Saturday, Nov 1

Welcome to Your Daily Dot where Dot will share tips, advice, and stories on how we can make our world better.

With warmer winters, ticks are thriving … and continuing their steady march into formerly unwelcoming territory. And so we round out our Halloween week with this Dear Dot from the archives that gave Dot nightmares. 

Dear Dot,

Is there something I can put on my lawn that doesn’t harm wildlife, including my pets or grandchildren, but that deters ticks?

– Rose

Dear Rose,

I know I’m supposed to love all bugs because they play a part in the ecosystem and blah blah blah but c’mon … Ticks? Ugh. 

While most of us go out of our way to avoid ticks, Martha’s Vineyard and environs is ground zero for a lot of tick research and Island biologist Dick Johnson seeks them out. Johnson is the tick guy on the Island, spending his days hunting these tiny terrorists to better understand where they are and what they’re doing. The Lone Star nymphs (such a glorious name for such a nasty creature) are already out by early April. The deer tick nymphs emerge a bit later — mid to late May, says Johnson — and are especially dangerous because they’re so tiny at that stage that it’s hard to spot them. Be vigilant. If you, your kids and grandkids, or pets have been outside, follow up with a tick-check.

Because the deer tick nymphs are the size of poppy seeds, and like to nestle into our bodies’ warm humid crevices (armpits or groin, for example), Johnson recommends that we feel for them when we shower. If there’s a tiny bump that wasn’t there yesterday, it’s likely a tick nymph.

A tick “bite” is something of a misnomer, says Johnson. What ticks actually do sounds like something from a horror movie. 

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