We Need To Talk About Ticks, Michigan

Get the DEET out. It's gonna be a long tick-filled summer.

If the last couple of weeks in my back yard is any indication, there seems to be an increase in ticks already this summer over last summer.

Several excursions into my northeast yard to mow the lawn and do yard work as resulted in those little bastards clinging to my skin like burrs. In fact, I'd rather have burrs.

Warming trends over the past decade has moved more ticks northward, and a recent stop to the Michigan subreddit at reddit.com revealed a discussion about ticks that reveals I am not alone in my findings.

Some of the comments to a post about the size of a tick a man found on his child in Merrill reveals a lot of Michiganders are noticing in increase in tick presence already this spring.

On a jobsite in Walloon Lake the other day and those buggers are out bad, I remember when I was a kid *I'm 36 and never having to deal with them now its just been getting worse and worse.

 

Is it me or did they get worse here over the years? When I was kid I always played in the woods and never had a tic. I just found first on me two weeks ago when I visited Indian River. I’m 34 btw for reference.

 

Arenac county is absolutely loaded with them right now. Between 7 people we had 18 ticks bite or found on someone in a day and a half.

 

Time to start overbreeding opossums

Yes it is! Opossums may be ugly and slow, but they dine on ticks, so if you see one in your backyard, make sure he stays and then thank him for his service!

Ticks can cause disease, most notably Lyme Disease. So when heading out to the yard or woods, spray some insect repellent with DEET on to repel them. This article from the Farmers Almanac has some natural repellents if DEET is not your thing.  

If you have a tick attached to you, remove it with tweezers and keep an eye on the area where you pulled it off. If a target like rash appears, call your doctor.