May brings warm weather and sunshine, but with warm weather comes the return of ticks! The month of May is dedicated to spreading awareness of the prevalent, yet preventable illness, Lyme disease. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported in the United States, but an estimated 300,000 people are diagnosed annually. Studies show that 20-50% of the ticks on the East End of Long Island are infected with Lyme disease and 70% of all people who are diagnosed are bitten in their own yard.
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Keep Unwanted House Guests Out This Winter
Tips from Your Friends at Twin Forks Pest Control®
While it may still be “fall,” now is the time to take steps towards winter pest control. As temperatures drop, rodents, spiders, crickets, roaches, and many other insects look for a place to spend the winter. They create nests and multiply in the warmth of your home, garage, pool house, shed, basement, and any other sheltered environment they can find.
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10 Tips to Avoid Tick-Related Illness
Memorial Day Weekend Tick Awareness
Memorial Day Week is upon us and it’s finally feeling a little bit like sum-… we won’t say it out loud and jinx it. We’re just as happy as you are to feel the sunshine and get ready for a long holiday weekend. With that though, comes backyard BBQs and outdoor adventures, so it’s only right that we share this as we head outside and Lyme Disease Awareness Month comes to a close.
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How to Deal With Ticks in Autumn
Tick Control in the Autumn
Autumn in the Northeast can be an incredible time of year. The leaves changing make any wooded area incredible to look at, football is back, pumpkin spice everything, Halloween, and cooler weather. This cooler weather provides for another benefit, the disappearance of many annoying bugs and insects from our lives. Unfortunately, however, ticks are not one of those many bugs. As you will learn, ticks will remain active well into the autumn. In this article is some information on how ticks survive in the autumn, and how to do tick control in the autumn.
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Animals That Help With Tick Control
Animals That Eat Ticks
When it comes to ticks, it can seem like there is almost no help besides your friends over at East End Tick and Mosquito Control®. Deer, mice, squirrels, and even dogs, man’s best friend, can aid in the spreading of ticks. However, there are a few animals that can live on Long Island that actually eat ticks. With the spread of Lyme Disease, these animals can be extremely beneficial to the residents of Long Island.
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Long Island Tick Information: What You Need to Know
Long Island Tick Behavior
One would think that something as tiny as a tick would not survive freezing cold temperatures under the snow. But actually, they are still alive, lurking, hidden in the leaves, beneath the bushes, conserving energy, waiting for the temperatures to rise. And now, here they come (insert ominous impending shark attack theme here)! Actually, ticks are predatory creatures like sharks – only just a wee bit smaller. What attracts a tick?
Meat Allergies From a Tick Bite: Strange But True
Tick-Borne Diseases
It is common knowledge at this point that there are a wide variety of diseases one can pick up if they are unfortunate enough to be bitten by a tick. One of the more debilitating, and well known diseases is Lyme Disease which can, if left untreated affect people for the entirety of the rest of their lives. This disease is acquired through deer ticks, and symptoms include a target shaped rash where the tick bit the person, fever, chills, and fatigue.
Another terrible disease that can be acquired from ticks on Long Island is rocky mountain spotted fever. Rocky mountain spotted fever can be spread through the American dog tick, Rocky Mountain wood tick, and brown dog tick according to the Center for Disease Control. Symptoms of this disease include fever, a spotted rash, headache, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. So we have found out two of the more common diseases associated with tick bites; Lyme Disease and rocky mountain spotted fever. More recently, however, a new phenomenon has been occurring in people bitten by the Lone Star Tick.
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Ticks in Winter: Cause for Concern?
Are ticks active in winter?
It’s winter here on Long Island and while the amount of bugs we see regularly dwindles in the wintertime we know they will be back once springtime rolls around again. While it is usually bitterly cold outside there can be warm periods in the winter where the temperature can get above even 60 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a great time to go outside and enjoy a brief intermission from the cold and get a little taste of spring with the added bonus of there being no ticks, mosquitoes, or other disease-carrying bugs to worry about. Except that may not be entirely true.
