Spring Time is Tick Time
Spring is here and for many of us that means increased time outdoors, working on our homes and doing fun things such as hiking. With all of this increased activity outside the phone calls for ticks are soon to start. In fact my wife found a tick on her the other day after working in the garden for a few hours.
What does this mean for you? It’s now time to start taking precautions against ticks and checking for them on yourself, children, and other family members before bed each night. There are several tick species that we see here in Southwest Michigan with one of the most common being the American Dog Tick. We also have our fair share of Deer ticks and the deer tick is the one that causes all of the problems you read about in the news with Lyme disease. Lyme disease is the main reason we should all take measures to reduce the chance of a tick feeding on us and potentially transferring the disease. Lyme disease comes with many different symptoms as can be seen by a quick Google search.
Lyme Disease
Contrary to what many people have read or heard about Lyme disease being incurable the American Lyme Disease Foundation says: “If diagnosed and treated early with antibiotics, LD is almost always readily cured. Generally, LD in its later stages can also be treated effectively, but because the rate of disease progression and individual response to treatment varies from one patient to the next, some patients may have symptoms that linger for months or even years following treatment. In rare instances, LD causes permanent damage.”
Steps To Avoid Ticks
- Wear closed toe shoes
- Wear light colored clothing and check for ticks throughout the day
- Stay on cleared, well-traveled trails and avoid tall grassy areas
- Use an insect repellant containing DEET on skin and/or clothes if there is a chance you will be in un-manicured areas
- If possible avoid sitting directly on the ground or on stone walls as they will attract resting ticks.
- Keep long hair tied back and wear a hat especially when gardening
- At the end of the day perform a full-body check for ticks you should also check children and pets.
And if you feel there are more ticks around your home than you would care to see VexGuard Pest Control also offers a Professional Tick Control program that will also work to control the Mosquito population around your home.
Now that I have made you paranoid to spend any time outdoors this spring and summer I would like to encourage everyone to do just that and spend your free time outdoors enjoying all of the great activities that Pure Michigan has to offer.
