next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
previous message in thread
Index of Subjects
Index of Subjects Though I am just down the road from you, Bev, and I've been pulling lots of ticks off my German Shepherd and myself. It seems I pick them up each time I go out unless I take precautions. Last week, in my haste while at work in Keji, I didn't wear a hat, and used very little fly deterrent, since the black flies were not all that bad. But I returned home loaded with ticks and so did my student. We'd been walking through some thick balsam fir growth and also in riparian grasses. I knew I was asking for trouble. I didn't encounter many dog ticks last year during the birding season, so I left my guard down this spring. My impression is that it is a pretty good year for dog ticks in Keji, as well as at my home in Tupperville. On the other hand, maybe I was just in some bad pockets. My theory is that they can populate very localized places and have localized population ebbs and flows. (Someone else may have more information on this, and let me know whether I'm off track.) I'm glad you are enjoying a low popln pocket for a little while. For the next few weeks, it looks like I'll return to wearing boot gators, spaying my ball cap, and dabbing a bit of Watkins cream fly deterrent where/when needed. I resent the ritual, but nature in spring is worth it. Cain is sporting his Advantix treatments again. Traditionally, I never give another thought to ticks until next spring rolls around, but all that has changed now. The black-legged tick is a sobering new reality. This apparently means that I should continue to at least spray my pant legs with deterrent until the snow flies, I guess. James' experiences on the south shore are headed our way. I could probably use some new advice on what the July - November 'ritual' should be for side-stepping this potentially life-altering pest. Walking around always with pant legs stuffed in my socks doesn't make much of a fashion statement, and now it seems it may have to become one for the entire spring-summer-fall season?!! At least Cain is vaccinated for lyme's, though I hear it's not 100% effective. Wish I could be, too. Donna -----Original Message----- From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca] On Behalf Of Bev Wigney Sent: May-27-16 8:52 AM To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca Subject: [NatureNS] ticks at Round Hill All, Just some follow-up observations from the Round Hill area east of Annapolis Royal. I'm returning to this topic again because I find this of interest. We're now close to the end of May. In total, I think I may have removed 1 tick from myself and maybe 5 from my two Rough Collies (Lassie type collies). Granted, we've spent most of our time on my own property which is along a brook - deciduous forest, grasses, raspberry canes and some brush, and wetland plants along the brook. I am always in the tall vegetation and frequently take the dogs along the shoreline or for wades in the brook. Last week, I spent a couple of mornings cutting a path through raspberry canes and brush down by the brook, so it's not like I've been avoiding typical tick areas of my property. As for host animals -- There are deer all around my property (last spring, a doe had her fawns in the forest right behind my vegetable garden). Lots of other wildlife wander through. So, I'm kind of amazed by the lack of ticks so far this year. I mention this only because I wonder about the effects of certain kinds of weather. The winter before last, on this list and in some news articles that I read, there was speculation that the deep snow would shelter the ticks and they would be plentiful last year. While there were some in May 2015, they sort of konked out by early summer and I saw no others for the rest of the season, so the snow doesn't seem to have been advantageous to them - at least, not on my property. I was expecting things to rebound this spring as there were always a lot of ticks on this property in previous years. No rebound yet -- which is actually rather pleasant. Also, it seems that the few ticks I've found are all Wood (Dog) ticks. Still I wonder about the sparsity. Older people in this area that I've spoken to -- for example, my neighbours who just passed away this year were both 90 -- told me that they thought ticks seemed to move into an area and be bad and then go away after a time. We definitely had a boom year for them about 3 summers ago. They would even show up on my moth sheets at night when I was out photographing moths. By the way, I have not used Advantix on either of my dogs this year and used only 1/2 a tube on each of them in early spring 2015. Previous to that, I was treating each of them once in late April and then around early June. These days, I'm trying to avoid using it at all unless I think the ticks are really bad and warrant using something systemic. I am still vaccinating both of them for Lyme each year though. In any case, the lack of ticks on the dogs cannot be attributed to using a systemic product on them. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the summer goes. Bev Wigney Round Hill, NS
next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
previous message in thread
Index of Subjects