Keeping Ticks Off Your Florida Lawn

Have you been checking yourself and your pets for ticks lately? Your Florida lawn could be crawling with them right now as you read this. The cooling weather only causes these pests to become more active. They persistently seek out a warm host on which to feed. If you haven’t been checking, make sure you start now! This is one way to help avoid the occurrence of tick-borne illness.

Believe it or not, ticks are actually arachnids. These biting arachnids will find their meals on wildlife, household pets, and even on you. There are several types of ticks you may observe. The most common ticks seen in Florida are the American dog tick, and the black-legged tick (commonly known as the deer tick). 

Depending on the size and age of the tick, if left undisturbed, it may remain attached and feeding on its human host anywhere from 3 to 10 days. Surprising that they can get away with this for so long, isn’t it? Their bite has a unique numbing quality, helping them to go undetected. Tick bites are well known for spreading diseases. Lyme disease is the most recognized one and commonly spread by the black-legged (or deer) tick. Deer ticks can also spread babesiosis and anaplasmosis. Rocky Mountain spotted fever is another tick-borne disease that’s commonly spread by the dog tick.

With all this disease talk, it’s easy to become worried about ticks and their presence on your property. However, it can be encouraging to know that according to Science News only 5% of bites result in Lyme disease. If you notice a bite, or disease symptoms such as rash, fever, aches, etc., contact your doctor right away. It’s also helpful to know how to prevent tick bites and how to keep them off your lawn!

Prevention tips

• Keep your lawn mowed short. Tall grass allows ticks better access to drop onto people or pets passing by.
• Do your best to keep rodents, deer and other wildlife off your property by keeping trash sealed tightly and your yard clutter-free.
• The use of bug sprays such as DEET can repel ticks.
• Permethrin is an environmentally-friendly insecticidal compound produced by the chrysanthemum flower, so it’s natural and safe to use on people or pets, and is toxic to ticks. It biodegrades quickly once it touches soil or water, but spray down your shoes and it’ll protect you for weeks. This compound has been shown to dramatically reduce the likelihood of tick bites.
• Do full body checks once inside and wear light-colored clothing in order to easily spot tick activity on your clothes.

Since ticks can stay active much longer than we’d like them to here in Florida, it’s a good idea to get professional pest control on board. Let our experts at Keller’s Pest Control help take some stress off your hands by minimizing the tick population that could be infesting your yard. You want to enjoy your lawn, not be afraid of it. Contact Keller’s Pest Control today to get started! Our technicians are friendly and knowledgeable. There is no reason to worry about ticks any longer.