Yikes.
So how do we kill the deer ticks?
If the EPA allowed it, we could spray fog chemicals and kill them. They'd rather we all die to protect their environment.
So how do we kill the deer ticks?
5% Permethrin kills them when they get on treated clothing - supposedly after multiple laundry cycles
Amazon: Sawyer permethrin aerosol
Amazon: Sawyer permethrin pump
It definitely repels fleas for many days; it might be killing them :)
as a whole you mean? I don’t think there is a way to control them- lyme disease has been spreading rapidly the last few years- we haven’t found a way to control them yet- The problem is that mice carry the ticks- and there are vast numbers of mice- (be careful if you trap mice- wear gloves when removing- chec for ticks after doing so)-
Lyme disease truly is frightening- and this emerging threat powassan is as well- but for now hte biggest threat is lyme still- it will be very very rare still to get powassan- although like the article states- many more folks may have it and not be diagnosed- so the true numbers aren’t known really- docs usually aren’t aware of this threat really well when trying to diagnose someone who comes in with ‘flu like symptoms’
Last winter was an absolute banner year for mice too- there were loads of coyotes and owls seen during daylight hours- because there were so many mice and such large food source for the predators=-
If you are an outdoors person- make a habit of brushing off before you go inside- but hte problem is that deer ticks are very small, and the nymphs are really really small and still carry the virus- Very hard to spot-
Spraying and some controlled burns of some areas would help. I’ve picked many off of me in NE PA.
I always wear lightweight tactical pants that have been saturated with permethrin when hiking.No shorts for me.
If you’re able, chickens do a great job of keeping these and other pests out the yard.
Some people - and I was one of them for a while - develop an immune reaction that kills ticks when they bite.
That might actually be a more promising investigation than trying to develop vaccines for all the tick-borne illnesses. Lyme disease itself does not prevent a second infection, so that vaccine was pretty worthless.
When I was a child - no deer, no ticks. I spent my childhood playing in the woods. One wood tick bite.
I wonder if the deer ticks are now so prevalent and adapted that they would survive without deer hosts.
Chickens and guinea fowl