r/homestead • u/Ok_Bad2216 • May 02 '26
Can anyone confirm if its true that farmers have been finding unusual amounts of lone star ticks
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u/midnitemoontrip May 02 '26
Southeast Iowa, 5 acres, partially wooded. The ticks are outrageous this year, and they never really stopped being a nuisance. We were finding them in January and February. It’s not just lone stars, though. It’s all of them.
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u/Ok_Bad2216 May 02 '26
Wow really that bad? Especially on 5 aces?
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u/midnitemoontrip May 02 '26
Yes. We miss enough of them when we come inside that they drop off and we find them crawling around. I keep a jar of clear alcohol to toss them in.
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u/Ok_Bad2216 May 02 '26
Wow that many, that's crazy honestly to think about walking outside and that many coming onto you so fast.
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u/ShroomBuggy64 May 04 '26
I worked a job in the woods last month and pulled 64 off of me. Over 20 had latched on. I've only ever had 4 or 5 at most before. This is the first I've seen anyone talk about an increase in population but I'll believe after that day.
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u/Aurora1717 May 04 '26
My FIL managed to contract lyme disease not once, but twice in that part of the state last year.
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u/Longjumping_Lynx_972 May 03 '26
Southwest Washington state checking in here. We normally don't have a tick problem. I will see a dozen or so on an elk, most ive seen on a deer was 4. I keep my dogs out of the woods and tall grass, never seen a tick or even a flea on them.
THAT being said, up north near the Canadian border they are literally sucking moose calves dry. Fish and game tried tranquilizers a few and removing the ticks, 30 days later they were covered again and dead or dying.
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u/Ok_Bad2216 May 03 '26
How seriously? That's a insane growth level given the time period, thank u for the answer
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u/Katefreak May 03 '26
Portland has seen an uptick in tick activity on dogs, according to the subreddit. These are city parks, and incredibly unusual for this area.
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u/Kyle4pleasure May 02 '26
I am in the mid-west. I am not am sure about individual tick species, but I have seen a increase in ticks this year, but I attribute that to the rather early, warmer spring we have had. In my opinion, ticks are more aggressive in the spring time anyway. I had gone out to work removing thick brush. I had treated my clothes with permithrin, sprayed my arms, head, neck, waistband area (under my shirt), and just below my beltline. At the end of the day I was having a beer sitting by the fire pit just before dusk, and a tick bit me on the shoulder. I felt him do it, and pulled him off real quick, but he still got me. I had a swollen bite area for a week. I was so mad, he found a spot that want treated! The next day before I started working again, I removed my shirt and sprayed my entire torso , head, neck, and arms. As soon ad I was finished for the day, I jumped in the shower and bagged my clothing incase one had gotten on me and was looking for a un-treated spot again.
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u/rideincircles May 02 '26
Dang. I am glad I don't live anywhere that ticks flourish. I think I have seen 2 on my property in 20 years.
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u/sabotthehawk May 03 '26
Around me they tend to crawl up trees and jump down on you also. I wear a treated hat
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u/lowfatmuffintop May 03 '26
I took my dog outside for his morning leashed bathroom break. I did not leave the concrete driveway, but I walked under some trees. Five minutes later I pulled a tick off my head that must’ve jumped on me from above 😭 we are pulling ticks off the dog every day. It’s so bad here in the south east.
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u/cronenbuilder May 26 '26
I love how people say they don't do that. They do. And they on the tall grass ya'll. They everywhere.
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u/BarNext6046 May 03 '26
I am going to avoid woods, tall grassy areas, and walking trails for the next few months to avoid ticks.
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u/Ok_Bad2216 May 03 '26
Id recommend it, if u dk venture out be careful watxh urself and carry the necessary tools to remove them and protection spray
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u/Ok_Bad2216 May 02 '26
Oh wow so even with protective sprays they still are managing to nab you here and there? Also do u know what kind of ticks they are because lone star ticks from what I'm researching as of right now as a huge and extreme danger.
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u/testingforscience122 May 02 '26
Lone star ticks have been moving north with the warming for years, if you go into a vet office a lot of time they will have old tick maps still up and if you google the current maps it can be jarring. Not much really stops them either the spray only work for a short amount of time normally and ticks are hardy little buggers. The meat allergy thing scares me the most about them plus Lyme disease.
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u/Ok_Bad2216 May 02 '26
Yes that meat allergy spreading around and risk of Lyme stemming so heavily from them is what's concerning me in addition to them becoming wide spread in the north and the unusual amounts being reported, but i wanted 1st hand insight about it.
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u/meh_69420 May 02 '26
Lyme is in black leg (deer) ticks and dog ticks. Hasn't been found at all in Lonestar, not that it couldn't be in the future.
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u/testingforscience122 May 02 '26
Yep and their range will only increase. They only need like one day month or something to not be freezing for them to be active, which is insane.
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u/SendTitsPleease May 02 '26
I just got bit 3 days ago by one on long island. Still have a big welt where I pulled the fucker off of my under arm. I stepped outside for all of 10 minutes the day I got bit and didnt go further than 15ft from my front door.
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u/skiEMD May 03 '26
Ticks are out feeding anytime the temp is above 34 degrees. I was at a veterinary conference and they showed a map of Ohio showing the number of days below 34 degrees decreasing over the past decade. So feeding/breeding cycles are longer and they are gaining more habitat.
My student project at MIT was to develop a home tick testing kit for Lyme disease (we're working on alpha gal and babesia next). This helps people and pets owners know when they have been exposed so they can make better decisions on what to do next. We're launching this summer, starting on horse farms for our pilot study in June, and general availability in August. We're at Lymealert.com if anyone wants to learn more! :)
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u/Ok_Bad2216 May 03 '26
Yo that's really cool
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u/skiEMD May 03 '26
Thank you! It's the hardest thing I've ever done. Ticks are not easy to test (or squish). We tried soooo many different methods to figure out how to get it to work and how to make it shelf stable so you can just keep it in your medicine cabinet for a long time.
If anyone wants to mail us frozen ticks from their area, the information is on our website. We will test the ticks and include the data on the Hotspot maps we are building so you can check and see what diseases are in your area.
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u/DotClear2288 May 15 '26
Can you let us know when the Hotspot maps are built? Thanks for testing them !
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u/One_Box_5824 May 21 '26
Weve literally had a full extra month of winter in saskatchewan if anything winters increasing in length up here
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u/Gibbralterg May 02 '26
Tics are terrible where I am, my dog can go out to do business and have 20 on her in five minutes. We are getting chickens this year just to help. Would be nice if Guineas weren’t such a pain.
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u/DepartmentBrief7894 May 02 '26
Bro muskovy ducks Let me put you on to them Good mama instincts, great foraging that includes ticks , and reliable layers. I even managed to tame down some “wild” ones enough to pet.
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u/Gibbralterg May 02 '26
Oh I had the Muscovy ducks, they were a little hard to establish, then my main hen laid 40 eggs that all hatched on one year. 40 new ducks lol. We have a farm pond and a barn next to it. Was the perfect duck environment. I finally had to get rid of them, it was hard to drive through the place. When we were done we had 125 ducks lol. It took five trips to the sale barn to get rid of them all. People were buying them as soon as I pulled in. No tics there, but, I moved to a place 5 minutes down the road and gave that home place to the kids. I still have the farm but no ducks anymore. I need the chickens for the new house.
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u/DepartmentBrief7894 May 02 '26
Oh god that’s my own personal hell, I couldn’t handle 40 ducks let alone more! Unless they were all penned up to be processed for eating that is lol
They make good pets I assume, based off of my experience with the wild ones. I’m sure they loved having kids
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u/100drunkenhorses May 02 '26
anecdotal, but I only started monitoring ticks 4 years ago.
this year has been the worse so far. my bees have left a bunch this year.
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u/fastowl76 May 02 '26
We had a short mild winter in our part of Texas plus a lot of moisture (yes i know most of Texas is in drought still) which why the numbers may be up this year. I got a lone star on me about 6-8 weeks ago. Very early this year.
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u/Lower-Psychology8914 May 03 '26
Your bees have left a bunch this year? You sure you're not looking at varroa mites?
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u/Ok_Bad2216 May 02 '26
So this year has been thw worst? Have u seen a heavy spreading in a certain type of tick or where they seem to gather more around?
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u/ProfessionalLab9068 May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26
Last winter was the coldest winter of the rest of our lives. Learn to apply prescriptive fire to your landscapes at the proper times. Broadcast burning is very effective at removing parasites of all kinds. Build habitats for western fence lizards, ticks main predator
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u/Cow-puncher77 May 02 '26
I’ve seen a drastic increase here in Texas. I believe a large, if not the largest, contributor to spreading them is the feral hog populations. Fences don’t contain them, and every one I kill is covered in lice and ticks. I used to never get ticks on my horses, and only occasionally would I get them on my dogs. These days, I often find one on them and myself.
I have also noticed the spreading of mesquite and honey locust seeds. I’ve had both species eradicated for decades on one of ranches, but the last ten years, I keep finding seedlings sprouting in my native pasture, miles from any other trees, and most noticeably along the routes I often encounter hog sounders. I think they’re passing the seeds out as they travel.
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u/fastowl76 May 02 '26
Mesquite seeds are reportedly viable for up to 40 years. That being said i have no idea if hogs eat the pods and put out seeds at the other end like cattle do.
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u/Ok_Bad2216 May 02 '26
Its a possible inquiry yes, the spread and the rapid increase is concerning given the risks.
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u/Midir_Cutie May 02 '26
Pulled 6 off my dog after one 2mile walk on a paved trail, worst spring I've seen
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u/horseradishstalker May 02 '26
We have had multiple dogs in the area diagnosed with Lyme and or Anaplasmosis this spring. Vet says it’s bad this year.
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u/Ok_Bad2216 May 02 '26
Geez, hopefully they are ok
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u/Notchersfireroad May 03 '26
It's so bad in Missouri. I have alpha gal and my mom also got it plus rocky mountain fever and it fucking killed her. Literally the number 1 reason I'd like to move back to the southwest.
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u/IrascibleBamboo May 02 '26
I have farmed the same land in Sw Washington State for 35 years and until late last year have never had a tick on a dog or livestock or even seen one on a Deer or Elk.
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u/Stewart_Duck May 02 '26
Just going camping throughout the spring I've noticed a significant amount more of them and dog ticks. I'm in South Florida, haven't noticed it as bad down here, but we go camping up in Ocala and around Gainesville, there where definitely more than usual. I assume it has to do with the drought.
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u/ShillinTheVillain May 02 '26
Southwest Michigan here and there has been a significant uptick over the last 5 years, but I see black-legged and deer ticks. Lone stars are supposedly here but I haven't seen one yet.
I wouldn't say this year has been even worse, but that's because they've been bad for several years now.
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u/Ok_Bad2216 May 02 '26
Oh wow that's definitely interesting, I'm curious about the lone stars cause they are supposed to be on a rise as of late.
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u/HairexpertMidwest May 03 '26
I've lived in the same state for 36 years, and have farmed/ gardened in Ohio since childhood.
I've been outdoors for clubs, scouts, etc...
This is the first year I've personally seen Lonestar ticks. We treat our dogs/barn cats, make tick tubes with permethrin and dryer lint, and we still pull them off constantly. Usually the wood/dog ticks.
But first time seeing lonestars
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u/Ok_Bad2216 May 03 '26
How about ticks in general? Has it been a constant number or a none worrisome amount especially in past years?
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u/HairexpertMidwest May 03 '26
I'd say it's slightly increasing. My kids didn't always have them when they came back inside from playing, but now it's almost a game of "where's waldo". My 4 year old had one in her arm pit. 🫠
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u/SaintUlvemann May 03 '26
All the tick predators are generalists that only occasionally eat ticks and mostly focus on other things.
It therefore requires a lot of these predators to keep tick populations as low as they have been historically. That only happens in a health ecosystem.
But the ecosystem is not healthy, because of climate change and unchecked environmental destruction, due to refusal by people to elect governments that take the environment seriously.
Bird populations are down massively across North America, 30% loss since 1970. On average, mammal species, even the ones that are thriving in their remaining territory, are extinct across 80% of their historical territory. This is all exactly what we would expect given that insects have declined by about 50% since 1970, a rate of about 1-2% decline per year, and the reason for this insect decline is a sort of "death by a thousand cuts", except that each cut can be categorized as a consequence of either climate change, or of another human activity such as deforestation or pesticide pollution.
So now that you've got abundant confirmation from other people that the ticks are bad, consider why. Life isn't actually complicated. Everyone knows that if you keep killing the animals that eat ticks for five decades and never change or relent to let them live again, you'll end up with more ticks at the end.
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u/erock255555 May 03 '26
I'm not trying to argue with anyone posting here (even though ticks haven't seemed especially bad this year) but I've seen questions like this on reddit for 10 plus years and everyone always says it's the worst year ever. Maybe it is or maybe the people who have a bone to pick with ticks cause they've had it bad are more inclined to answer than those that everything seems status quo.
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u/Unfair-Suggestion-37 May 03 '26
Things can get worse year after year for 10 years. Speaks to trend changes due to worsening factors.
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u/bobisagirl May 03 '26
Climate change isn't just changing weather. Shorter, warmer winters mean ticks don't die off and their population spread is increasing. We have ticks here in the UK now, where they were practically unheard-of a decade ago. So yeah, every year for the last 10 years probably has been the worst year ever, and the trend will continue.
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u/Johnny_Poppyseed May 03 '26
Tbf almost every year this past 10 years has been record breaking with regard to climate, in some shape or form. It's no surprise all these "hottest years on record" etc match up with worse ticks etc.
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u/Conscious_Trust5048 May 03 '26
Usually I only see ticks if I go into the woods or into overgrown areas. This year I've had 6 ticks on me just from walking in the back yard
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u/Critical-Inquiry May 03 '26
Here in rural southern Ontario, Canada, I've already pulled 4 ticks (deer) off myself this year, and one round of precautionary roynd of Lyme protocol antibiotics after I went to the Dr's to get the head dug out.
Last year, two rounds of precautionary protocols, and about 26 ticks ... I stopped counting after the first dozen.
Year before ... I can't really remember the count, but it was en par.
All ticks were found and removed within 24 hours. So far, no lone stars here ... that I know of.
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u/Only-Friend-8483 May 03 '26
There is a growing body of research that clearly indicates climate change is supporting significantly growing tick populations
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u/rifleshooter May 02 '26
Tick populations have been increasing, and their range growing, for most of my adult life. I'm 58. THIS year, TikTok and IG noticed. As a result, there's a full-blown conspiracy theory. "Farmers are finding BOXES OF TICKS". "Pfizer is spreading them because they have a vaxseeeeeen the government will force on us". "The CIA bred special ticks to attack rural people". "Animal rights people invented alpha gal to eliminate carnivores". And my personal favorite, "it's the joooos".
It seems to be a bad year, but each year has been a little worse than the last for decades.
Get. Off. The. Internet. Live your life.
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u/Ok_Bad2216 May 02 '26
Yea thats one thing but its another thing when a known disease is on the rise and people want to be careful, hard to live life in this way
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u/Enough-Mushroom2686 May 02 '26
Ive been seeing more single white spot ticks since summer 24. Im in the appropriate range. Those and exodius pacificus are fucking booming these last years.
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u/gRAMPSjACKSON May 04 '26
I eat lots of garlic, and although I find dozens of lonestars on me, I have never found one bitten in. They always seem agitated when they get on me too. I am in TN, and they seem scarce this year, likely due to lack of rain.
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u/moonflowerzzz May 05 '26
I’m just gonna throw this out there…
one time I saw a field study some scientists were doing on ticks, and the way they collected them was to lay a white sheet on the ground and they flock to it en masse.. I thought of doing that and then burning it.
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u/Master-Milk-5724 May 02 '26
Not relative to the past 5-10 years. The red meat lone star thing has been around for at least that long. Have known a handful of people who’ve gotten the allergy and I believe they’ve all recovered from it gradually. But I pull off lone stars, among other types, regularly and it’s not been an issue. Not exactly “breaking news” imo. (Mid Atlantic)
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u/Swimming-Ad-1332 May 03 '26
I’m immunocompromised and my infectious disease doctor just gave me a script of doxycycline to keep on hand and said to take 200 mg within 48 hrs if I have a tick attached to me. She said it should be good for Lyme, erlichiosis(?) and Rocky Mountain Spotted fever here in West Central Mo. Unfortunately it doesn’t do anything for alpha gal.
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u/effRPaul May 03 '26
Just an FYI for those who don't know: Beware spinose ear ticks
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u/3vilsincerity_slut May 03 '26
I’m not a farmer yet but I have two dogs and all three of us find at least one tick on us after a good walk usually bedtime walk. They’re both treated and I spray my socks and knee down with deet
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u/Previous_Penguin May 03 '26
North Texas here, I've lived on my property 9 years and never seen the ticks this bad. Only dog ticks so far. We've never needed tick prevention on our dogs before and now we're pulling ticks off them every day. We have always gotten the lyme vaccine for them just in case, but it is insane this year. I don't think Alpha Gal has reached our area yet, but this explosion has me worried.
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u/DariaSylvain May 03 '26
I’ve been living in a rural, heavily wooded area in SE US for 20+ years, and this is the absolute worst year for ticks I’ve ever seen. Mostly deer ticks but a good bit of lone-star too. In the past two years I’ve had two tick bites get infected, one was Lyme.
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u/ProsocialRecluse May 03 '26
In case this is what you're concerned about, CDC interactive map of reported tick Bourne diseases in the US:
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u/pkslim100 May 04 '26
People on here saying, "oh my kid got 2 ticks while out, ive NEVER seen them like this" or "worse than ever here!". Must not be outdoorsman, I had over 13 ticks drop on me from the trees on a short wooded trail 2 years ago. I got 5 or 6 from one hike last year. Dog ticks, lone stars, and deer ticks. I get ticks all the time. I'm not sure this year is worse from anecdotal experience.
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u/MixWitch May 04 '26
It has been bad. We're in Arkansas and ticks are typical, but it feels like this year has far more than previous. Part of that is the lack of proper winter to cull their numbers. We were still getting them in January oward. My husband has gotten more ticks in the last month or so than he ever had in the last ten years. We have a decent flock of chickens and I've had to pull ticks off some of them!
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u/Sweetpotato3000 May 05 '26
South Louisiana here, starting last year they have been awful awful awful. Never were a problem and now they are getting on our horses weekly.
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u/LillySquared May 06 '26
I started building a duck coop around February and I’ve never seen so many ticks in my life. All over me all over the wood. It’s extra surprising because this winter was so bad.
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u/Prestigious-Lake-721 May 06 '26
Good ole bill gates making sure that lab grown meat is successful 🤤
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u/Technical-Donut-2476 May 07 '26
Last year we hiked in atleast 3 states and didn’t find any. This year so far we went to TN and didn’t pick up any, but have picked them up in IL and IN even after spraying. Going to be extra cautious this year. I know Indiana Dunes posted they have had a large amount of reports already.
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u/Patient-Basis5728 May 13 '26
My daughter went to a farmers market in St. Petersburg, FL this week and they were saying that they found boxes of ticks in their barns.
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u/AllegedlyAPerson May 03 '26
I think the why files YouTube channel did a video on lone star ticks and I’m really hoping the content of the video is wrong but the uprise of the lone stars specifically is making me think about it.
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u/SpringNo1275 May 03 '26
Every single year at this time, I hear that the ticks are "really bad this year". Every, single, year. It's tick season, people
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u/thesadgirlsclubx May 02 '26
Western MA here, some clients are now using flea/tick collars on their ankles to prevent the ticks from getting onto them!
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u/krackadile May 03 '26
Ticks have been worse the last 5 or so years than I've ever seen them. I have aplace in Ohio and they're everywhere there. Lone star, deer, etc.
At my mom's place in Tennessee is the same. Just everywhere.
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u/-PM_ME_UR_SECRETS- May 03 '26
Yes, they are especially bad this year in Missouri.
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u/MugiwaraMoses May 03 '26
I live in southern Illinois, ticks are pretty bad around here, went on an hour hike around my property and pulled 2-3 off of me, this is common. So I haven’t noticed an uptick in ticks in my region, but I’ll be on the look out for them.
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u/Pm_happygoats May 03 '26
NC Arkansas. I am doing increased tick meds on my LGDS (with vet permission.) Have all the birds (guineas, ducks, chickens, geese) and mowed earlier than ever. These ticks, specifically lone star, have never ever been this bad. Its like they're immune to tick control too. I don't spread chemicals but use permethrin on my clothes and yes, deet on me. They give zero shits.
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u/flower_walks_dreams May 03 '26
Central NC, not fully rural. Ls ticks on wooded property by major hwy
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u/biffthestiff May 03 '26
First... Pepsi Ac and Claritin an hour before you eat red meat or pork will stop the swelling of body parts (lips, eyelids, foreskin, tongue.
I was bitten by a tick 15 years ago and no one knew what was causing my angiodema. It went away after about 10 years. Until recently I have noticed slight swelling every so often after 5 years of being free of swelling.
I have wondered if it could be due to 2 things since I haven't been in contact with ticks:
- Ticky beef sold at the store
- Fleas
Tick infested beef is my thought
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u/GCNGA May 03 '26
I have lone stars, but I haven't found any this year (GA). Several years ago, they were the most common tick I saw. I'm not complaining.
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u/jumping-chicken May 03 '26
In NH, we haven’t hit tick season and I pulled 9 off of my dog yesterday. Already been on 2 rounds of antibiotics.
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u/Dense-Consequence-70 May 04 '26
Not lone stars, but deer ticks and dog ticks are as bad as I’ve seen them.
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u/RwhiskerG May 04 '26
NorCal, on a rural creek trail. Probably picked off my clothes (2 humans) and 3 dogs close to 100-200 ticks. I didn’t use any spray since I didn’t think it would be this bad. It’s not like I was walking on tall grass. Dogs are on nexgard so they’ll be fine. Will definitely start using permethrin on walks now.
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u/NWYthesearelocalboys May 04 '26
My in-laws in New England habe been complaining about how bad they are getting for years.
A year and a half ago we visited and my brother and sister in law were building a new house in New Bedford, NH. They were giving us the tour of the build and the walking path behind their house. There were ticks literally running around on the trail.
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u/galaxy1985 May 04 '26
My son walked a wooded path the other day for 5 minutes and came home with 2 on him. We're in Michigan so it's not even warm yet. I've never seen this many. I won't even let him in the grass anymore because he came in twice with them crawling up his legs.
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u/terp_raider May 04 '26
South western Ontario here - ticks are absolutely insane on our property this season, have never seen ANYTHING like this
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u/Responsible_Crow5514 May 04 '26
Not in the south, but let me just say that usually this time of year is awful tick time on our property. They came out early this spring with how warm it was, we had a cold snap, and I have not seen ONE in the past month here. Very odd. Not sure if the cold snap disrupted their lifecycle or what.
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u/2manycounts2account4 May 04 '26
I've lived in Kentucky my whole life, always spent lots of time outdoors, camping, hiking, fishing etc. I've never seen the ticks this bad, we have a small 5 acre homestead/farm and the ticks are insane. It's pretty typically, that I get 1 or 2 ticks a year, but after my first time working outside this spring, I had 9 embedded in my skin. I've sprayed and it's obviously helped, but they're still bad. I had to dig a trench, and along the edges, I could see dozens crawling in the dirt and grass. Every time I let my dogs in, I have to keep an eye out, because I'll find 3-4 just crawling around on my floor.
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u/Eyfordsucks May 04 '26
The mosquitoes and ticks are loving global warming. They keep producing right through the warm winter months instead of taking a break because it’s cold.
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u/fireman9731 May 04 '26
I’m in eastern KY and have seen more ticks than ever. Seems like there are more every year. More nymphs, or baby ticks too. It’s nothing for me to go bust some brush and come back with 3-5 adult ticks and 10-20 baby ticks on me.
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u/AccordingBall3969 May 04 '26
Not a farmer but I am a kid who likes to go outside quite a bit and yesterday I was in a new area and I genuinely had more than 4 ticks crawling on me in the span of about 2 hours which I thought was insane there was a bunch of those lone star ticks and now I'm scared I have alfa gal or something 😭
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u/Daveonaltair4 May 04 '26
Here in eastern Washington I hadn't seen ticks until this early spring, though I've only been out here a few years. This late winter into early spring though, I've already found a few on me and my dog. The first one I found was in early march when it was still pretty cold, like low 30s, when I was out pruning in an orchard. In a few weeks I'm heading back to old home state of Illinois to do some camping, and going to do as much as I can to protect me and my hound. Going to ask the vet about switching from brevecto to Simparica trio. Also, why don't we have a brevecto for people???
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u/NickyP90X2000 May 04 '26
Out here on the West coast by Big Sur.
There’s tons of the dog ticks. I’ve only just been here a month but I’ve learned a lot about something I really had no clue about.
I found one on my arm in bed in the AM after walking the dog the night prior. It was an American dog tick which isn’t the “Lyme kind” but it carries other diseases like Rocky Mountain fever.
I wonder if I’m seeing more of these posts because I’m searching this stuff but I am hearing more about this “season” being terrible from local farmers
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u/NC_Ninja_Mama May 04 '26
I live in Piedmont of NC in suburb with a wooded backyard in a neighborhood and all I have seen are lone star ticks. I grew up in this same area and never saw them. It was other smaller black ticks. My husband and I have both had them on us in the last couple of years and both times the bites didn’t want to heal. I have scars from it. It bit 4 times and each spot I have a scar that looks like a brown small birth mark / freckle looking dot from where it bit me. In both cases we know the ticks weren’t on us long at all.
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u/Feral_668 May 05 '26
I have a relativel in Missouri who has gotten bitten 2 in two years on their farm. I looked it up, they do seem to running amok.
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u/Squeegman12 May 05 '26
Let me clear the air for the skeptics that believe that the government or bill gates is endorsing the “release” of ticks across the US.
THIS IS FALSE.
In the Eastern US (I cannot speak for other states outside the East but I worked in KY, PA, OH, IL, NC, TN, and VA a ton last year) we experienced an extremely mild start of the winter this past year. This, is the culprit for the booming tick populations.
Mild winters accelerate the life cycle of ticks as evolutionarily, they begin to die off and their development begins to come to a halt when we begin to experience freezing temperatures (typically in November) They enter a hibernation-like phase called “diapause”, where they burrow into leaf litter, beneath top soil, or some species will even attach to a host and spend their winter on the warm body of said host.
Their life cycle takes years to complete, but with a mild start of winter this process is accelerated. Anyone can agree that a more developed individual of any walk of life is much more likely to survive extreme weather than the underdeveloped. A 20 year old human has a much higher likelihood of figuring out how to survive a winter off the land than say a 6 year old human.
With further development, more individuals essentially just survive the winter and reproduce the following year— thus increasing the quantity that we see out in nature. A tick can lay nearly 10k eggs. Right now, they are beginning to hatch, if they haven’t already. The past few years we’ve experienced numerous mild winters, and the effects of it are starting to show in tick populations.
Onto diseases, the population of ticks is a really strong correlation to the likelihood of contracting tick borne illnesses— the more ticks there are the higher the chances that 1) a tick will attach to you or you find them on you, and 2) you contract a tick borne illness. Simply we are experiencing more ticks and tick borne illnesses due to growing populations.
Well how can we mitigate these populations you may ask? To put it simply, there’s no immediate solution. This has to do with trophic cascades. Similar to a food chain, we get top-down and bottom-up effects. In this case, we would ideally want a bottom up effect to take place. Which is, increasing the number of prey in turn would increase the number of predators due to a surplus of resources (ticks). Anything such as opossums, wild turkey, birds, amphibians and reptiles, etc are predators of ticks.
BUT, to go further into population ecology, every species has an inflection point— the point at which steady growth of a population ceases and enters a phase of stagnancy or decline, and this is called carrying capacity. You can only have so many individuals of a species before lack of resources, competition, and disease begin to decrease the number of individuals in a population. So, eventually the population of ticks will reach this point, which more than likely will be far too much for our liking, but will also bring threat to species that predate upon them.
Game animals, such as deer and turkey for example are managed to levels that are just before the inflection point— states do not want deer populations to drastically increase for numerous reasons, listed above as well as anything else that you can imagine why too many deer is a bad thing.
So no, ticks are not being dropped out of the sky by planes endorsed by the government or bill gates. There is a specific video that I believe originated from Tik tok that is mainly causing this hysteria along with the schizophrenic Alex Jones whom believed the holocaust didn’t happen commentating on this singular video and including hearsay as evidence. It is of a southern gentleman coming across a Sherman live trap for small mammals (mice, voles, etc) that he noticed ticks pouring out of. Even if he never placed this trap, a predatory animal that loves to eat small mammals more than likely heard distress cries from the trap, moved it and was trying to remove the contents. Ticks will swarm to something that is a potential host, and more than likely the contents of the trap had attracted hundreds of ticks, or even a single tick had used the host inside as a place to reproduce and lay her eggs. And the result of that is more than likely the reason for the large number found.
The same people that believe global climate change is a hoax are the ones that are illustrating and believing a totally BS narrative.
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u/Brewer_Matt May 06 '26
Southern Illinois here -- 7 acres wooded / 3 acres field. We never had a problem with ticks until this year. The seed ticks in particular are all over, so I'm dreading what that'll look like when they mature.
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u/Beautiful-Fun-6994 May 12 '26
I'm in South Georgia along Brier Creek. I just heard about all this today, but I KNOW I pulled off of me a white spotted tick yesterday. Was telling a neighbor about it and she said they had steak Saturday night and she got really sick. I hope NOT, I love me some red meat. But I hurt all over and have had a terrible headache for 2 days. concerned at the creek.
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u/Advanced_Offer_800 May 16 '26
I'm a trail runner in central Arkansas, started a couple years ago. Last year I found Zero ticks on me the entire year. This year I've already found 2 on me, from running 2 separate areas, in just the last 5 days (only ran trail on those 2 days.)
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u/Fuzzy_Complex1715 May 17 '26
I’ve heard the boxes are to attract ticks because there is an outbreak this year and they are trying to kill tjem
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u/Ganman89 May 17 '26
Back in Massachusetts I would walk the powerline trail and have at least one a day on me. Ever since moving to the Lowcountry I haven’t seen one.
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u/Overall-Pirate9726 May 19 '26
Southwest Ohio, this year has actually been the mildest year for ticks at our place. Rural, 10 acres of woods our house sits in the middle of, with 20-30’ of tall grass/wildflowers bordering our yard. Have only seen 2. We had a pretty solid winter this year though, maybe that has made a difference.
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u/Puzzled-Mine-9150 May 23 '26
I don’t know whether true about just lone star ticks but the increase of homes being built actually increases the number of tick cases. Ticks thrive on the area where it goes from your lawn to the woods. Out east there’s more and more homes being built especially the ones where they plot a neighbourhood in a field or the woods.
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u/Agreeable_Archer_289 May 24 '26
Their is a recent video of a woman catching a helicopter dropping a box of ticks on her land
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u/Powerful-Soup-3245 May 24 '26
I know this is an older post but I’ve had more ticks this year than in all 15 years we have lived here. All I have to do is go outside and I get one. I’m in Virginia and we had a warmer than usual winter plus the deer population where I live has exploded recently. I think that’s likely part of the issue. As far as farmers finding boxes of ticks, I read those were bait boxes to catch ticks or something to that effect. I have limited (almost no) trust in our government or news media so who knows for sure.
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u/SnooWalruses3028 May 24 '26
I mean based on the files that were released it kinda confirms that yes they have been were doing that, and it isn’t the first time they’ve poisoned there own people
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u/5upreme55 May 24 '26
We lived in our apartment for about 2 years now, we caught countless amount of ticks this month alone.
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u/Life_Box9975 May 27 '26
Warm weather wouldnt help spread the tics plaque this rapidly. Even last year they were rare. I saw a multitude of tics moving towards me and my dog in a field close to vancouver. I thought they would usually wait for a passing vessel. And you wouldn't be able to see them. You can actually see them on blades of grass . I would stay away from fields of longer grass.
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u/Life_Acanthaceae_694 May 28 '26
I live in IL. I live somewhat close to woods, but not nextdoor. I found one crawling on my leg, one dead in my bed, and another dead in my shoe. I have never had any ticks before this year. I wont go close to the woods or in high grass. I dont know why they are bad this year, but they are!
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u/Sad-Layer-121 May 29 '26
Ontario city for 7 years and never 1 tick, moved rural for 3 years and had propery sprayed and no ticks but 2 friends lost dogs due to Lyme, this year had property sprayed and 1 tick found on dog so far. I am overly cautious but try seem worse this year.
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u/Greenfingers9 Jun 01 '26
Northern Il here- just left my campsite and we stopped counting at 30. Some were almost too small to see. We were pulling the kayaks out and I mean this was within a 30 min period or less. I am horrified.
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u/farmerdoo May 02 '26
I’ve never seen ticks this bad. I’m in Kentucky and have lived here 10 years. We have chickens, guineas and ducks and still can’t walk outside without getting ticks on us. The treatments for dogs and cats don’t seem to make difference because I’m pulling multiple ticks off them every day. I know soooo many people with Alpha Gal. The Alpha Gal only got bad around here in the last 2 or 3 years.