Ticks, Lyme Disease, and Your Secret Weapon

Boston’s own WGBH’s New England Center for Investigative Reporting headline this week proclaims that “despite the spread of Lyme Disease, Massachusetts dedicates no money towards prevention.” In clearly detailed and documented facts, we are left with the following, frustrated take-away: it is up to the individual to take care of tick prevention.

We hope our fine state decides to an equal amount of funding towards tick management, so that our public spaces: parks, commons, and ballfields, are safe places to utilize without the overwhelming threat of Lyme Disease. This tick-borne disease is estimated to affect as many as 50,000 Massachuttans, including our community here around the North Shore.

If North Shore tick control is important to you, for your home, and your family, we are here to help. The official 2015 mosquito and tick season has started. Now, is the time to get scheduled, not only for our seasonal barrier treatment, but also the time to add-on our targeted tick tube program. Mosquito Squad of the North Shore’s strategic tick tube placement is used by small rodents. Rodents are not just for wild places. They inhabit any wooded space, including our firewood box or a dense hedge. These mice and other critters line their nests with the bedding material.

The bedding material does not harm the furry creatures, but it is lethal to ticks. Here in the North Shore, that time is now, during the months of April and May and then again at the end of the season. Our professional applicators are trained in tick elimination, including scouting out where ticks are most likely to lay their eggs. We can be your secret weapon in the fight against tick-borne illnesses.

Did you know that a single female tick can lay a clutch of eggs, numbering 2,000-3,000 ticks? These larval and growing nymph ticks are co-residents with the vermin, who provide the ticks with their first blood meal. From there, they emerge and soon take up a questing position on a blade of tall grass or a branch and wait for their next meal.

“Questing” involves the tick balancing on their back legs and holding their forward legs up in a grabbing position. They will sit for days simply waiting for something, be it fox, deer, or you or me. We brush by and they grab on. From there the tick will scurry upwards, searching for a warm, moist place. For people, this would include between the toes, behind your knee caps, armpits, and the groin area are all prime eating spots.

May is national Lyme Disease Awareness Month. Protect your family with Mosquito Squad of the North Shore tick control. Stop thousands of ticks in their larval and nymph stage from emerging onto your property!