Ticks, then and now...

[F350-6]

Not sure the best place for this thread, but here kinda makes sense. I was at the barbershop the other day. The old fashioned kind where some folks come in or stick around just for the conversation.

Couple of old timers were in there rambling about anything and everything and the discussion moved to wild hogs, then to fire ants, then to mosquitoes and diseases they can carry these days. Lyme disease got brought up and one of the guys wondered aloud if the fireants had done something to the tick population.

Everyone agreed that they don't get ticks now like they did a few decades ago. Many of us couldn't remember the last time we had a tick.

So do ticks just not like old folks? Do old folks dress different? Have we learned better? My daughter has a dog that has gotten into ticks before, but people wise everyone seems to stay clear.

Anyone else seeing this or can shed some light on it?

 

[Sam7sf]

Coming to Texas soon and I'm fine if ticks just die. I hate em. Though I wouldn't worry if I were you. Texas isn't a hot spot like oregon is for deer tick. I have pulled a few deer and wood (for you guys pretty much the lone star tick) off me. Bright side is you don't get infected by a bite. As long as you feel it and react to it you can remove em. Even if the head is lost. Its only when they bite ya and stay with ya for too long do you get infected.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

I haven't thought about them in probably 40 years.

 

[F350-6]

I haven't thought about them in probably 40 years.

That's kinda where I was going. Doesn't seem anyone I talk to has. Where did they go?

 

[Bozz10mm]

Ticks, fireflys, and horned toads. The fire ants got 'em.

 

[F350-6]

We still have fireflies.

 

[Lunyfringe]

Property I bought is overloaded with fire ants.. working on trying to get them under control. we don't have ticks bad, but we see some... so they're not gone, but I've had 3 on me this year, but they weren't embedded yet at all.

Barber shop just opened in Canton downtown that's trying to bring that whole vibe back... need to support them. (they're even offering a shot of whisky or bottle of beer with a haircut)

 

[Lunyfringe]

We still have fireflies.

I haven't seen any here... miss them from when I was in Ohio (never had them in Alaska, Aridzona, or Colofornia)

 

[MTA]

Plenty of ticks in fannin county. I will still stop killing fire ant hills if they are killing the ticks

 

[jrbfishn]

There are plenty in Bell county as well.

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[Jack Ryan]

Not sure the best place for this thread, but here kinda makes sense. I was at the barbershop the other day. The old fashioned kind where some folks come in or stick around just for the conversation.

Couple of old timers were in there rambling about anything and everything and the discussion moved to wild hogs, then to fire ants, then to mosquitoes and diseases they can carry these days. Lyme disease got brought up and one of the guys wondered aloud if the fireants had done something to the tick population.

Everyone agreed that they don't get ticks now like they did a few decades ago. Many of us couldn't remember the last time we had a tick.

So do ticks just not like old folks? Do old folks dress different? Have we learned better? My daughter has a dog that has gotten into ticks before, but people wise everyone seems to stay clear.

Anyone else seeing this or can shed some light on it?

May be "old folks" just don't go in to the woods as much during tick season as they did before they knew better.

 

[easy rider]

I remember having to check myself for ticks after fishing in the hard to get to spots in Washington, but I haven't fished much in several years and haven't really thought much about them.

 

[kenboyles72]

I must be living on the wrong side of the woods, cause I get deer ticks off me all the time. Hell back in Dec I took a walk down on the back part of the property to see if I could scare up some hogs, damn ticks were all over my coveralls. I brushed all off I saw, but never had one get under my clothes and attach to me. Kids had a couple attached on them in the last 2 weeks or so, being out in the yard, but still not had one get on me. Maybe there is something to being old and ticks not liking you, hmmmm

 

[RoadRunner]

If you have a problem with ticks in your yard you may want get some guineas, they will eat a lot of ticks. Not only will they eat ticks they will also let you know when someone comes up. Turkeys are also good for controlling ticks.

 

[Texasjack]

When I was young, ticks stayed away from me. Mosquitoes came in clouds, but not ticks. In the past couple of years, I've had to have the wife do a whole body scan every time I came home from the deer lease. Seems like they were worst wherever there was a lot of cedar. Since I went through chemo, mosquito bites don't seem to bother me much. So maybe body chemistry makes a difference.

With respect to fire ants and ticks, I can't say. I do know that areas that have gotten Raspberry Crazy Ants are quickly losing fire ants. I talked to a scientist at A&M about the Crazy Ants when we were having an issue at work. He says they don't seem to be attacking the nests, but wherever the crazy ants go, fire ant mounds die. Crazy ants rarely bite, but they are hard to kill and have a VERY bad habit of wanting to get into electrical circuits.

 

[Ole Cowboy]

I spend a lot of time clearing land and have not had a tick in 8 years, nor have my dogs. But when I was young ticks were common on me. Heck one time I got one in the head of my Richard and I drowned it in diesel fuel since I did not have anything to remove it.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

OUCH!

 

[Moonpie]

I believe it is due to fire ants.
Way back when where we lived in Comal county tick and chiggers were common. So were quail.
Very unusual now.

 

[crzy_one]

I am in far east Travis County and had not seen a tick in the first 5 years that I have been here until I got dogs. Now I have found 14 of them in the last year.

Yard and sometime the house are overrun with fireants!

 

[pronstar]

We’re on a wooded acre, no ticks in the year I’ve been here.

But damn if the mosquitoes don’t like my sweet, sweet blood.

We can have folks over, no one gets bit except for me, the guy with half a dozen welt-sized bites.


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