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-
How to keep ticks out of your yard:
Empty toilet paper tubes
Dryer lint.
Permethrin spray
Lay the lint out flat and carefully spray it with permethrin until is soaked. Allow to dry.
Push a quantity into the toilet paper tubes and distribute these around your yard. Critters will use the lint and tubes as nesting material killing the ticks.
Replace them every 60-70 days. Permethrin has a fairly short half life and is down to about 2% remaining after 75 days or so.
Best,
L
Thank you for that information.
I read somewhere that deer ticks are not as ambitious as the other ticks, so they will usually be found on the legs below the underwear line rather than on the higher parts of the body.