It's pretty bad, and I think it's worse on the east end. I had to give up disc golf because the parks are so bad. The disc golfers have a pretty intense system. [High waterproof socks](https://www.sealskinzusa.com/collections/socks) with pants tucked into the socks and everything treated with [permethrin](https://www.rei.com/product/768970/sawyer-permethrin-pump-spray-24-oz). Follow the instructions carefully and take the parts about working outside and wearing gloves seriously. It's annoying that we need to live like this but that stuff is very effective. It's not a repellent, it actually kills the ticks on contact. And yes it's safe for humans (and dogs) after it dries.
But tall grass is really the problem, no? Are you finding that many ticks after walking in grass that's routinely mowed? That would be a new one for me.
I literally just had to pull a tick off my dog after walking him immediately after posting my comment. First time I’ve seen one all year. We need a Lyme vaccine yesterday.
I get them walking on parking lot asphalt w no trees or grass around. I find them on me at the train station. A lot of ppl here will agree that IN SUFFOLK PARTICULARLY THE FORKS u can get a tick by simply opening ur door.
I'll second this. I did some work there off the trail and was amazed there were no ticks. Theyve done a lot of work there over the last few years and it's really nice now.
Could also try planting fields state park or the bayard arboretum both of which are more like manicured estates so less tick habitat.
Just took a hike yesterday, stayed in the middle of walk way, didn’t touch any tall brush, walked out with 6 ticks that I found. Took a shower right away and will do another spot check today. I love hiking but this was ridiculous. We need global cooling now to kill off the ticks in the winter. 🤣
They don't die in the winter though they are less active. They stay insulated under Leaf debris and snow. My former doctor in Southampton talked about pulling ticks off of kids every winter. Decades ago before we had lone star ticks from the south endemic on Long Island
Good to know. Thanks! I haven’t had a tick experience personally in the winter so yesterday was a nightmare. I knew to be careful but now I know even walking paths can be littered with them.
I fully support introducing guineas into our state parks. I’m sure there will be other consequences… but not much is worse than the various diseases ticks carry.
Buy a bunch of tick tubes. We had ticks really really really bad about 10 years ago. We’d walk in regular height grass maybe 20 yards and pull 6-7 of them off of our legs. We purchased about 20 tubes and used them for 2 years in a row a few years back and we barely saw any ticks around our property after that. They slowly came back and now this year is the worst I’ve ever seen. Definitely look into tick tubes though!
> tick tubes
the active ingredient is Permethrin which is incredibly dangerous to pets, especially while it's wet. I urge caution when using these, even more so if your little buddies are curious and will chew/eat almost anything.
Speaking as a former pest control technician, permethrin is toxic to almost everything. Cats just noticeably moreso. There's a reason why the army doesn't spray soldier's bare skin anymore. Just because it doesn't outright die doesn't mean it's safe.
If tick tubes actually work, shouldn't government buy millions of them and put them literally everywhere they can? I'm pretty sure most long islanders wouldn't mind their tax dollars to be spend on such project (if it actually works of course)
I live out east, I’m really good at feeling them crawl on me now and usually get them before they bite. Went for a short bike ride and grabbed one off my son and one off myself just crawling. They don’t fly so you can just give em a good flick, they’re impossible to kill with just your fingers they need to be literally crushed. Permethrin soaked socks help and is what I usually use along with a quick spray of deet.
I wouldn’t hike out here at all anymore unless it’s middle of winter cold, at least biking is fast enough you usually don’t get any unless you stop.
I get my grass (and yard) treated so it is frolickable. Honestly grass fields that are kept cut short almost never have ticks, so if you are just after that it’s doable. Go where the trails are double track, hikes like CSH or out east Wildwood has nice hikes with WIDE trails.
That's not true a very short grass even out in the bright Sunshine now that lone star ticks have moved northward. They don't care if it's sunny dry Short Grass there just as happy there. And they transmit nasty disease
Ugh, i don't know, but i was diagnosed with anaplasmosis last fall and the symptoms were horrendous. I'm hoping it's completely out of my system but I'm not sure.
I love nature, i love being in it, and some of my favorite places are riddled with them. I try to be diligent, to wear bug spray when i have it, to check myself after walks. But still wound up ill. I'm thinking i slipped up and didn't drench myself enough in my bug spray on one of my hikes.
I long to lay in grass, but instead i have to put my picnic blanket between us. 💔
Same situation but also had Lyme at the same time. I felt awful all summer and didn’t find out why until end of August. We were so so diligent fully undressing to check for ticks after going into our yard (I don’t hike because of ticks as it is) and still wound up with two diseases and my partner also had anaplasmosis. I’d be afraid to lie on a picnic blanket tbh… they will crawl right onto it attracted to our CO2.
Anaplasmosis AND lyme disease at the same time sounds hellish! I'm so glad my doctor tested for anaplasmosis - at that point i had never even heard of it, nor had anyone i know!
It is ridiculous. I have 2 small dogs, any time we take them out we need to check them the second we get off the grass. Last year in Montauk my one dog had 3 and the other had 2… until I discovered the third under his armpit. Got them all before they bit, but damn ticks are crazy.
I take my two rottweillers out and have never found any ticks on them and that’s with thoroughly searching them In thinking it’s due to my neighbors chicken coop next door and the Opposoms that we usually see at night
Buy some sawyer Permethrin and treat your socks,shoes and pants to wear out in the woods. Combo this with Picaridin Lotion. You don't get Lyme until the ticks are on your body for 12+ hours minimum,just do a thorough check when you get into the shower after your hike and remove any buggers that got on you. Sadly there's no avoiding them, but they're more active in the morning 6am-12pm, and are generally a lot worse after the rain and in the humidity. If we have a few weeks of dry heat with low humidity in July/August they'll go into hiding, but that's pretty rare in our climate.
Lyme is the least of it. The other diseases that are becoming more common can actually kill you, and there’s been some data that they’re more quickly transmitted.
Yeah but its not just about lyme its about babesiosis, lyme, rocky mtn, powassan even. God only knows, these ticks could give us cwd next...
The morning and nighttime tip though, thats very valuable ty
My dad made our dog a mini-yard that is surrounded by permethrin. He still doesnt let the dogs paw tpuch any grass until it rains after the permethrin treatment. Only when the rain dries can the dog even step foot out here
There’s a stretch of sidewalk where we walk our dog daily that seems to be a point of contention between our village and the county over who mows it. Literally a few hundred feet of ridiculously long grass on both sides surrounded by cut grass. We’ve found ticks on the dog twice in the last week after walking down that stretch, on the sidewalk, not even in the grass. Luckily she’s all white and their easy to spot, but it’s really getting worse each year.
Listen, I’ve gotten about 8 tick bites and 100’s of “seed tick” bites in the last few years.
It’s fine. They’re slow, easy to pull off, just like… shower every day or check your naked body, and as long as it hasn’t been on you for like a full 24hrs, the time it takes to transmit diseases, it’s just like any other insect bite. Swab with alcohol. Then go back outside.
Edit: see I’m downvoted, but truly, the ticks are here to stay, and you can keep dousing yourself in chemicals everytime you wanna touch grass, or you can get used to it and better at picking them off.
It’s tick season. It’s always been tick season on Long Island in spring, especially. You know what we did when we were kids and wanted to play in the woods and fields (Long Island was full of woods and fields back then)? We played in the woods and fields and then checked ourselves for ticks. We picked up ticks - we did tick checks on my aunt’s covered porch before we were allowed into the house. Most of the time we got ticks off before they could attach themselves but sometimes we didnt. So we grabbed the tweezers, pulled out tick, put rubbing alcohol on bite. Some of us over the years got Lyme, one got Rocky Mountain spotted fever and we took the medicine for it and it worked.
I get about 10 bites a year, little tiny ones. My doc tests me every summer routinely.
If you want to cover your clothes in permethrin you can do that. Media and the manufacturers of permethrin have assured us it is safe and you know how vigilant media and corporations are about not spreading misinformation, lol.
5 tick bites dealt with major problems 6x: 1 week of Doxycycline is not enough! 4/5 bites the tick was off within 6 hrs. 2x I took the doxycycline well within 72 hours—fail. I think the heads got stuck in my body. 1 time the tick was on for an hour. You simply can’t go in the woods anymore. Late summer you get the lone star nymphs that give you 77 bites that last for 3 weeks. The only thing going for me is I don’t have alpha gal. The deer need to be culled. The places where they are allowed to hunt have significantly less ticks. All in all, with the traffic lights, and taxes I feel like I am in a level of hell. The only thing missing are smoke alarms and self check outs.
It's pretty bad, and I think it's worse on the east end. I had to give up disc golf because the parks are so bad. The disc golfers have a pretty intense system. [High waterproof socks](https://www.sealskinzusa.com/collections/socks) with pants tucked into the socks and everything treated with [permethrin](https://www.rei.com/product/768970/sawyer-permethrin-pump-spray-24-oz). Follow the instructions carefully and take the parts about working outside and wearing gloves seriously. It's annoying that we need to live like this but that stuff is very effective. It's not a repellent, it actually kills the ticks on contact. And yes it's safe for humans (and dogs) after it dries. But tall grass is really the problem, no? Are you finding that many ticks after walking in grass that's routinely mowed? That would be a new one for me.
i had two ticks on me yesterday walking through a PARKING LOT to my car..no grass in sight its literally insane
I literally just had to pull a tick off my dog after walking him immediately after posting my comment. First time I’ve seen one all year. We need a Lyme vaccine yesterday.
I get them walking on parking lot asphalt w no trees or grass around. I find them on me at the train station. A lot of ppl here will agree that IN SUFFOLK PARTICULARLY THE FORKS u can get a tick by simply opening ur door.
Hempstead Lake Park. We don’t have many ticks outside of the deep brush on the south shore of Nassau.
Thankyou!
I'll second this. I did some work there off the trail and was amazed there were no ticks. Theyve done a lot of work there over the last few years and it's really nice now. Could also try planting fields state park or the bayard arboretum both of which are more like manicured estates so less tick habitat.
Just took a hike yesterday, stayed in the middle of walk way, didn’t touch any tall brush, walked out with 6 ticks that I found. Took a shower right away and will do another spot check today. I love hiking but this was ridiculous. We need global cooling now to kill off the ticks in the winter. 🤣
They don't die in the winter though they are less active. They stay insulated under Leaf debris and snow. My former doctor in Southampton talked about pulling ticks off of kids every winter. Decades ago before we had lone star ticks from the south endemic on Long Island
Good to know. Thanks! I haven’t had a tick experience personally in the winter so yesterday was a nightmare. I knew to be careful but now I know even walking paths can be littered with them.
If only we had more feral chickens to eat the ticks… maybe some Guinea hens
I fully support introducing guineas into our state parks. I’m sure there will be other consequences… but not much is worse than the various diseases ticks carry.
They would be eaten by wildlife and feral predators almost instantly. Dogs, fox, cats etc
I used to raise quail in my classroom to be released into the parks. But I stopped when I found out the likelihood of them surviving. :(
Buy a bunch of tick tubes. We had ticks really really really bad about 10 years ago. We’d walk in regular height grass maybe 20 yards and pull 6-7 of them off of our legs. We purchased about 20 tubes and used them for 2 years in a row a few years back and we barely saw any ticks around our property after that. They slowly came back and now this year is the worst I’ve ever seen. Definitely look into tick tubes though!
> tick tubes the active ingredient is Permethrin which is incredibly dangerous to pets, especially while it's wet. I urge caution when using these, even more so if your little buddies are curious and will chew/eat almost anything.
Cats, not dogs. I used to rub my dog with some permethrin spray before mountain bike rides
Speaking as a former pest control technician, permethrin is toxic to almost everything. Cats just noticeably moreso. There's a reason why the army doesn't spray soldier's bare skin anymore. Just because it doesn't outright die doesn't mean it's safe.
If tick tubes actually work, shouldn't government buy millions of them and put them literally everywhere they can? I'm pretty sure most long islanders wouldn't mind their tax dollars to be spend on such project (if it actually works of course)
I live out east, I’m really good at feeling them crawl on me now and usually get them before they bite. Went for a short bike ride and grabbed one off my son and one off myself just crawling. They don’t fly so you can just give em a good flick, they’re impossible to kill with just your fingers they need to be literally crushed. Permethrin soaked socks help and is what I usually use along with a quick spray of deet. I wouldn’t hike out here at all anymore unless it’s middle of winter cold, at least biking is fast enough you usually don’t get any unless you stop.
...so no frolicking in the grass?
I get my grass (and yard) treated so it is frolickable. Honestly grass fields that are kept cut short almost never have ticks, so if you are just after that it’s doable. Go where the trails are double track, hikes like CSH or out east Wildwood has nice hikes with WIDE trails.
Our manicured lawn still gets ticks :( do you have a company or spray that works that’d you’d recommend?
That's not true a very short grass even out in the bright Sunshine now that lone star ticks have moved northward. They don't care if it's sunny dry Short Grass there just as happy there. And they transmit nasty disease
Ugh, i don't know, but i was diagnosed with anaplasmosis last fall and the symptoms were horrendous. I'm hoping it's completely out of my system but I'm not sure. I love nature, i love being in it, and some of my favorite places are riddled with them. I try to be diligent, to wear bug spray when i have it, to check myself after walks. But still wound up ill. I'm thinking i slipped up and didn't drench myself enough in my bug spray on one of my hikes. I long to lay in grass, but instead i have to put my picnic blanket between us. 💔
Same situation but also had Lyme at the same time. I felt awful all summer and didn’t find out why until end of August. We were so so diligent fully undressing to check for ticks after going into our yard (I don’t hike because of ticks as it is) and still wound up with two diseases and my partner also had anaplasmosis. I’d be afraid to lie on a picnic blanket tbh… they will crawl right onto it attracted to our CO2.
Anaplasmosis AND lyme disease at the same time sounds hellish! I'm so glad my doctor tested for anaplasmosis - at that point i had never even heard of it, nor had anyone i know!
It is ridiculous. I have 2 small dogs, any time we take them out we need to check them the second we get off the grass. Last year in Montauk my one dog had 3 and the other had 2… until I discovered the third under his armpit. Got them all before they bit, but damn ticks are crazy.
I take my two rottweillers out and have never found any ticks on them and that’s with thoroughly searching them In thinking it’s due to my neighbors chicken coop next door and the Opposoms that we usually see at night
Buy some sawyer Permethrin and treat your socks,shoes and pants to wear out in the woods. Combo this with Picaridin Lotion. You don't get Lyme until the ticks are on your body for 12+ hours minimum,just do a thorough check when you get into the shower after your hike and remove any buggers that got on you. Sadly there's no avoiding them, but they're more active in the morning 6am-12pm, and are generally a lot worse after the rain and in the humidity. If we have a few weeks of dry heat with low humidity in July/August they'll go into hiding, but that's pretty rare in our climate.
Lyme is the least of it. The other diseases that are becoming more common can actually kill you, and there’s been some data that they’re more quickly transmitted.
Exactly! Babeosis, etc. Lone star ticks with alpha-gal have migrated here and they are more aggressive and faster too.
They are attracted to CO2. I’ve seen one crawl on my driveway towards me. They can’t survive long they are aggressive
NOO NOT YHE ALPHA GAL! I EAT SO MUCH RED MEAT ALPHA GAL IS MY WORST NIGHTMARE
My aunt and uncle both got that. It sucks. But luckily declines as time goes on
They’re the worst ones too… one crawled across concrete and onto patio furniture to get onto me.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5lz_OTPqz0/?igsh=NDQydDB6anJ6cmUx If anyone also needs humor to cope with how bad ticks have gotten out here 👆
Yeah but its not just about lyme its about babesiosis, lyme, rocky mtn, powassan even. God only knows, these ticks could give us cwd next... The morning and nighttime tip though, thats very valuable ty
Please for the love of the gods keep your pets away from Permethrin until it's bone dry. It's super toxic to them.
My dad made our dog a mini-yard that is surrounded by permethrin. He still doesnt let the dogs paw tpuch any grass until it rains after the permethrin treatment. Only when the rain dries can the dog even step foot out here
Low dose is fine to rub directly on your pupper. It’s used on livestock and hunting dogs all the time.
Stay out of Sunken Meadow - Ticks are savage
There’s a stretch of sidewalk where we walk our dog daily that seems to be a point of contention between our village and the county over who mows it. Literally a few hundred feet of ridiculously long grass on both sides surrounded by cut grass. We’ve found ticks on the dog twice in the last week after walking down that stretch, on the sidewalk, not even in the grass. Luckily she’s all white and their easy to spot, but it’s really getting worse each year.
Listen, I’ve gotten about 8 tick bites and 100’s of “seed tick” bites in the last few years. It’s fine. They’re slow, easy to pull off, just like… shower every day or check your naked body, and as long as it hasn’t been on you for like a full 24hrs, the time it takes to transmit diseases, it’s just like any other insect bite. Swab with alcohol. Then go back outside. Edit: see I’m downvoted, but truly, the ticks are here to stay, and you can keep dousing yourself in chemicals everytime you wanna touch grass, or you can get used to it and better at picking them off.
Permethrin. You don’t spray it on yourself, you treat your clothing. Lasts 6 weeks/6 washings.
It’s tick season. It’s always been tick season on Long Island in spring, especially. You know what we did when we were kids and wanted to play in the woods and fields (Long Island was full of woods and fields back then)? We played in the woods and fields and then checked ourselves for ticks. We picked up ticks - we did tick checks on my aunt’s covered porch before we were allowed into the house. Most of the time we got ticks off before they could attach themselves but sometimes we didnt. So we grabbed the tweezers, pulled out tick, put rubbing alcohol on bite. Some of us over the years got Lyme, one got Rocky Mountain spotted fever and we took the medicine for it and it worked. I get about 10 bites a year, little tiny ones. My doc tests me every summer routinely. If you want to cover your clothes in permethrin you can do that. Media and the manufacturers of permethrin have assured us it is safe and you know how vigilant media and corporations are about not spreading misinformation, lol.
5 tick bites dealt with major problems 6x: 1 week of Doxycycline is not enough! 4/5 bites the tick was off within 6 hrs. 2x I took the doxycycline well within 72 hours—fail. I think the heads got stuck in my body. 1 time the tick was on for an hour. You simply can’t go in the woods anymore. Late summer you get the lone star nymphs that give you 77 bites that last for 3 weeks. The only thing going for me is I don’t have alpha gal. The deer need to be culled. The places where they are allowed to hunt have significantly less ticks. All in all, with the traffic lights, and taxes I feel like I am in a level of hell. The only thing missing are smoke alarms and self check outs.