Do you like these flowers from my
gardens? I bet you don’t immediately
think of ticks when you see these pretty flowers. However, ticks are what I want to talk about
on this blog post.
Ticks live outdoors so we are at
risk for being tick-food whenever we are outside. Ticks can carry viruses,
germs and parasites which cause ten different diseases (including Lyme disease
and Rocky Mountain spotted fever).
Recognize
how to protect yourself and your loved ones from tick bites:
Ticks live in moist, humid places so
grassy places and woods are their habitat.
However, remember that deer and animals can carry ticks into your
yard. Last year I found a tick behind my
ear after I spent time working in my flower beds. We treat our yard routinely to discourage
ticks so where did that tick come from?
Probably off the deer who often walk through our yard at night.
According to the CDC website, we can
protect ourselves by using DEET repellent on our skin and permethrin products
which kill ticks on our boots, clothing and camping gear. (Don’t use permethrin on skin). For details on how to properly use these
products, check out http://www.cdc.gov/Features/StopTicks/
Tick
Check
My husband and I joke about doing a
tick check on each other, but it’s a good practice. As you come in, check your clothing for
ticks. Shower as soon as you can. A shower within 2 hours is recommended as one
way to find and wash away any unattached ticks.
Physically look and check for ticks.
If you are doing this tick check on yourself, use a mirror to examine
hard-to-see areas. Body areas that you
should check include: under the arms, in
and around ears, between legs, in and around your hair, inside belly button, at
the waist and backs of knees.
What
if you find a tick?
Other
preventive actions
Discourage deer (My personal opinion
is good luck on this one. When our
subdivision was built on what was original farm land that deer wandered
through, that’s probably not going to change.) The suggested actions involve
removing plants that deer like to feed on and constructing physical barriers to
keep deer out.
