Ticked Off

My backyard is not mostly lawn.  2/3s of it was wooded and under-brushy when I moved in and I have gradually removed most of the trees.  Its not that I dont like trees (I do) but the neighbors let trees grow so tall all around my property lines that I was desperate for some sunlight for my flowerbeds and veggie garden.  So there are actually MORE trees in the general area.

But one consequence is that the open formerly wooded area is growing all sorts of junk; briars, spurge, burdock, mock strawberries, vines, and tall grasses.  Ticks love that stuff.  I have to thoroughly check the cats when they come in.  I check myself too, but I'm pretty sensitive to anything moving on me.


(Warning, possible TMI alert - You may want to stop reading)


But some places are less sensitive than others.  Like the (ahem) "base of the spine".  I idly scratched there a couple of times the other day before realizing that there was a tick.  Upon divesting myself of some clothing I realized I must have chased it around a bit.  I had 4 bite-bumps in just 4 sq inches! I pulled it off before it drew any blood and put it on the counter where I put a drop of rubbing alcohol on it.  That always kills them.  Not to be gross, but I then scratched all the bumps  a bit raw and put Neosporin on them.  The Lone Star ticks don't carry the worst tick diseases, but I like to be careful. even though the literature says it takes 12 hours before they can transmit any disease.

I did some research tonight, and it seems my yard has Lone Star Ticks (aka Seed Ticks).  They are fast little suckers!  Deet is supposed to repel them, but it doesn't according to some videos I watched.  On the other hand, they seem to get me where I don't use Deet.  I should mention that we have Asian Tiger Mosquitos here in MD (the only kind that I can't detect when they are on me) so I use a 7% Deet spray on my arms outdoors (which is generally sufficient) and I wear long tan twill pants even in Summer.  So when I find a tick on me it is usually behind my knees or on my back.  Hmmm, maybe the Deet DOES work.  I think I will start spraying it on my pants legs and socks.

I rarely find a tick on the cats (although Iza famously had one right on her butt once).  And I found a dead shell of one in Marley's earfolds once.  He is touchy about me exploring there, so I tend to avoid it.

Well, anyway, the tick-bite-bumps have gone away now, I don't see any reaction, and the tick was too flat to have started to get any blood yet.

But watch out for those things.  Most ticks move slowly but the Lone Star ticks run like ants!  I wear the tan twill pants when working outside partly because it is easy to spot them.  But these ones can get over your socks and on your legs before you check.

The backyard, other than the gardens is mostly a wasteland of scrub growth.  I used to rather like the wildness of it.  I keep the gardens organic, but I am not so fussy about the non-edible areas.  I'm going to spray Roundup around a lot of the area.  And trap the voles which seem to be the tick vectors here.

I'm sure you will forgive me for not taking pictures of the tick-bites, LOL!