A Level Red tick threat has been issued for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, including Monmouth County, New Jersey. In raising the summer tick threat to its highest level, the University of Rhode Island Tick Encounter Resource Center warned residents and vacationers to protect themselves and their pets from blood-feeding ticks and the diseases they spread.
Tick Population Explosion
Researchers monitoring tick populations are reporting twice as many ticks this year as last year. The heavy winter snows and wet spring have created perfect breeding and development conditions for New Jersey ticks.
Emerging from the nymphal stage over the next several weeks, hungry blood-feeding ticks will be trying to latch onto hosts to cadge a meal. Wild animals, birds and pets are common tick targets; but people who walk through a tick-infested area are at equal risk. Pets and pet begging can also expose families to ticks and the diseases they carry.
How Ticks Attack
Ticks typically inhabit grasslands at the edges of wooded areas. Climbing out onto the tips of grass blades, these parasites wait for passing animals. As an animal – or person – brushes past, ticks scurry onto its legs or body.
After crawling onto a host, this parasite climbs up toward the soft, exposed skin around the head, neck and ears where it inserts its feeding tube to feed on the blood of its host. If not disturbed, ticks may stay attached and feed for several hours to several days. During feeding, poppy seed-sized nymphs and apple seed-sized adults can more than double in size.
Protect your family from tick-borne diseases. Call the expert tick exterminators at Allison Pest Control today.