One of the best ways to avoid tick encounters and minimize the likelihood of contracting a tick-borne illness is to understand their life cycle. If you are bitten by a tick, knowing where it’s at in its development will help you determine your risk of disease and the course of action you need to take.
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A History of Ticks – Everything You Need to Know
Ticks are a kind of parasitic mite that lives off the blood of animals. They will attach to and feed on mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Ticks have eight legs, just like spiders, and are classified as arachnids. Adult ticks are generally between 3 and 5mm long, depending on the species. They come in soft and hard varieties, depending on the hardness of their body covering. Nearly 900 species of ticks are known to exist worldwide.
Ticks expand when they feed, increasing their body weight by up to 600 times. They extract blood by nibbling a hole in the host’s skin and inserting a small sharp, straw-like structure directly into the host. To help in feeding, they excrete a chemical that keeps the blood from clotting.
Did Dinosaurs Have Ticks?
How long have ticks been around? To answer the question, we must go to the fossil record. While the precise origin of ticks is unknown, according to ABC News, the oldest preserved tick was discovered in 2006 encased in amber. It dates to near 90 million years old (from the Cretaceous Period). Evidence shows that prehistoric ticks fed from “feathered dinosaurs, non-avialan or avialan excluding crown-group birds.” So yes, dinosaurs had ticks.
Are Ticks All Over the World?
Ticks are seen almost everywhere on earth. They do have particular preferences about where they live, including –
- They thrive in warmer, wetter climates since low temperatures stunt the growth of their eggs.
- They prefer areas of transition between woodlands and fields or open spaces.
- They like plenty of leaves, low-lying vegetation, and moist, warm places where brush and weeds grow wild.
How Dangerous Are Ticks?
Unfortunately, ticks are very harmful to both animals and humans. According to National Institute of Health experts, “Tick-borne pathogens are believed to be responsible for more than 100,000 cases of illness in humans throughout the world. Ticks are considered to be second worldwide to mosquitoes as vectors of human diseases, but they are the most important vectors of disease-causing pathogens in domestic and wild animals.”
Ticks can spread several diseases to humans, including Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Colorado tick fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and Lyme disease.
When Was Lyme Disease First Discovered?
As mentioned earlier, ticks have been around for close to 100 million years. While the bacteria that causes Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi) was only officially named in 1981, a 5,300-year-old mummy was recently found to contain the bacteria.
Those infected with Lyme disease may experience a rash, joint pain and weakness, muscle aches, fatigue, fever, joint stiffness or swelling, and headache. While treatable, early detection can help avoid more severe heart or nervous system problems. A doctor can run a simple test to determine if the bacteria is present and prescribe medication as treatment.
How Do I Prevent Ticks?
As previously discussed, ticks love humid places with low vegetation to lay their eggs. One way to help manage ticks is to remove leaves, brush, and weeds at the edge of your property. Regular warm-weather tick spraying and preventative winter treatments can provide year-round tick prevention.
Trust Your Property with East End Tick and Mosquito Control®
East End Tick and Mosquito Control® is Eastern Suffolk County’s most-experienced tick extermination company. Since 1997, we have provided Suffolk County’s Twin Forks and East End with the most effective prevention and extermination methods. Protect yourself and your family from disease-carrying ticks by requesting a free estimate now or you can call our Southampton office at (631) 287-9700, our East Hampton office at (631) 324-9700, or our Southold office at (631) 765-9700.
Are Ticks Still a Concern in Winter?
Autumn and winter are times for fall festivals and other outdoor events. From skiing, ice fishing, and other winter sports, it is a time of many outdoor entertainment options. Along with spending time outdoors comes the risk of exposure to ticks. But how bad is that risk?
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Fall Tick Bite Prevention Tips
Many long-time Long Island residents would argue that the fall is the best time of the year on the East End. Farm stands are full of locally grown pumpkins, squash, and apples. Every weekend in October, there are fall festivals and events for all ages. But there is a hidden outdoor predator that lurks amid the pumpkin patches and hayrides. Ticks remain active until the temperatures dip under 40 degrees. Here are some tips to help prevent tick bites while you are out enjoying all that a Long Island autumn has to offer.
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Fall Tick Season Forecast for 2021
Lower New York and Long Island experienced a warm summer, with temperatures higher than 2020 and significant rainfall, with record rains in July alone. The combination means that the tick population will be especially active and thriving this fall and into early winter. Not only will the ticks emerge in increased quantities, but local area scientists have also made the unpleasant discovery that this year’s tick population carries noticeably higher percentages of dangerous diseases than in years past. Long Islanders must act quickly to safeguard themselves from this season’s rapidly emerging tick population.
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Ticks Outside Of New York – What To Be Aware Of
The weather is getting warmer, family and friends are getting together, and you may want to scratch that itch to travel. There are multiple popular vacation destinations in the United States from which to choose. BusinessInsider.com places California, Florida, and Texas within the top seven most popular states in the U.S. that attract tourists. There are many landmarks to see in these states, but there are also various species of ticks that you can encounter. East End Tick Control® is here to advise you about the ticks found in those states so you can correctly identify them and protect yourself and your loved ones.
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What To Do (And Not Do) When A Tick Lands On You
As the weather warms up and more people start enjoying the outdoors, there is also a higher risk of encountering a tick. Finding a tick on your skin can naturally be shocking, but it is essential to remember the dos and don’ts to handle this situation correctly. As Long Island’s most trusted licensed tick control professionals since 1997, East End Tick Control® is here to share valuable information in the event that you do attract a tick.
What You Should Do
If you find a tick on you, your first reaction may be to panic, but do not! Instead, remove the tick carefully by grabbing it as close to your skin as possible with a pair of fine-tipped tweezers, explains CDC.gov. Then, slowly and steadily pull the tick out of your skin. After removing the tick from your skin, disinfect the bite site with rubbing alcohol and wash your hands with soap and water.
Identifying the tick is the next step to take. The main tick to be cautious of on the East End is the deer tick because it transmits Lyme disease. UpToDate.com describes the deer tick as brown ticks that are about the size of a poppy seed. If the tick that bit you has these characteristics, you should monitor your symptoms and decide if you need treatment.
The symptoms to look out for include fever, headache, muscle aches, and nausea, states WebMD.com. Also, we cannot forget the infamous bull’s-eye rash that can develop at the bite site. If you present these symptoms to your health care provider, they may prescribe you antibiotics if they suspect that you have Lyme disease.
What You Should Not Do
If you find a tick attached to your skin, do not delay removing it! This is because any of the bacteria that the tick carried takes around 36 hours to transmit into your body after it bites you, reports Health.Harvard.edu. Removing a tick as soon as possible can save you from contracting Lyme disease or other tick-borne diseases.
It is understandable to be frightened when you discover a tick embedded in your skin, but do not move with too much haste. When you remove a tick, it is essential to not “squeeze, twist, or squash the tick,” reveals LymeDisease.org. Additionally, do not remove the tick with too much force. These actions can cause the tick to be torn apart, which can cause even more bacteria to spread on your skin.
East End Tick Control® Removes Ticks From Your Property
The tick extermination experts of East End Tick Control® believe that prevention is better than a cure, so we will remove any ticks that are on your property so you won’t have to remove them from your skin! Utilizing both traditional and organic products, we will eradicate your tick infestation and keep them from coming back with our granular tick control treatment. If ticks are becoming a danger to you and your loved ones, contact us today and we will do the rest. Southampton residents, please call (631) 287-9700. If you are closer to East Hampton, please call (631) 324-9700. And if you reside near Southold, please call (631) 765-9700.
Animals That You (Probably) Did Not Know Ate Ticks
The weather is getting warmer, the sun is shining brighter, and after being inside our homes for so long, our desire to go outside is stronger than ever. Although, keep in mind that we are not the only living things that are becoming more active because ticks are also making a grand reappearance this spring. However, there is no need to worry! The experts at East End Tick Control® are here to inform you of an unorthodox way to reduce the number of ticks on your property; by allowing an animal that is a natural predator to ticks to consume any ticks they encounter outside your home.
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Long Island Ticks and Their Diseases
Spring has arrived and after being stuck inside all winter, we cannot wait to get back outside! However, it is important to remember that ticks are active, and the time to start preparing for Lyme Awareness Month is now.
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Chiggers or Ticks? Who’s Biting You?
That itch you’re feeling? It’s not chiggers! Every year thousands of people report itchy red bites from what they think is an encounter with a chigger. In fact, evidence shows there are no chiggers on long island. It’s the larvae of Lone Star Ticks that are causing those itchy red welts on your skin.
Lone Star larvae begin hatching in July and will remain active until the fall months. The newly hatched larval ticks will cluster in hundreds or sometimes even thousands which is why people will often get bitten in many times, usually on the ankles, legs, and waist. The Lone Star tick larva are microscopic, hard to see and while they don’t transmit tick-borne diseases, but can give you the meat allergy Alpha-Gal.
With warmer winters over the past several years, ticks have become a year-round problem on the east end. To help curb the reproduction of ticks on your property, owner Brian Kelly suggests continuing preventative spraying until the end of November then having the tick preventative granules applied throughout your property during the winter months.
Protect Yourself Year Round with Tick Shield
East End Tick & Mosquito®’s granular winter tick control treatment Tick Shield provides the ultimate year-round tick protection. The Tick Shield granular winter program is unique in that granules are placed in the leaflitter and shrub beds throughout your property monthly December through March protecting you and your family by killing any ticks that emerge on those warm winter days looking for a blood meal.
Ticks remain active whenever the temperature is above 32 degrees Fahrenheit. East End Tick & Mosquito Control® offers year-round tick bite prevention to battle the ticks that are being brought to your property by deer, birds, rabbits, squirrels, mice, and more.
If you’re in need of tick control for your property, look no further than the trusted experience of East End Tick & Mosquito Control®. Call the office nearest to you and schedule your free estimate! Our Southampton office can be reached at (631) 287-9700, our East Hampton office can be reached at (631) 324-9700, and our Southold office can be reached at (631) 765-9700, or you can fill out the form on this page.