Tick Tock

Maine’s rapidly warming climate will eventually create large-scale issues and problems for its citizens the depth of which we can barely fathom. At this point, we are just beginning to see the first of these growing issues beginning to take shape. Even a small increase in world temperature and here in Maine we are seeing a “weirding” of the weather that includes heavier snowfalls, hotter summers and lakes experiencing ice out a full month shorter than two decades ago. The problem with Maine becoming hotter is that many of the insects that destroy crops and are harbingers of disease causing viruses and bacterium are no longer being killed by our winters. This fact is causing the normal system of natural checks and balances to no longer be functional. Additionally, invasive species, which would have previously perished in Maine’s environment, now find the state a very comfortable home.

As mentioned previously, the obvious implications this will have on Maine’s people is huge and to illustrate this critical point, we need to look no further than Ixodes scapularis or the common deer tick. It is difficult to now think of a Maine that at one time did not have infectious Lyme disease carrying deer ticks. Yet, only a few short decades ago finding a tick embedded in your skin would have been a rare event. Now, a simple walk outside on the lawn will typically have Mainers encountering ticks on almost every outing.

One bite from a tick carrying Lyme disease has the potential to completely destroy the health and well being of an individual and has even in some cases caused death. With one in four deer ticks carry Lyme disease, according to Jim Dill, pest management specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, it is imperative that Maine residents are properly prepared to address the tick issue.

Being prepared, means Mainers must take the steps necessary to control the tick infestation and additionally protect the human population. Unfortunately, ticks are extremely resilient creatures and only able to be controlled on a very limited basis. Large-scale chemical insecticide spraying operations to contain their spread are both costly and widely ineffective. At this time, ticks have no known natural predatory enemies or host-specific pathogens that could be employed to increase their mortality rates, thereby decreasing their overall numbers. Ticks can be controlled with limited “residential” success by employing the use of guinea hens that are capable of eating ticks large numbers and controlling their spread on personal properties.

The alternative to the unachievable task of eradication is to keep ticks from coming into direct contact with human, pets and livestock. This seemingly impossible undertaking is supported by Maine’s Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Maine Medical Center Lyme Disease Research Laboratory who both recommend education, awareness and the implementation of personal preventative measures, as the primary methods of battling this invading arachnid. The Maine CDC and Maine Medical Center suggest tick avoidance, use of protective clothing, employment of a specialized tick repellent and daily tick checks, as the four primary means of decreasing the chances of a human/tick encounter. While Maine has taken many steps to ensure its population is educated on the dangers of tick borne contagions, many Mainers still do not take the steps necessary to properly protect themselves against the dangers of Lyme disease.

In order for Mainers to protect themselves, there needs to be a wide scale investment of education and research into this topic. Including continued education of the overall population, further testing and exploration into the use of a human Lyme disease vaccine and research into biological, chemical and tick specific pathogens. These multiple tiers of protection will perhaps offer a means of potentially slowing Maine’s infectious invaders in this new “hot” environment.

Wildlife Quiz - Ticks

Ticks share similar traits with scorpions, spiders and mites, thus classifying them as arachnids. Simple, yet elegant creatures, ticks have bodies divided into an anterior, containing the head and mouthparts; and a posterior containing the eight legs, digestive tract and reproductive organs. A testament to their highly efficient design, fossil records indicate ticks have roamed the earth for at least 90 million years.

Throughout the world there exist over 800 different types of ticks, separated into two main families, Ixodidae (hard ticks) and Argasidae (soft ticks). As the name suggests, hard ticks have a rigid shield on their posterior body segment. While both hard and soft ticks transmit a wide spectrum of diseases, in Maine the most notorious of the species being the Lyme carrying Blacklegged or Deer tick (Ixodes scapularis).

Unlike its relative the agile spider, ticks wait in ambush on low growing vegetation, patiently locating prey and then slowly and methodically crawling onto host animals. Once attached to a human or animal, ticks survive strictly on a diet of blood.

Maine’s deer tick has a two-year life cycle, with larvae hatching from eggs in the spring and then molting into pinhead-sized nymphs the following spring. In fall, they become adults, spending the long winter buried deep under leaf litter on the forest floor. Shortly after the spring thaw, mature females lay eggs and the life cycle begins anew. All phases of the tick life cycle require blood meals.

Wildlife Quiz Questions: 
1. How many eggs can a female tick lay?
2. What is the best way to remove a tick?
3. What are the symptoms of Lyme disease?
4. What is the best prevention against ticks in your yard?
5. What is the best prevention against ticks in your home?
6. What is the best body protection against ticks?

Wildlife Quiz Answers: 
1. Female ticks can lay up to 2000 eggs.
2. The best way to remove a tick is by grasping it with tweezers close to the skin and detaching it without leaving behind its mouthparts. Disinfect the bite area after removal.
3. The symptoms of lyme disease include a bulls eyes type rash or unexplained illness.
4. To prevent ticks from invading your yard, regularly cut your grass. Ticks do not thrive in short vegetation and are seldom a problem in well-mowed lawns. Guineafowl also consumes mass quantities of ticks.
 5. To protect your home from ticks, make sure to thoroughly inspect animals and make sure they are current on their repellents such as Frontline and Advantix.
 6. To protect your body against ticks, wear long-sleeved shirts, trousers, boots and a head covering. Apply insect repellents containing DEET and Permethrin

Ticks SUCK!

Other than biting insects that can instantly kill you, I would have trouble identifying another creepy crawly that annoys me more than the deer tick. These troublesome critters are the carriers of lyme disease, a potentially lethal affliction if left undiagnosed or unchecked. Even with massive doses of antibiotics, humans as well as animals can suffer debilitating effects their entire lives from the plague that these little creatures carry. My retriever Onxy has contracted the disease twice, despite taking multiple levels of medical precaution. This fact worries me as my family and I constantly venture into the woodlands. Along with bug suits and tucking and taping pant legs comes a new weapon in the tick prevention arsenal . . . Permethrin. Sure, it to will eventually kill you and the warning label alone is enough to scare your body into developing cancer but at least you won’t die of a tick bite!

Anyone struggling with ticks, like we are in central Maine should seriously give it a try. Since I started using I can seemingly sit in the leaf litter and tall field grass all day with not a tick in sight. Just MAKE SURE to read the back of the can as it has to be applied in a very specific way and cannot be applied directly to any bare skin. Yeah, I know . . . but like I said before at least you won’t die from a tick bite!