Between mosquitoes and ticks, ticks are by far the worst. You should be vigilant of ticks, and eliminate them with extreme prejudice. Mosquitoes at least act as pollinators like butterflies, though they can carry diseases and leave us with plenty of unbearably itchy scratches. Ticks, however, are simply parasites. From one New Jersey resident to another, here’s what you need to know about ticks.
Ticks are arachnids, however, unlike the beauty that can sometimes be found with spiders, ticks are genuine vampires. Ticks have eight legs, are born ready to seek out blood, mate, and die. Ticks do not jump, fly, or drop from trees, thankfully. They will often latch onto their host by standing at the edge of vegetation, like a piece of grass, and grab the host as it passes by. They will react more intensely to stimuli such as carbon dioxide, body heat, vibrations, and other cues.
There, ticks may start feeding immediately or may wander around before settling down, which provides an opportunity to dispose of them. Ticks are often found in wooded areas, tall grass, brush, the edges of lawns into the woods, leaf litter, and more.
While getting fed on by a vampire, that does not quite add anything else to the ecosystem, is already bad, the largest concern with ticks is that they are carriers of many harsh diseases. Lyme disease is the most well known, and the most common. It is transmitted by black legged ticks, though you may only care about what type of tick it is once it has already bitten you. That outcome is what we are trying to avoid the most.
Besides Lyme disease, New Jersey ticks also can spread Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia, canine ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and powassan virus. If you are concerned you have any of these diseases, they must not only be treated promptly, but the tick which may have given you the disease would be extremely beneficial in figuring out the best way to deal with the illness.
The best way to not have any tick problems is to avoid ticks entirely! Easy ways to avoid ticks are to wear repellent, avoid tick-infested areas, and perform frequent tick checks. Frequent can mean something different to everyone, but any time you brush through tall grass vegetation, it’s probably a great idea to check yourself.
Professionals suggest wearing light-colored clothing to easily spot ticks attached to your clothes and to use products containing permethrin to treat clothing and gear. If a tick does manage to get on you, you should be pleasantly surprised with how easy it is to swipe it or flick it off you. It may hold on for dear life, but do not be discouraged. Sometimes, even a stick can be used to flick off these dangerous wanders crawling up your leg before they bite you. Which means if you manage to remove a tick before it bites you, you have much less to worry about. Just don’t forget to wash yourself when you can.
If they do manage to bite you, that’s when things change, and you will have to remove them appropriately with tweezers. But if you want to avoid New Jersey ticks entirely for your backyard, please call us at 201-365-9886 and see how we can help!
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