any tick they find on themselves. Not only that, they destroy about ninety percent of the ticks they encounter. A single possum can eat five thousand ticks over the course of a season. They’re ugly, but they’re friendly. Let them do their job.
