TICK season has begun

all over colorado the ticks are jumping onto any and all males that move through nature (ie climbers and dogs) found this tick yesterday and partner had one too

easy to see these adult ticks easy to apply deterrents to prevent and easy to remove for more info click or search https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/insects/colorado-ticks-and-tick-borne-diseases-5-593/

Always do a tick check if you bushwahack. Where deer walk, so do ticks!

Anyone else feel like they’re worse than usual this year? Or am I just bushwhacking more? I’ve already found more ticks on me this season than I have in the rest of my life combined (not that many)

I've somehow managed to make it 27 years of living without actually seeing a tick in real life - until yesterday in the south Platte when they were crawling all over mine and my partners clothing and backpacks. Even found one crawling on the wall next to my desk today. Must have hitched a ride home.

Tal M wrote:

Anyone else feel like they’re worse than usual this year? Or am I just bushwhacking more? I’ve already found more ticks on me this season than I have in the rest of my life combined (not that many)

YES. I have gotten several, that were nearly the size of a pinhead, good thing my near vision is still good. One on my face. But so small I needed a magnifier to make sure!

The Butt-Shot Whisperer wrote:

all over colorado the ticks are jumping onto any and all males that move through nature (ie climbers and dogs) 

What do you mean by this? They don't jump onto any and all females that move through nature? 

Found this fat boi crawling across the living room floor last week. Surely came in on a dog. Fuckin gross. 

Adam R wrote:

What do you mean by this? They don't jump onto any and all females that move through nature? 

Can confirm they also jump onto females who move through nature 

Tip for the long-haired among us who don't wash their hair everytime they shower: maybe modify that habit after being outside in spring.. I found this guy in my hair 24 hours and 1 shower after being outside 

Ticks can’t jump, only crawl on to male, female, or nonbinary animals. So be on the lookout when hiking through tall vegetation in the spring-summer. CCC and the Platte have always been tick havens this time of year. Just a PSA from your friendly neighborhood biologist. 

Also- check your car seats after you return to base from ticky areas. They like to hang out on the seats and get you the next day or so I’ve found when you’re running errands or something non outdoor related. I. Hate. Ticks.

I can’t wait until we decide to use gene drives on ticks. They will not be missed 

Spent the day in Pinecliffe yesterday and brought a couple of wood ticks home on my legs.  Decided to wash all my clothes (as well as my partner's and our daughter's clothes) and then today, whilst folding the dry laundry, another one came crawling out.  They apparently can survive the washer/dryer torture treatment.

John RB wrote:

Spent the day in Pinecliffe yesterday and brought a couple of wood ticks home on my legs.  Decided to wash all my clothes (as well as my partner's and our daughter's clothes) and then today, whilst folding the dry laundry, another one came crawling out.  They apparently can survive the washer/dryer torture treatment.

You have to drown them in oil or bleach.

Athena G wrote:

You have to drown them in oil or bleach.

I kept one of them in a ziplock.  He's still there, on my bathroom sink a week later.  They can't see or hear: they sense CO2, heat, and moisture while "questing" for a passing host to attach to.  If they don't get a meal in each stage of development (larva, nymph, adult) they will die, which most do.  Mine is a male wood tick named Benny.  He won't be getting a meal.

Dave Meyers wrote:

Ticks can’t jump, only crawl on to male, female, or nonbinary animals. So be on the lookout when hiking through tall vegetation in the spring-summer. CCC and the Platte have always been tick havens this time of year. Just a PSA from your friendly neighborhood biologist. 

This may not be entirely true. I don’t think they are sexist, but might be able to “jump”.

https://www.science.org/content/article/watch-ticks-fly-through-air-power-static-electricity

John RB wrote:

They can't see or hear: they sense CO2, heat, and moisture while "questing" for a passing host to attach to.

This is why these critters can be considered "sexist". Males (at least the human variety) tend to run a little "hotter" than the average female, so attracts them more easily. But this difference is only in the single-digit percentage. 

The much more important determining factor is actually climbing style. You are several orders of magnitude more likely to get ticks while trad climbing compared to sport. Of course, the safest climbers are the gym and the ice climber. So stay indoors to be safe, but if you really have to venture outside, go to a sport crag.

Patrik wrote:

This is why these critters can be considered "sexist". Males (at least the human variety) tend to run a little "hotter" than the average female, so attracts them more easily. But this difference is only in the single-digit percentage. 

Have you been around a woman with hot flashes.  Second degree burns if you touch her. 

Since finding a few of these buggers on myself recently (admittedly I've been off-trail in the weeds, so not unexpected), I've been nerding out on tick biology.  Imagine an arachnid that goes through several life phases, requires a single blood meal at each phase, and eats nothing else.  One meal a year or death.  Mostly it's death.  But an adult female that gets a meal can lay 2000-4000 eggs, so the species endures.

Unlike mosquitoes, ticks feed for (usually) 5-15 days before dropping off.   And if you catch them early, it's very unlikely they'll transmit a disease to you, so being vigilant every time you get home (shower, scan your body including toes, knees, groin, armpits, hair) is important.  We are lucky here in Colorado since the scariest diseases (esp Lyme) aren't endemic.  However, with climate change, ticks are growing in number and spreading to newer areas, including Ixodes scapularis (the so called "black legged tick") which is the tick that carries Lyme along with a few other nasty diseases.

Nuclear weapons, AGI, climate change, pandemics, and now ticks and retro-bolters.  How long can we survive?

Read in the paper this morning that this will be a robust year for ticks.

Do I remember correctly that dryer sheets repel ticks? I notice I have significantly fewer ticks when wearing clean pants vs pants I’ve put a few days into or shorts.

I picked a total of 9 ticks off of me at different point in the day on Saturday - definitely a heavy tick season

Tal M wrote:

Do I remember correctly that dryer sheets repel ticks? I notice I have significantly fewer ticks when wearing clean pants vs pants I’ve put a few days into or shorts.

I don't know if dryer sheets do anything but dryers do!  If you run the dryer on hot for over 10mins it should kill any ticks in your clothes.  Some people recommend throwing your clothes straight into the dryer when you get home (not the washer then dryer... just straight into the dryer).

I naively washed all my clothes last week, then dried on medium, then threw all the clean clothes on my bed and .... a tick crawled out.  They are tough little bastards.  Researchers have put these things in a vial and into an incubator only to find them still alive 1 year later.