Expert says weather doesn't determine severity of tick season
It’s the season for ticks, some as small as poppy seeds, but they can make you and your pets sick.
Kevin Hobba of Warwick said he pulled two off of his dog recently.
“One last week and one the week before on my dog. I’ve had him now for about six months, and I didn’t have any on him last fall. But I was surprised when I found two ticks on his face, you know, it being wintertime,” said Hobba.
Thomas Mather, professor of public health entomology at the University of Rhode Island and tick expert, said the bugs have learned to survive harsh winters, when we have them.
“They dump some of the water out of their cells. So basically, like taking air out of a tire. So, if there’s less water to freeze and in their cells, it won’t rupture the cell membrane inside of the ticks,” said Mather. “As the ice crystals form, it doesn’t make and burst the cells, and so all they have to do is rehydrate a little bit when it gets a little warmer.”
Mather said right now people are mostly seeing larger adult black legged ticks, commonly called deer ticks.
“They come out in October, November. They kind of get quiet when it gets cool in the winter, and they come back out in the springtime,” he said.
The females die off after laying eggs that hatch into nymphs come summer. These start out the size of a poppy seed and are likely to carry Lyme disease.
Mather suggests start planning protection now.
“You could be stocking up on permethrin repellent to start treating your shoes in another month or so," he said. "Summer camp, getting the clothes, you know, that the kids will wear treated with this permethrin."