Ticks: How to Protect Your Family

TICKS THERE ARE OVER 200 Ticks are arachnids, relatives of spiders, mites, and scorpions Ticks can live in wooded areas, brushy fields, and virtually anywhere around your home. Ticks survive on the blood of their hosts. SPECIES OF TICKS Ticks can spread disease among animals and humans. PREVENTING TICKS on your property Pesticides for ticks, known as ACARICIDES, can reduce the number of ticks in your yard. Only small amounts of acaricide applied at the right time of year are necessary. Spraying once in May or early June and then following up with an October application of acaricide may control the most harmful tick species. How to Create a TICK-SAFE ZONE on Your Property 1 Remove leaf litter. 2 Clear tall grasses and brush around homes and at the edge of lawns. 3 Place a 3-ft wide barrier of wood chips or gravel between lawns and wooded areas to restrict tick migration into recreational areas. 4 Mow the lawn frequently. 5 Stack wood neatly and in a dry area (discourages rodents). 6 Keep playground equipment, decks, and patios away from yard edges and trees. 7 Discourage unwelcome animals (such as deer, raccoons, and stray dogs) from entering your yard by constructing fences. 8 Remove old furniture, mattresses, or trash from the yard that may give ticks a place to hide. Tickborne Diseases Include: Lyme Disease Lyme Disease is named after the town of LYME, CONNECTICUT, where a number of cases were reported in the late 1970s. The patients were all first diagnosed as having a rare form of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis Ehrlichiosis Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever And Lyme Disease was originally known as "LYME ARTHRITIS." How ticks find you: Ticks can detect animals' breath and body odors and sense body heat, moisture, and vibrations. Some species can even recognize a shadow. Ticks often pick a place to wait by identifying well-used paths. There they wait for a host, resting on the tips of grasses and shrubs. Ticks hold onto leaves and grass by their third and fourth pair of legs. They hold the first pair of legs outstretched, waiting to climb on to the host. When a host brushes the spot where a tick is waiting, it quickly climbs aboard. PROFESSIONAL DR Brought to you by DR® Power Equipment Please visit us at DRpower.com and at www.facebook.com/drpowerequip Source: www.cdc.gov/ticks DONE RIGHT POWER.