I moved from Seatttle to a hobby farm in south central KY. I didn’t know what a tick was until I moved here. I’ve been bitten 20 or 30 times, and that doesn’t count all the ones I picked off before they found a nice dinner spot.
But if I had been bitten that many times in the northeastern US, I’d probably be dead by now. Lyme disease and rocky mountain spotted fever are the risks here, and they are very rare. I believe that if more than half the ticks in the Northeast are carriers of lyme disease. It’s quite a bit lower here.
And the way you take the tick off also determines if the regurgitate the poison into you.
> I believe that if more than half the ticks in the Northeast are carriers of lyme disease.
I’ve heard that the actual number is around 20%. Still, those are lousy odds.
I didn’t know what a tick was until I moved here (KY)
When I looked it up a few years ago Kentucky has about 60 cases a year reported Lyme disease. The key word here being reported.
When I was regularly shooting on my friends property out in the county, very forested and plenty of ticks, all my clothes were treated with Permethrin. Very effective stuff. Also keeping grass down below 4 in in height helps. Also ticks go dormant at 40° ground temperature. Which is why I always enjoyed shooting in the winter if it was above freezing.
One day I was sighting in a target and lo and behold there’s a tick crawling down the barrel of the rifle.
Picked up Rocky Mountain Spotted from a bite here in central WI 3 years ago.
Ok, these diseases don’t kill everyone. In fact most people have had them and did not even notice. Lyme should be tested for if you feel bad for a while and have no real reason for it. But I suggest you start raising chickens or ducks let them loose on your grounds during the day. Keep all your roosters and let them stay out at night until they are gone. They will spend all day eating any tick they can find. Chickens are the pop corn of the animal kingdom. So you should expect them to be eaten. But they can take out 99% of ticks in a very short time. Some other birds like pea fowl are more likely to last longer and do the same thing.
My beloved was surprised when he heard of the cause of her death.
I asked him if he now understood the way I freak out if I think there’s a tick anywhere near my body.
We take care of our furbabies and our yard and still have to watch out in case the furbabies pick one up during a walk.