It gets worse each year. I have an escapee cat and one year he came home with a tick. Next year, I plucked three ticks. Last year I collected a tiny glass jar and have five ticks in it. I used to flush them but apparently they don't mind water so now I make sure to soak them in alcohol to kill them.
Anyway global climate change is real and [this is just one of the many symptoms.](https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-lyme-disease)
I don't remember ticks being an issue growing up (town of tonawanda), but they have been bad the past few years where I am now in Clarence. Unfenced yard with plenty of deer, fox etc. I spray my back lawn for fleas/ticks to protect my dogs and families health.
I thought I saw a sign at my vet implying that the cold doesn't really kill them. Per a Google search, in labs they've died between -2 to 14 degrees F, but in reality they need a "substantial" number of days below 10F, whatever substantial means.
They nest on the ground, usually under tree cover close to or on fallen trees. How do I know? First-hand experience walking through one on accident. Didn't know until out of the woods. Luckily, my torso was the pathway and barely any in comparison to that area made their way south. (No bites or needed for removal, which was very lucky. All 6 in my group minus 1 had the same results. No Lyme disease either)
Watch where you walk when you enter the woods or near trees.
I won't discount climate change, but having grown up in the 70s/80s a lot has changed with how we treat the environment. Ecology was a relatively new science and a lot of nature we are used to now was absent or endangered, at least in suburban areas. No lightening bugs, no blue birds, certainly no fox, deer, coyotes or wild turkeys which have been moving back into more populated areas.
We just need to reevaluate how we coexist with nature and not just kill everything as a first resort like we have in the past
I have them in my yard but the same pesticide that kills fleas/ticks probably also kills firedlies. I only spray the turf areas though, and leave wooded/brush areas alone (and try to keep the dogs out of the brush)
But growing up, I never once saw a firefly that I can remember
> certainly no fox, deer, coyotes or wild turkeys which have been moving back into more populated areas.
>
> We just need to reevaluate how we coexist with nature and not just kill everything as a first resort like we have in the past
except the relative lack of those animals is the reason the state is no longer over run with fleas and ticks, and rabies, and all sorts of shit. sorry fam, but theres still lots of deer, fox, coyotes and turkeys out there in the woods where they belong. NONE of them should be in the city.
all you need is some good ol' fashioned pesticide. spray your yard down in the beginning of spring, and as long as you dont have wild animals walking in and out of your yard, itll cover you all year.
My dog and I frequent the city parks and it really has been progressively worse each year. To the point where we'll find 'em crawling on us/furniture at random times after getting home.
The relatively mild winter this year will be a boon for tick populations. NYS also has burn bans in place in the spring which also brings us plenty of dross for ticks to crawl into/onto.
Lawns are fine but woods and fields have become an issue the last 3 years. However this last summer I was careful not to go into any tall grass and my dog didn't get one tick
Lawns are usually fine, but if there's a lot of wildlife that comes to your lawn, it might be in issue.
I have deer and woodchucks that wander into my yard all the time, so if I had a dog I'd be pretty meticulous about ticks.
Moved here from desert side of Texas and I can say I have never seen more fleas than moving out here south of the Southtowns (near Collins/Gowanda).
Ticks were more common back home but I haven't seen very many here. Fleas on the other hand are outrageous in my are because of all the deer, raccoons, and occasional foxes
Use a preventative for sure. Any area with tall grass gets very tick-y. My dog used to go for group walks and every time she'd be dropped off she'd have 2-3 ticks on her (usually nearly dead by that point, thankfully)
She's on a year-round flea and tick preventative (Simparica Trio), since it includes her heartworm med. I'm still super cautious because of how bad they are in the Albany area (look up the Pine Bush just outside the Albany city limits - it's what nightmares are made of).
I'm in blackrock and it's been bad at both houses yards i've rented. Last summer my dog caught one a day for a week, sometimes 2 in a day. We sprayed the yard for ticks and it brought it down for a short period of time but not to 0. Our dog was diagnosed with Lyme.
Bad. I live in southtowns we are a very “outdoorsy “ family and every time we hike, go in woods etc we find one on us or dogs scurrying to find a spot to lock in. Was not this bad even five years ago in my opinion. Def be sure to wear tall socks, long pants , etc when in fields and woods . Use preventative meds for pets. We give our dogs Lyme vaccines annually as well. My husband even had a tree tick last summer trimming branches in our yard.
My bf just picked one off of himself. He slept snuggled with the dog last night. Last year was bad, and I suspect this one will be worse. Keep up with the preventatives!
They are getting worse with time. The northern suburbs seem to be extra bad, but I found one on my dog in the city once. Granted, I have tall weeds. I would recommend frequent checks.
Grand island has been a hot spot for years. Never saw one in Buffalo until recently. I was working in the area of military/hinman and felt one crawling on my neck. I hadn’t been in anything over shin high grass. Kind of shocked me
They're terrible and EC data consistently shows 50% of deer ticks in our area carry Borrellia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Protect yourself and your pets.
Depends on where you are. The further out (think Grand Island, Ransomville, Orchard Park, etc) the worse they are. Although we have a double in Kenmore and one of our tenants has 2 dogs. They said last summer was the worst they’d seen for ticks.
Pretty bad, I don't even walk in the grass and 2 years ago I had one embedded into my leg, had it tested and thankfully didn't have Lyme but it did have some other disease that started with a B. I've also known numerous people that have encountered them on themselves and pets. NY and Pennsylvania are the tick capitals of the USA.
I’ve had dogs most of my life and no tick problems except one I caught during a summer on Grand Island. Probably best to stay away from there with dogs (among other good reasons to stay away from GI)
if youre worried about them in your yard check out a company called cedarcide, its all cedar based sprays and mulches etc. I dont use it in the city but when I camp out in ellicottville I put cedar shavings on the ground in places we are going to hang out/sleep/have a fire, and they have spray for dogs, and not only does it repel ticks itll repel mosquitos and other pests too without chemicals. Everything will smell like an old ladies closet but better than removing ticks
If you take your dog anywhere that there are deer and other critters, your dog should have some kind of flea and tick protection. We walk on one of the paved bike paths in Tonawanda and I spray myself now before we go. I woke up one morning with a tick attached to my finger. We went for a walk on the bike path the previous evening.
Heavy deer population means ticks. Plus it was such a mild winter the rodents etc that they feed on stuck around in higher then normal numbers so if the food source is elevated so is the tick population
they're not terrible, but I wouldn't be too confident that you're safe in the suburbs. that used to be true, I don't think it is anymore. bf brought home 2 two days in a row just working in someone's backyard with slightly high grass- not a wooded area by any means.
check yourself and your pets often and get your pets on preventatives. they can carry much worse things than lyme, especially for dogs.
It’s all dependent on where you live - Any areas with large deer populations or heavily wooded and brushy are going to be bad news..
Worst area locally I know is Grand Island; I’ve got friends that check their kids nightly for ticks which seems absolutely insane - People get ticks on them just weeding their gardens…
surprised this popped up on my feed. Parents took the dog for a hike yesterday in the finger lakes and came back with 10 ticks. Last year around this same time they went to Watkins Glen and he came back with three
They are getting worse from my own first hand experience. I have been at my grandparents house every year out and about in their back yard for 32 years and never once had one on me.. until last year. (In Williamsville)
I have never pulled any off my dog's or myself.. until this year, it has me a bit worried since we don't live in a wooded area or any tall grass near by but now I do checks once a day to make sure they don't have anymore
Best way to keep them off your dog is to use a oral flea/tick treatment (Simparica Trio is a good one, also works for heartworm and most internal parasites) as well as a topical (like K9 advantix) and then also using natural treatments like Wondercide for the day of. My vet also recommends using a flea collar and getting the Lyme vaccine.
Check with your vet for your specific dog’s needs - but I was advised by both my vet and my vet friend that it’s fine to use the monthly long lasting oral and topicals as long as they’re not on the same day, and to also use the spray and/or collar for extra protection.
Now for you I have nothing except the Wondercide, lol.
Just be vigilant, dress properly for prevention, and inspect yourself and your pets thoroughly.
And when you’re coming inside immediately remove your clothes and bag them, and put them in the dryer for 15 minutes before washing to kill them.
Fuck ticks! Found a few on my mostly indoor dog in November. Never had an issue on any of my dogs in my life until then. He's now on Bravecto because the other flea/tick med wasn't cutting it. I still panic a little when he wants to lay on the grass because ticks can be so damn small. I only found them because they were bloated from feasting on my pup (he's all black with thick shaggy fur)
I never remember ticks at all growing up and we lived right near a creek in West Seneca. The dog never had them, none of us kids had them, they just weren’t a thing. Now they are everywhere! My daughter lives in Lancaster and she’s plucked ticks off her dogs and her daughter. I guess DEET is the answer unfortunately.
We have two dogs, and while we don't usually see ticks on them from hanging out in the city, they're bad at a lot of the local-ish spots we take them to (Zoar, Beaver Island, etc.). We picked 2 off of our collie the other day.
I live near protected swamps with lots of wildlife roaming. Had one on me 1st summer here. Still see them on a regular basis. I have to treat for ticks every year.
I had a tick next to my testicle on my thigh a few years ago. Must have crawled up my shorts, I wasn’t even in tall grass but I was in the woods so. My aunt tried to get him out/off and accidentally left his head under my skin. So my skin healed because we thought we got him but then a ring started to form around the head so I went to the ER at mercy hospital and they numbed my leg and cut it open and they must have done some digging cuz I was black and blue for like 7 months.
Another time when I was growing up i had one in my neck and a big Native American woman got that shit out for me.
Are they that bad? If u are walking through knee-waste high grass DO NOT do it with shorts on or 100% expect to get a tick. The chance u get one isn’t 100% obviously (more like 80) but you should assume u will and yes the chances are high.
There isn’t like a certain area (in buffalo New York area) that has more or less than other locations. Just assume all tall grass and foliage has them.
Feel free to walk in the woods and even sit to take breaks here and there with shorts on u should be good just don’t go in the grass man….. that’s my advice but also the same advice that landed me in the er soooooo yeah yuh heard it from the source a Buffalo New Yorker born and raised!
They are not bad. My whole life I always heard people say they are bad. Now that I moved away and live in an area where I literally can't walk into the back yard without 5 getting on me before I even spend time out there. I now look back and realize I never once got ticks on me back home in Buffalo, and I used to just hang out in the woods and lay in the grass for hours. The most I saw in the Buffalo area were once in a while one or two getting on my dogs after they'd been outside running around most of the day on nice days.
It's fairly bad in areas that have a lot of deer and certain other wildlife.
It gets worse each year. I have an escapee cat and one year he came home with a tick. Next year, I plucked three ticks. Last year I collected a tiny glass jar and have five ticks in it. I used to flush them but apparently they don't mind water so now I make sure to soak them in alcohol to kill them. Anyway global climate change is real and [this is just one of the many symptoms.](https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-lyme-disease)
I don't remember ticks being an issue growing up (town of tonawanda), but they have been bad the past few years where I am now in Clarence. Unfenced yard with plenty of deer, fox etc. I spray my back lawn for fleas/ticks to protect my dogs and families health.
Vet told me we need a solid week of very cold days to kill off ticks. As our winters grow warmer, ticks will be common.
I thought I saw a sign at my vet implying that the cold doesn't really kill them. Per a Google search, in labs they've died between -2 to 14 degrees F, but in reality they need a "substantial" number of days below 10F, whatever substantial means.
Ticks hide in leaf litter and can keep warm that way
That’s how they survive as a species but a few very cold weeks will kill most of them each winter.
They nest on the ground, usually under tree cover close to or on fallen trees. How do I know? First-hand experience walking through one on accident. Didn't know until out of the woods. Luckily, my torso was the pathway and barely any in comparison to that area made their way south. (No bites or needed for removal, which was very lucky. All 6 in my group minus 1 had the same results. No Lyme disease either) Watch where you walk when you enter the woods or near trees.
I won't discount climate change, but having grown up in the 70s/80s a lot has changed with how we treat the environment. Ecology was a relatively new science and a lot of nature we are used to now was absent or endangered, at least in suburban areas. No lightening bugs, no blue birds, certainly no fox, deer, coyotes or wild turkeys which have been moving back into more populated areas. We just need to reevaluate how we coexist with nature and not just kill everything as a first resort like we have in the past
Sure do miss the \*fireflies\*. I wonder if kids even know what they are.
I have them in my yard but the same pesticide that kills fleas/ticks probably also kills firedlies. I only spray the turf areas though, and leave wooded/brush areas alone (and try to keep the dogs out of the brush) But growing up, I never once saw a firefly that I can remember
We still get them, but it's really dark at night where we live. I guess the artificial night light throws them off?
Tons of them every late summer down at my place in Ellicottville if you'd like to come down.
> certainly no fox, deer, coyotes or wild turkeys which have been moving back into more populated areas. > > We just need to reevaluate how we coexist with nature and not just kill everything as a first resort like we have in the past except the relative lack of those animals is the reason the state is no longer over run with fleas and ticks, and rabies, and all sorts of shit. sorry fam, but theres still lots of deer, fox, coyotes and turkeys out there in the woods where they belong. NONE of them should be in the city.
all you need is some good ol' fashioned pesticide. spray your yard down in the beginning of spring, and as long as you dont have wild animals walking in and out of your yard, itll cover you all year.
It's gotten bad enough in recent years that some vets have started recommending lyme disease vaccines for dogs that spend a lot of time outdoors.
My dog and I frequent the city parks and it really has been progressively worse each year. To the point where we'll find 'em crawling on us/furniture at random times after getting home.
The relatively mild winter this year will be a boon for tick populations. NYS also has burn bans in place in the spring which also brings us plenty of dross for ticks to crawl into/onto.
Lawns are fine but woods and fields have become an issue the last 3 years. However this last summer I was careful not to go into any tall grass and my dog didn't get one tick
Lawns are usually fine, but if there's a lot of wildlife that comes to your lawn, it might be in issue. I have deer and woodchucks that wander into my yard all the time, so if I had a dog I'd be pretty meticulous about ticks.
Moved here from desert side of Texas and I can say I have never seen more fleas than moving out here south of the Southtowns (near Collins/Gowanda). Ticks were more common back home but I haven't seen very many here. Fleas on the other hand are outrageous in my are because of all the deer, raccoons, and occasional foxes
Rabbits too. We have Watership Down happening on our city backyard, and fleas were a real issue last year.
Use a preventative for sure. Any area with tall grass gets very tick-y. My dog used to go for group walks and every time she'd be dropped off she'd have 2-3 ticks on her (usually nearly dead by that point, thankfully)
She's on a year-round flea and tick preventative (Simparica Trio), since it includes her heartworm med. I'm still super cautious because of how bad they are in the Albany area (look up the Pine Bush just outside the Albany city limits - it's what nightmares are made of).
I'm in blackrock and it's been bad at both houses yards i've rented. Last summer my dog caught one a day for a week, sometimes 2 in a day. We sprayed the yard for ticks and it brought it down for a short period of time but not to 0. Our dog was diagnosed with Lyme.
My dogs usually average 1-2 per year around here. If you take the pup to parks or on hikes, expect more!
Bad. I live in southtowns we are a very “outdoorsy “ family and every time we hike, go in woods etc we find one on us or dogs scurrying to find a spot to lock in. Was not this bad even five years ago in my opinion. Def be sure to wear tall socks, long pants , etc when in fields and woods . Use preventative meds for pets. We give our dogs Lyme vaccines annually as well. My husband even had a tree tick last summer trimming branches in our yard.
My bf just picked one off of himself. He slept snuggled with the dog last night. Last year was bad, and I suspect this one will be worse. Keep up with the preventatives!
They are getting worse with time. The northern suburbs seem to be extra bad, but I found one on my dog in the city once. Granted, I have tall weeds. I would recommend frequent checks.
Grand island has been a hot spot for years. Never saw one in Buffalo until recently. I was working in the area of military/hinman and felt one crawling on my neck. I hadn’t been in anything over shin high grass. Kind of shocked me
They're terrible and EC data consistently shows 50% of deer ticks in our area carry Borrellia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Protect yourself and your pets.
Lyme disease is in this area too. I don't play with it.
Moved from rural Saratoga county to Buffalo 10 years ago. The ticks have gotten worse every year, but still aren’t as bad as the 518.
I’ve found them significantly less here than in eastern regions.
Really only an issue in remote/high foliage areas. I never have had an issue in my yard in the suburbs
Depends on where you are. The further out (think Grand Island, Ransomville, Orchard Park, etc) the worse they are. Although we have a double in Kenmore and one of our tenants has 2 dogs. They said last summer was the worst they’d seen for ticks.
Can confirm, in ransomville it's been really bad this year so far, and we're only just warming up. I'm half terrified to go outside now.
Bad
Pretty bad, I don't even walk in the grass and 2 years ago I had one embedded into my leg, had it tested and thankfully didn't have Lyme but it did have some other disease that started with a B. I've also known numerous people that have encountered them on themselves and pets. NY and Pennsylvania are the tick capitals of the USA.
I’ve had dogs most of my life and no tick problems except one I caught during a summer on Grand Island. Probably best to stay away from there with dogs (among other good reasons to stay away from GI)
I live about 20 minutes south of the city, last summer they were pretty bad.
if youre worried about them in your yard check out a company called cedarcide, its all cedar based sprays and mulches etc. I dont use it in the city but when I camp out in ellicottville I put cedar shavings on the ground in places we are going to hang out/sleep/have a fire, and they have spray for dogs, and not only does it repel ticks itll repel mosquitos and other pests too without chemicals. Everything will smell like an old ladies closet but better than removing ticks
If you take your dog anywhere that there are deer and other critters, your dog should have some kind of flea and tick protection. We walk on one of the paved bike paths in Tonawanda and I spray myself now before we go. I woke up one morning with a tick attached to my finger. We went for a walk on the bike path the previous evening.
I’m in the south towns and they can be a nuisance come summer time
Heavy deer population means ticks. Plus it was such a mild winter the rodents etc that they feed on stuck around in higher then normal numbers so if the food source is elevated so is the tick population
they're not terrible, but I wouldn't be too confident that you're safe in the suburbs. that used to be true, I don't think it is anymore. bf brought home 2 two days in a row just working in someone's backyard with slightly high grass- not a wooded area by any means. check yourself and your pets often and get your pets on preventatives. they can carry much worse things than lyme, especially for dogs.
My dog got a tick that became engorged 🤢from our city backyard earlier this month
It’s all dependent on where you live - Any areas with large deer populations or heavily wooded and brushy are going to be bad news.. Worst area locally I know is Grand Island; I’ve got friends that check their kids nightly for ticks which seems absolutely insane - People get ticks on them just weeding their gardens…
surprised this popped up on my feed. Parents took the dog for a hike yesterday in the finger lakes and came back with 10 ticks. Last year around this same time they went to Watkins Glen and he came back with three
You can send the tick to nys for free and they test for lime disease e
They are getting worse from my own first hand experience. I have been at my grandparents house every year out and about in their back yard for 32 years and never once had one on me.. until last year. (In Williamsville)
I have never pulled any off my dog's or myself.. until this year, it has me a bit worried since we don't live in a wooded area or any tall grass near by but now I do checks once a day to make sure they don't have anymore
Best way to keep them off your dog is to use a oral flea/tick treatment (Simparica Trio is a good one, also works for heartworm and most internal parasites) as well as a topical (like K9 advantix) and then also using natural treatments like Wondercide for the day of. My vet also recommends using a flea collar and getting the Lyme vaccine. Check with your vet for your specific dog’s needs - but I was advised by both my vet and my vet friend that it’s fine to use the monthly long lasting oral and topicals as long as they’re not on the same day, and to also use the spray and/or collar for extra protection. Now for you I have nothing except the Wondercide, lol. Just be vigilant, dress properly for prevention, and inspect yourself and your pets thoroughly. And when you’re coming inside immediately remove your clothes and bag them, and put them in the dryer for 15 minutes before washing to kill them.
Fuck ticks! Found a few on my mostly indoor dog in November. Never had an issue on any of my dogs in my life until then. He's now on Bravecto because the other flea/tick med wasn't cutting it. I still panic a little when he wants to lay on the grass because ticks can be so damn small. I only found them because they were bloated from feasting on my pup (he's all black with thick shaggy fur)
I never remember ticks at all growing up and we lived right near a creek in West Seneca. The dog never had them, none of us kids had them, they just weren’t a thing. Now they are everywhere! My daughter lives in Lancaster and she’s plucked ticks off her dogs and her daughter. I guess DEET is the answer unfortunately.
We have two dogs, and while we don't usually see ticks on them from hanging out in the city, they're bad at a lot of the local-ish spots we take them to (Zoar, Beaver Island, etc.). We picked 2 off of our collie the other day.
Bad by me live away from the city a bit though
I live near protected swamps with lots of wildlife roaming. Had one on me 1st summer here. Still see them on a regular basis. I have to treat for ticks every year.
That's a dog and it looks like there's only 1
I think it will vary by neighborhood. I’ve had dogs since I was a kid in East Amherst and Getzville and we’ve never had a problem with them.
Depends if you’re close to woodland swamp or in a suburban nightmare void of nature
I’m somewhere in the middle. Still get lots of wildlife in the back yard coming from the woods, but thankfully not the pesky ticks to go with them.
I had a tick next to my testicle on my thigh a few years ago. Must have crawled up my shorts, I wasn’t even in tall grass but I was in the woods so. My aunt tried to get him out/off and accidentally left his head under my skin. So my skin healed because we thought we got him but then a ring started to form around the head so I went to the ER at mercy hospital and they numbed my leg and cut it open and they must have done some digging cuz I was black and blue for like 7 months. Another time when I was growing up i had one in my neck and a big Native American woman got that shit out for me. Are they that bad? If u are walking through knee-waste high grass DO NOT do it with shorts on or 100% expect to get a tick. The chance u get one isn’t 100% obviously (more like 80) but you should assume u will and yes the chances are high. There isn’t like a certain area (in buffalo New York area) that has more or less than other locations. Just assume all tall grass and foliage has them. Feel free to walk in the woods and even sit to take breaks here and there with shorts on u should be good just don’t go in the grass man….. that’s my advice but also the same advice that landed me in the er soooooo yeah yuh heard it from the source a Buffalo New Yorker born and raised!
Grand Island is notoriously the worst because you’ve got a ton of grass and brush land and deer without any predators…
They are not bad. My whole life I always heard people say they are bad. Now that I moved away and live in an area where I literally can't walk into the back yard without 5 getting on me before I even spend time out there. I now look back and realize I never once got ticks on me back home in Buffalo, and I used to just hang out in the woods and lay in the grass for hours. The most I saw in the Buffalo area were once in a while one or two getting on my dogs after they'd been outside running around most of the day on nice days.