My tick infested yard.

[TNDemo]

I live in suburbia on a 1/4 acre lot. The side yard, on the other side of the fence, usually has ticks pretty bad under the trees in the spring but they taper off as summer heats up. That has been the pattern for a number of years. This year was the same until a couple of weeks ago when we suddenly developed tons of tiny seed ticks everywhere outside - the front yard, the back yard, the side yard. The back yard is fenced and the only place my two dogs and cat go - all of whom are treated with Frontline. I have no idea what brought them unless it was related to the bluzillion starlings that roosted in the trees for a couple of weeks, but I think they have moved on. How can I treat the yard without killing my pets and myself? I have diatomaceous earth but it's too big of an area to treat with that and I always feel like I need to redo when it rains. Appreciate any advice.

[UTUSN]

1. Hose-hook-up is KEY. Get the appropriate insecticide in the hook-up to your hose

Treating your animals won't do the job by itself. And you yourself using a hand sprayer is impossible----you don't know where every one of those beasts are (the answer is EVERYWHERE).

With a hose-attachment sprayer you can douse all the grass, all the shubbery, the perimeters of structures, tree trunks. The directions will tell you about the RE-application timeframes.

I *hate* those bloodsuckers!1

[JCMach1]

2. Buy some Guinea Fowl!

Another plus, Guineas also like snakes.

[LynneSin]

4. +1

and Guineas make the best home alarm system!

[TNDemo]

5. I think they would die of shock and harassment

from my dogs unfortunately.

[LynneSin]

6. Well maybe your dogs should learn to eat ticks or leave them inside...

and let the guinea fowls do their duty!

:patriot:

[JCMach1]

8. They are pretty tough~!

[WolverineDG]

3. in the meantime, invest in preventic collars for the dogs

that's the only thing that works. :( Frontline for cats seems to work well enough with ticks, but dogs also need the Preventic collar.

dg

[blm]

7. Peahens LOVE to eat ticks

.

[hobbit709]

9. Chickens.

Friend of mine has half a dozen chicken roaming his yard. No ticks, scorpions or other bugs. Not even small lizards are safe.

[hippywife]

10. We have chickens but

don't always let them range outside the garden because of critters like bob cat and coyote, so we still have tick issues. And the Preventic collars someone mentioned up thread are a total necessity for our dogs. The cats stay inside and deal with the fleas. :o

[MajorChode]

11. Make sure you keep the grass mowed closely and all the leaves/debris cleared

Assuming you don't already. If you have any areas that harbor rodents (under shrubs, etc), try to modify them so they don't.

Look for concentrated permethrin 36.8% and apply it with a hose end sprayer at the recommended rate. It's harmless to dogs, but keep cats out of the area for a day or so. Permethrin is relatively harmless and breaks down pretty quickly. Pyrethrin is the organic solution that's basically the same thing as the synthetic permethrin, but it's a bit harder to find and not quite as effective. Both of these products won't last for a long time, but you really don't need them to do so. Ticks have very short legs and can't crawl very fast, so as long as you are keeping the bird nests and the rodents away, the ticks won't have an easy go at repopulating.

[triguy46]

12. 2 choices: 1 chemical, 1 animal

Chemical: Dursban granules
Animal: Peafowl

[Orsino]

13. Nematodes.

They eat flea and tick larvae. You can buy 'em online, and treatment is as easy as watering your lawn.

[sammytko]

14. how long have you been using the Frontline

We would still get ticks in the yard even with Frontline until I started using it year round. I would slack off in the winter months.

And an old country vet once told me that its best to use a larger dosage of Frontline or it won't work. Now that its sold over the counter, that is what I do.

20lb pets get 40lb treatment. Works great. 60 lb pets get the 80 lb dosage.

This vet was like an animal whisperer. He was the only guy able to calm my oldest peke enough to trim his nails - no charge.