Are Ticks Already Ticking You Off This Year?

Those creepy crawlies are here again. No one likes them yet they arrive every spring just in time for outdoor play. They are - quite literally - the stuff of nightmares. We are talking about ticks.

Oh, how we hate them!

Long Islanders have an especially long and adversarial relation ship with the tiny arachnids. According to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Lyme disease - a bacterial infection caused by the bite of an infected deer tick - was first identified back in 1986 and can cause a number of health problems. There have been over 95,000 cases confirmed in New York State since that time.

If that's not bad enough, last year a tick was identified whose bite can cause a meat allergy in some cases. The animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals angered some Long Islanders when it announced in its official blog last April that they were going to release the meat-allergy inducing ticks. In 2012, Suffolk County formed a tick task force to study the spread of tick and vector-borne related diseases.

An interesting way to trim the tick population comes from nature itself. One Smithtown resident partnered with local schools to raise quails, which feed on ticks.

We asked on our Facebook page what readers' experiences with ticks has been like so far this year and ideas on how to control them. Here's what some of them said:

John Brian Silverio: Ticks, no. 1 on my hate list. My wife and I ride bikes on the trails so we are susceptible to them. Using deet at the moment but I'm about to try a harsh-chemical-free solution soon.

Melissa Votra Langino: They are everywhere! Make sure you frontline your canine friends! And protect your little ones!

Christina Philbin: I Hate Hate Hate them.! I got Lyme Disease 2011 I still have issues with health. Please Check your family & pets when your out doors. If your find one on you have a Dr. remove it from you, so it can be tested.

Sandy Ramalho: I've heard cedar oil is a more natural tick repellent. There are companies on LI that will spray your yard. And those cute Guinea hens eat them.

Tara Mulvey-Griffin: Found one on my dog, pulled it out with tweezers and sprayed the whole yard down. So far so good on not seeing any more!! Yuck!!

Your Connection To Nature: You should join my Quail vs Ticks Study, whereby I get schools and other volunteers to incubate Northern Bobwhite Quail and donate them to my study. With landowner permission and DEC oversight, I then release coveys of quail into high-tick areas. We notice immediate reductions in ticks in those areas. Don't use guinea hens because they are not native birds and cause further damage to our battered ecosystem, and the chemicals can do more harm than the ticks! Join us...it works!

Add to the conversation here on Patch. Have you had a problem with ticks yet this season? What do you do when you find one? Have you had your yard sprayed? What method do you use?