So is it just getting bitten, or does it have to feed like deer ticks do to transmit Lyme Disease?
My understanding is that the deer tick needs to be attached and feeding for close to 24 hours to really be a risk for contracting Lyme Disease. I’m wondering if the Lone Star Ticks are the same.
Also, how winter hardy are they? There doesn’t seem to be much information that way. MA and PA are a bit milder than around where we are in NH. We are a 5a growing zone and they are at least a 5b or 6a.
I hate ticks, but mr. mm and I do take precautions. We spray stuff down, use insect repellent, and do tick checks and shower after being outside in the woods.
Since we are out in the middle of nowhere on 20+ acres, we take the clothes off outside on the back porch and go right into the shower. The laundry room is right by the back door, too, so the clothes can go right into the washer. That way we’re not dragging the ticks into the house.
Mr mm has been finding attached ticks on him in the morning after doing the tick check the night before, and it turns out he was just taking his clothes off and dropping them on the floor by the bed. NOT a great move. I laid down the law about that. Any possible tick infested clothes need to be left outside until the laundry can get done.
Definitely wasn’t 24 hours. It’s head wasn’t buried but it was working on it. As soon as I noticed I had gotten into a nest of seed ticks, I went in, grabbed a change of clothes and changed in the shop/barn and left the clothes outside. When I changed is when I found the Lone Star. Couldn’t have been latched on more than 2-3 hours.
There have been times I had a Lone Star not bother me so I don’t think every one of them can cause it.
Had a good run of 3-4 years without getting a tick, especially considering most of the property is forest. I’ve always tried to push my limit to get back to eating beef. Now that I found this study, I’m thinking I can get back to it quicker.
I’m lucky that for the most part, I get the hives and that’s it. Evidently some people can eat a piece of chicken cooked on the same grill as beef was and go into anaphylactic shock. I did have a bad episode one night several years ago. Had some ham that was from a heritage breed of pig. Normally it’s wake up at 2-3am with hives, take benadryl and keep epipen handy, scratch for two hours and go back to bed. I’m wiped out the next day though.
Lone Stars are mostly in the Southeast from NC to East Texas. We get freezes, snow and ice here in MO. Don’t know how far North they can go. What they can’t handle is very dry so they’re not out West.