Art Lander’s Outdoors: Warm temps bring out ticks early, and these bloodsuckers don’t social distance

When temperatures spiked into the upper 70s in early April, grasses and clover hit a growth spurt, flowers bloomed and trees began to bud out.

Our early spring was welcomed during this mentally challenging time, but the fast warm-up brought ticks out a little earlier than normal. While doing yard work, bank fishing around ponds and streams, gardening, hunting wild turkeys or just taking the dog for a walk, be tick aware.

These bloodsuckers don’t practice social distancing.

A walk in the woods, or wading through chest-high dried grass and weeds at the wood’s edge, brushing up against low-hanging tree limbs or string trimming, is all it takes to pick up a tick.

Almost anywhere in rural Kentucky or along the suburban/rural interface where there are deer and high numbers of small mammals, ticks will be present.

Once they are on a host — human, a dog, or wildlife — ticks crawl around until they find a capillary close to the surface of the skin, painlessly pierce the skin and begin sucking blood.

Read the full article on Northern Kentucky Tribune's website here.