We are having a real population bloom of the little blood feeders. So far, none on me but I've found and tossed several that were crawling. One dog was bit but long gone. The dogs are now frontline treated. I did have a rash of chiggers but they might have been tick nits. Bob Wilson
Two of my extended family and one close friend have been sickened by ticks, the latter contracting Alpha-gal syndrome. No. It's not anything to do with Steel Magnolias, but rather an allergic reaction to eating mammalian meat (such as beef, pork, lamb, venison, wabbit) which is a real bummer for Mark since he punches cows for a living. Two others got Lyme disease which is serious enough that you should to want to avoid it. Since I still maintain my beautiful 5 acres of paradise in addition to living in a fairly wooded neighborhood, ticks are something that I'm always on the lookout for. When we decided to augment our security system with a medium-sized pooch, we were fortunate enough to be adopted by a White Boxer - or, a toddler that never grows up. BEING white, she's easily screened for ticks, and we've already removed few of the little blood-suckers from her. One advantage to being adopted by a boxer. They're VERY VERY food-centric, and ours will not let the slightest bit of wandering protein go uneaten if she can possibly reach it. I'm slightly entomophobic, being somewhat allergic to insect venom and one of my in-laws went on disability 20 years ago from a brown recluse bite, so the ladies in my orbit are really REALLY not into spiders, a class of arthropods that also includes scorpions, mites, and........ticks. I actually do not mind 'Piders. They eat insects. HOWEVER (comma!) In the past I've waged a VERY VERY VERY aggressive chemical warfare campaign on the city house, which wasn't really great for our 8-legged co-habitants, if only because their food supply was reduced. Spiders are exceedingly hard to eradicate completely, and my theory is that it will be THEY, rather than cockroaches that will inhabit the planet after AI excises us from the biosphere. Ticks are hard to get rid of as well. So.... Boxers. For Now...they're GOOD for the environment. ...at least mine. Win-Win.
Frontline (TM) fipronil has acceptable daily human intake of 0-0.0002 mg/kg body weight (FAO says so). Not the nastiest thing around, but please do wash hands after giving dog or cat this 'neurotoxin neck massage'.
Yes, I agree, this is not a pleasant season. Every night we check the dog, yesterday we already caught one tick. It's worth being careful.
