The following information is guaranteed to give Duckie the willies. Consider yourself warned.
Ok guys... so hear me out on this idea... LOL
I think I have found a "something worth trying" to lay out on ya.
You all remember my scarecrow garden scene a week or so ago, where I had been treating some work clothes with permethrin spray to kill and repel ticks/chiggers while we are out working in our woodsy yard. The next day, I found a regular ole wood tick on our rug, so I did a test run. I dropped it onto the cuff of the hoodie I had treated, and watched in glee as it succumbed to a grand mal seizure and died after contacting the cuff for approx 15 seconds. The stuff DOES work!
Well, in my research on "tick eradication/prevention" I also found a product that was researched by the Harvard School of Public Health, and approved as an effective and safe way to reduce the tick population around our home. It's the same chemical, permethrin, in a format that goes right to the source of the problem... rodents!
Meet "Tick Tubes" ROFL
These are literally just cardboard tubes, stuffed with cotton that has been treated with permethrin, that you place all around where mice and ground squirrels make nests. The rodents use the free fluffy bedding to nest in, and the permethrin does what it does. The ticks die, the rodents live happily ever after, and the cat and dog and humans here enjoy a reduction in tick numbers. It works over time, for sure, but it really seems too good to be true. Can't hurt anyhow, right?
Fear not, however, that I would spend good $ on these things. We've already invested in a gallon of that permethrin (one gallon was cheaper than two aerosol cans and goes much further). We have TP tubes just sitting here waiting to be recycled. We have a sprayer we can dedicate to the cause, and we have oodles and oodles of known mouse nest areas to boo -by trap.
All I need now is fluff. And I have a brand new, too-fat-for-my-specs body pillow I wanted to rip apart and unstuff a bit anyhow.
So, I'm gonna be making tick tubes of my own.
Bwa ha ha ha!
I'll let you know if I think it's made a difference. Remind me next April to let you know.
Deer mice are the main vector for Lyme disease-carrying "deer ticks"... Deer mice are just what we here call "field mice" or "outdoor mice". We have them in abundance here in the Tree House woods. We just have so many woodpiles. And that's where they live.
Worth a shot anyhow. We're sick of this threat to our health.
Duckie Warning!
The following information is guaranteed to give Duckie the willies. Consider yourself warned.
Ok guys... so hear me out on this idea... LOL
I think I have found a "something worth trying" to lay out on ya.
You all remember my scarecrow garden scene a week or so ago, where I had been treating some work clothes with permethrin spray to kill and repel ticks/chiggers while we are out working in our woodsy yard. The next day, I found a regular ole wood tick on our rug, so I did a test run. I dropped it onto the cuff of the hoodie I had treated, and watched in glee as it succumbed to a grand mal seizure and died after contacting the cuff for approx 15 seconds. The stuff DOES work!
Well, in my research on "tick eradication/prevention" I also found a product that was researched by the Harvard School of Public Health, and approved as an effective and safe way to reduce the tick population around our home. It's the same chemical, permethrin, in a format that goes right to the source of the problem... rodents!
Meet "Tick Tubes" ROFL
These are literally just cardboard tubes, stuffed with cotton that has been treated with permethrin, that you place all around where mice and ground squirrels make nests. The rodents use the free fluffy bedding to nest in, and the permethrin does what it does. The ticks die, the rodents live happily ever after, and the cat and dog and humans here enjoy a reduction in tick numbers. It works over time, for sure, but it really seems too good to be true. Can't hurt anyhow, right?
Fear not, however, that I would spend good $ on these things. We've already invested in a gallon of that permethrin (one gallon was cheaper than two aerosol cans and goes much further). We have TP tubes just sitting here waiting to be recycled. We have a sprayer we can dedicate to the cause, and we have oodles and oodles of known mouse nest areas to boo -by trap.
All I need now is fluff. And I have a brand new, too-fat-for-my-specs body pillow I wanted to rip apart and unstuff a bit anyhow.
So, I'm gonna be making tick tubes of my own.
Bwa ha ha ha!
I'll let you know if I think it's made a difference. Remind me next April to let you know.
Duckie Warning again...
P.S. From pest control articles I have been reading:
https://www.413pestfree.com/blog/post/common-deer-mice-carrying-lyme-disease-and-hantavirus-into-your-home
Deer mice are the main vector for Lyme disease-carrying "deer ticks"... Deer mice are just what we here call "field mice" or "outdoor mice". We have them in abundance here in the Tree House woods. We just have so many woodpiles. And that's where they live.
Worth a shot anyhow. We're sick of this threat to our health.
Ick. Just ick.