Blacklegged ticks remain active in Sask. during fall months

Colder temperatures may have gotten rid of most of the creepy crawlers, but some are still standing their ground.

Blacklegged ticks are rare in Saskatchewan, but they do remain active throughout the fall and tend to reside in tall grass, brush, and wooded areas. Professor Emily Jenkins says the ticks that are still active this time of year should not be dismissed.

“There are some ticks still out there, and what we know is that the ticks that are out there are not the kinds of ticks that we want on us or our pets,” said Jenkins.

She explained a majority of the ticks found in Saskatchewan are the American Dog tick, but there are others to keep an eye out for.

“We also have a lot of migratory birds who bring up ticks from other places, and the ticks that we were really excited about are called blacklegged ticks, or Ixodes Scapularis, and we always get a few every year,” said Jenkins. “In fact, this year we had a pretty exciting finding; we found the first blacklegged tick by dragging in the history of Saskatchewan.”

Drag sampling is the active surveillance method used to locate and identify ticks by dragging a white flannel cloth over and around vegetation where ticks may be present. Jenkins said if you find ticks in the fall, they are most likely blacklegged ticks.

“If you’re getting a tick on you or picking a tick off your dog right now, you’re not going to find a lot of them, but if you do find one, it’s far more likely to be the blacklegged tick,” said Jenkins.

“Just a warning to people: (Those ticks) are much smaller than those big honking brown ticks that we get on us in May and June. These guys are much smaller, and so you need a bit more of a different search image for your tick check.”

Some precautionary steps people can take to avoid ticks are: Wearing light-coloured clothes so ticks can be easily seen; wearing pants, long-sleeved shirts, and shoes that don’t expose your feet; pulling your socks over your pant legs to prevent ticks from crawling up your legs; using insect repellents that contain DEET or icardin; showering or bathing as soon as possible after being outside to wash off loose ticks; inspecting for attached ticks; and doing “full body” tick checks after being outside on yourself, your children, and your pets.

If you happen to find a tick that has already attached itself to your skin or pet, you can carefully remove it with fine-tipped tweezers by grasping the mouth parts of the tick as close to the skin as possible and pulling slowly upward and out with a firm, steady pressure. Be careful not to squeeze, crush, or puncture the body after removal, as it may contain infectious fluids.

People are advised not to use noxious substances on an attached tick such as Vaseline and gasoline, as this could cause the tick to regurgitate, possibly increasing the chances of catching a tick-borne disease.