Q. When do adult ticks lay their eggs and hatch?

Adult ticks will lay their eggs in the spring, which will then hatch into larvae in the summer season. The larvae tend to become most active in the month of August. At this point, these ticks do not have Lyme disease, because they must feed on an infected host in order to become infected.

Q. What are the life stages of a tick?

A tick has three life stages over a two-year period. There is one blood meal (feeding) per stage before they molt into the next stage. Remember, though, that a newly hatched larvae cannot pass Lyme disease onto a human, because they don’t yet have the disease. The disease must be picked up from an infected host. That host is usually a mouse.

After its one blood meal, the larvae will transform into nymphs in the fall. This is the most dangerous life-stage of a deer tick, because they are still as tiny as larvae, but may now be carriers of Lyme disease.

The nymphs will remain inactive throughout the winter and early spring. May through June is the period of peak activity for the nymphs. After they have their blood meal, they drop off the host into the leaf litter and molt into adults. These adults look for their blood meal hosts in the fall, most actively in the months of October and November.

The adults that haven’t attached themselves to a suitable host in the fall become active early in the spring, during which they search for their last blood meal. This last feeding and mating must occur in order for the female adult deer ticks to lay their eggs. Remember: These eggs will not hatch into larvae until the summer.

Q. How do I know if I’ve been bit by a disease-carrying tick? And what should I do?

If you, a friend or a family member experienced a tick bite in the autumn, it was most likely by an adult. If the tick was tiny, it could have been a nymph that was actively searching for an early blood meal. Either one of these two stages of tick could be a carrier of Lyme disease or other co-infections.

Here at Peter Benz Landscaping, our timing for the tick tube installations is on time — and perhaps even a bit early — for the egg-laying season in the Bucks County and Montgomery County areas. We are also going after the dangerous nymphs with this first treatment.

Q. How exactly do your tick tube installations work?

The goal is to get the cotton into the nests of the mice so the permethrin in the cotton binds with the oils on the mice’s fur. In the spring, any ticks, adults or nymphs that come into contact with the mice from these treated nests are killed as they try to feed on the hosts.

The second application of tick tubes in the summer is targeted to the newly hatching larvae, as well as the nymphs and the adults that these mice may encounter in their travels. Incredibly, there can be anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 deer tick larvae born in one mouse nest. It’s best, of course, if all these larvae are killed in the nest (by coming into contact with permethrin-treated cotton) before they leave.

The price for the two tick treatments varies based on the size and amount of thick mouse habitat available.

Please contact us as soon as possible if anyone you know needs help battling Lyme disease. Anyone who has been infected recently, by the way, should be able to get rid of the infection quickly with the use of antibiotics. Doxycycline tends to be the most commonly prescribed option. It is when the disease goes undiagnosed for a lengthy period of time that it becomes more difficult to beat.

Did you know the CDC has estimated that some 300,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme disease each year in the United States? (Incredibly, less than 30,000 cases are reported annually.) People who live in the Northeastern, mid-Atlantic and upper Midwestern states are especially vulnerable to Lyme disease.

Let’s take a look at a few different ways to prevent Lyme disease.

Be Aware of Your Location

Lyme disease results from tick bites. The best way to prevent a bite is to be aware of where ticks typically reside. You’ll find plenty of ticks in humid and wet spaces like grassy and wooded areas. They’re present on shrubs, leaves, trees and other greenery; you definitely don’t have to take a hike into the middle of dense woods to come into contact with ticks. You could be rolling around in the grass with your kids, for instance, and be bitten. Be proactive to protect yourself from bites. Avoid walking in between shrubs and through leaf litter. Do your best to stay away from thick and tall vegetation. You’ll also decrease your chances of a tick bite by walking in the center of trails when hiking.

Use Strong Repellent

Certain repellents will offer protection against Lyme disease. When shopping for repellents, choose one with DEET. Repellents with 20 percent or more DEET can be sprayed right onto the skin. It will protect you for at least a couple hours, as long as you apply it as indicated by the spray’s instructions. Apply a repellent with permethrin to your gear, boots and clothing. Give them a thorough spray and they’ll be protected through a couple washing machine cycles. Don’t let your kids apply tick repellents. Parents should apply them carefully so that the spray doesn’t reach their children’s eyes, mouth or hands. (Click here to see tips on the use of DEET from the EPA.)

Safeguard Your Yard

Modify your home’s yard to keep the ticks out. It is prudent to hire a professional pest control service to apply anti-tick chemicals to your yard. Position all of your family’s playground equipment and the home’s patio furniture far away from greenery like bushes, trees and gardens. Dispose of leaf litter on a regular basis. Clear out tall grass and other overgrown greenery from your yard. You can also prevent ticks by placing gravel or wood chips between lawn sections and wooded spaces.

Do your best to keep deer away from your property. Deer often carry ticks that will hop onto your shrubs, grass and other greenery. Install some physical barriers to prevent deer from accessing your property. You should also take an inventory of your plants and read up on which are the most attractive to deer. Remove all the plants that pique the interest of deer and you’ll decrease your susceptibility to Lyme disease.

Pets and Ticks

You can prevent your family’s pets from bringing ticks into your home if you don’t allow them to enter spaces that commonly have ticks. Don’t let them wander into the woods, hiking trails, or other areas with significant greenery. You can also prevent ticks on animals by using a spot-on treatment or a tick collar as prescribed by your veterinarian.

Tick Check

Inspect your body for ticks after you’ve spent time outdoors. Even if you’ve only spent an hour in your backyard, you should still conduct a tick check. Perform a full body check after you’ve been to areas like the woods, camping sites and hiking trails. Don’t merely look down to your bare skin to check for ticks and bites. Perform a thorough examination with a full-length or handheld mirror. Ticks are often found in and around the ears, under the arms, on the backs of the knees, around the waist, between the legs, on the head, in body hair and inside the navel.

Once you’ve checked your skin for ticks, you should examine your clothing. Ticks can attach themselves to clothing and eventually make their way onto your skin or even onto your pets. So check your pets every now and then for ticks. If you’d prefer, you can just put your clothing into the dryer on the highest heat setting; that will kill any ticks that may have found their way onto your garments.

Found A Tick? Remove It Right Away

If you discover a tick on your skin, hair, clothing or pets, you should remove it within minutes. If you eliminate the tick within 24 hours of its attachment, you’ll significantly decrease your chances of developing Lyme disease. Use fine-tipped tweezers to remove the tick. If you notice your temperature increasing, or if you develop a rash in the ensuing hours, days or weeks, you should see your doctor in order to determine if you have Lyme disease.

Peter Benz Can Help

Peter Benz Landscaping installs deer fencing, which can significantly reduce the number of Lyme disease-carrying ticks on your property. We also install Damminix Tick Tubes® to successfully protect against any of the Lyme disease-carrying deer ticks that deer transport onto your property. For more information about our services, don’t hesitate to contact us today.

What’s a Deer Tick?

Deer ticks are also known as “black legged ticks,” and can be confused with other kinds of ticks, especially dog ticks. They live by attaching to and then feeding off of unsuspecting hosts; their favorite host is the white tailed deer, as their name suggests.

What They Look Like

Small, brown and flat, deer ticks have eight black legs. Because of their small size and unobtrusive color, they appear nearly invisible; they’re about the size of a sesame seed. They’ll turn rust-colored or brownish-red after they’ve fed.

How You Acquire Them

Contrary to what is sometimes popular belief, deer ticks don’t “jump onto” their hosts. Instead, they make their way to your clothing or your pets’ fur by simply “brushing onto” you or your pets as you pass.

Why They’re Dangerous

• They carry bacteria and viruses – which can be transmitted to you and your pets

Dear ticks can be dangerous because they are carriers of many bacteria and viruses, which they can pass them on to you once they bite you. Deer ticks are the primary carriers of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.

• You won’t feel the bite

The deer tick bite is painless when it occurs, so that you won’t feel it. You won’t know that you’ve been bitten until you begin to have symptoms of illness – which is why it’s imperative that you don’t get them on you at all. And remember, your pets are at risk, too.

Where Do Deer Ticks Commonly Live?

• In forests and in heavily wooded areas

Deer ticks are most commonly found on their preferred hosts, white tailed deer, and therefore frequent heavily wooded areas and forests. However, they also like other hosts just fine are not picky. They live “on top of” grass and leaves, meaning that it’s very easy for them to crawl right onto your clothing or skin, or your pet’s fur.

• On the edge of suburbia

Yes, that’s right. Even if you live in a suburban area, you’re still at risk for deer tick infestation and thus exposure to dangerous diseases like Lyme disease. As suburbia (and urbanization) advances into previously “wild” locations, they also advance on those areas where deer ticks live. Because of that, you’re not safe even if you don’t live in or near a forest or heavily wooded area.

How Can You Tell If You Have Deer Ticks?

Unfortunately, the only way to really tell whether or not you have ticks is to spot them or their effects (bites) – on you, or on your pets. Actually finding deer ticks can be difficult to do because they are so hard to spot. The unfortunate result may be that you won’t know you’ve actually got them until you begin to experience symptoms of illness – and by then, it’s too late; you’ve already been exposed. At that point, seek medical treatment.

What Can You Do About Deer Ticks?

While certain preventative measures (wearing long sleeves and pants, for example) are often touted as good protection against deer ticks, remember that these little pests like nothing more than transferring onto clothing to get to you. Therefore, even if you do wear long pants, you’re not necessarily going to prevent deer ticks from getting on you. What you really should do is to test for them first and then control them with specific professional services.

Testing and Then Control Is Best

Deer Tick Control Equals Lyme Disease Prevention

The best way to protect yourself against deer tick infestation is to have a professional inspect your property for deer tick infestation. Once that’s done, your professional will install Damminix Tick Tubes® to both eradicate the current deer tick population and prevent re-infestation. After treatment, exposure to deer ticks and resultant Lyme disease dropped by 90%.

• No harm done to pets or other animals

This method of deer tick eradication and reinfestation prevention does not harm pets or other animals in the environment. The only creatures affected by the chemical used, permethrin, are the deer ticks themselves. Housed in biodegradable cardboard tubes, these treatments are safe for you, your family, the environment and your pets.

Take Control, Now

• With a Lymenator tick test

If you’ve found a tick a host already, make sure to preserve for testing. Call Peter Benz Landscaping and ask to schedule a Lymenator tick test. The test can tell within 10 minutes whether or not a tick is infected with the Lyme disease pathogen, so that you can seek treatment as early as possible if needed.

• By controlling deer tick infestation

Let a professional inspect your property for deer ticks and then install Damminix Tick Tubes® to both eradicate existing deer tick populations and prevent them from returning. Contact Peter Benz Landscaping today for a consultation.

The primary goal of a tick management plan for one’s home and surrounding property is to create low-risk tick zones within commonly used areas. These low-risk zones should include recreational, eating, entertainment and gardening areas, as well as spaces close to walkways, storage sheds, firewood piles, and mailboxes.

Ticks require a high humidity environment to survive, and need vertebrate hosts to feed on to be able to grow and reproduce. Without these two key elements, ticks just cannot sustain themselves. If you want to make your property safer from ticks, you must cut down on the number of potential tick hosts, while at the same time creating a drier, less inviting landscape for ticks.

Unfortunately, a tick feeds on any number of hosts which can infect the tick with a disease organism that can then be passed on to you through the tick’s bite. Immature ticks (larvae and nymphs) generally feed on smaller vertebrates such as white-footed mice, chipmunks, shrews, voles and birds; the the somewhat larger adult ticks are more likely to feed on larger animals such as deer, raccoons, squirrels, rabbits, and opossum. Ticks are most often transported into your yard by the deer that like to browse on your plants, by the mice and chipmunks that live in the stonewalls and woodpiles, and by the ground feeding birds such as robins, finches, wrens, and blue jays that frequent your lawn.

To decrease the number of these hosts normally found on your property, you need to develop a plan that disrupts their habitat, i.e., the surroundings which provides them with the food, water and shelter they require. First and foremost, you must keep your property clean and clear of garbage or other food sources that may attract rodents, deer and other potential tick hosts. This includes bird feeders and the spillage of seeds and nuts that fall to the ground beneath them. Bird feeders should be relocated away from the house or removed entirely from the premises.

You should eliminate heavy brush and ground cover (pachysandra, ivy, etc.) close to your home, and replace this vegetation with mulch and less intrusive plantings. Open these areas up to as much sunlight as possible. The more open and exposed these areas are, the less rodents and other wildlife, which are looking for shelter and a place to hide, like it. Ticks like it no better because they lose those shady, humid surroundings required for their survival.

You should also relocate woodpiles away from your home. Woodpiles provide nesting places for small rodents. Do away with, relocate or seal those old stonewalls near your homes. They also serve as favorite nesting places for rodents, and where there are rodents, there are sure to be lots of ticks.

It is advisable, where possible, to deter deer from feeding on vegetation in your yard because deer can be hosts for hundreds of ticks which are likely to drop onto your lawn or in your gardens. To keep deer from entering your property, you can install deer fencing high enough (approximately 7 to 8 feet high) to keep them out. If this is not practical, you can try to eliminate those plants that attract deer to your property.

Deer enjoy browsing on a variety of vegetation including apple, pear and cherry trees as well as rhododendrons, mountain laurel, rose bushes, impatiens, pansies, daisies, lilies, tulips, and black-eyed susans. While no plant species is completely immune to deer browsing, plants such as daffodils, marigolds, lily of the valley, honeysuckle, common lilac, forsythia, common boxwood, American holly, Norway spruce, wisteria, and American bittersweet are their least favorite food items, and generally will not tempt them to your property.

Research has shown that the majority of ticks found on a property are located in close proximity to a lawn’s perimeter (ecotone) with woodlands, stone walls, shady perennial beds, and garden plantings. Thus, perimeter spraying of these particular areas with a pesticide that kills ticks, can prove an important component of any landscape management plan.

The most common tick control agents used today for perimeter spraying are synthetic pyrethroids such as permethrin, befenthrin, and cyfluthrin. Pyrethroids are organic compounds synthesized to be similar to the pyrethrin insecticide produced naturally by chrysanthemum flowers. When sprayed onto your property, these compounds do not leach through the soil, but are broken down over several days within the top few inches. Pyrethroids can however, prove toxic to fish in small ponds or streams, so caution must be used when spraying in close proximity to water bodies.

If you do not like the idea of spraying your property with a synthetic chemical, there are natural organic spray alternatives available that work about as well as the chemicals. One such organic compound is cedar oil, and another (Essentria IC3) is a mixture of rosemary oil, geraniol, and peppermint oil. You should spray three times a year, including the middle of May and the middle of June to kill the nymph deer ticks, and then again the middle of October to kill the adult deer ticks.

Hardscape and xeriscape landscaping practices are also beneficial to employ as part of your landscape management plan. Hardscape landscaping practices make greater use of hard surfaces (as opposed to vegetated surfaces), such as flagstone patios, brick or gravel walkways, wooden decks, and other similar features where family members may congregate. Xeriscape landscaping incorporates plants in the landscape that require less water, creating a drier environment hostile to high humidity loving ticks.

In summary all of these practices, taken in total as part of an integrated tick landscape management plan, will benefit you and your family. Being aware of your surroundings and smart about your landscaping practices can help you make your property safer from ticks, and give you some peace of mind as you enjoy the use of your land.

At Peter Benz Landscaping we put a strong focus on helping our clients prevent the spread of Lyme disease through a variety of tick control services in Bucks County. These services include the installation of deer fencing and Damminix Tick Tubes. If you or someone you know has already been diagnosed with the disease, here are some helpful suggestions on how to take care of yourself.

Diet

The bacteria and microbes of the disease feed on glucose for energy so you should try and cut as much as this out as you can. This means to eat less of sweets and simple carbohydrates like cakes, pastas and breads. Lyme microbes can actually produce chemicals that can make you crave sweets so that you can feed them. The more you are able to avoid giving into them, the better you will feel. Resist the urge to feed the problem!

Vitamin C

Once you cut out the glucose you will need to give the Lyme disease microbes another source of food. A raw form of vitamin C, called ascorbic acid, is very similar to glucose and tricks the microbes into eating it. The ascorbic acid actually oxidizes inside the organism and kills it. The acid can also be very harsh on your stomach, so it’s important to follow these directions:

Mix the powdered vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in a cup of six to eight ounces of water with the baking soda in a ratio of 1:1, using about ½ teaspoon of each. Try to do this at least three times per day and after a couple of weeks you may be able to increase your intake. This actually helps to kill the Lyme disease microbes so take in as much as you can handle.

Natural Salt

Ingesting Celtic Sea Salt or Himalayan Salt makes the body uncomfortable for Lyme disease microbes and forces them out of hiding. Herbs of Light (sold at Whole Foods) makes capsules that are convenient to take with meals. The recommendation is approximately one capsule for ten pounds of body weight per day (maximum of ten capsules daily).

Apple Cider Vinegar & Baking Soda

Lyme microbes thrive in acidic environments which our bodies tend to be. By consuming both apple cider vinegar and baking soda you help raise your PH levels toward to the alkaline side where Lyme microbes struggle to survive.

Since you will already be consuming baking soda, just drink one ounce of apple cider vinegar (Bragg Organic Raw Unfiltered) three to four times a day, preferably between meals. You can drink it straight or mix it with water.

Flushing

After following the previous steps, you will make your body an uninviting environment for the Lyme microbes to survive, and you will need to flush them out. You can do this by drinking water, exercising and sweating. It’s recommended you drink eight ounces of water about every thirty minutes.

Exercise enough to sweat but don’t push yourself past your physical limitations. Try taking a walk or bouncing on a trampoline, a proven helpful exercise for Lyme patients.

Flushing out the dead microbes is so important because keeping them in your body can lead to feelings of queasiness and exhaustion, also called Herksheimer’s Reaction.

Probiotics

Take a probiotic (Primal Defense Ultra from Garden of Life) thirty minutes before or two hours after you eat once a day for the first few days. Then try taking two a day for a week and then increase to three a day for the next few weeks.

Please note: This protocol was created by people suffering from chronic Lyme disease searching for relief.

Remember, you can help you and your family by preventing the spread of Lyme disease through our tick control services. Please contact us to schedule an appointment.