Ticks on mountains

Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
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ClimbingFool
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Re: Ticks on mountains

Post by ClimbingFool »

Here in Missouri, they are everywhere this year. Even wearing long pants and sleeves and staying on trail, those pesky buggers still find a way to infiltrate.

It must be a bad season.
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Iguru
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Re: Ticks on mountains

Post by Iguru »

This is a bad tick season here in Minnesota, because of a relatively mild winter say the scientists. Maybe that is the case in Colorado too.
It is not unusual to find multiple ticks on yourself because they tend to cluster together on long blades of grass, and all hitch a ride at once.
Black legged deerticks were not in Minnesota when I was a kid, 45 years ago.
Now, they are everywhere with a season lasting from April to October, whenever it is not below freezing.
My dog had a couple deerticks on her that I picked off, and she subsequently tested positive for Lyme.
Now, I have Nexgard for her. Wish there was a similar drug for humans.
Ticks would be my creature of choice for extinction.
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two lunches
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Re: Ticks on mountains

Post by two lunches »

Iguru wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:25 am My dog had a couple deerticks on her that I picked off, and she subsequently tested positive for Lyme.
Now, I have Nexgard for her. Wish there was a similar drug for humans.
Ticks would be my creature of choice for extinction.
i didn't give my dog flea/tick medication until the first time i saw a tick crawling on him, when he was around 5. now he is on bravecto and i wish they made the same thing for humans.

i've seen a few in colorado over the years, all under 10K in hot/dry areas, but they're nowhere near as common as i found them to be in missouri. science says they are food for other animals, and that they keep animal populations at manageable levels, but i say kill them all with fire. :evil:
“To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles.” – Mary Davis
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cedica
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Re: Ticks on mountains

Post by cedica »

stephakett wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 10:56 am but i say kill them all with fire. :evil:
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Re: Ticks on mountains

Post by ekalina »

Scott P wrote: Mon Jun 07, 2021 10:45 pm I didn't think we had any Lyme disease here at all, but apparently some cases have been reported:

https://coloradoticks.org/colorado-repo ... -diseases/
Most of the official sources I've read say that Lyme disease is not endemic to Colorado, and that the reported cases of Colorado Lyme are all thought to have originated elsewhere. Anecdotally, I have seen some disagreement about that.

Here is Colorado State University's perspective (if you don't like photos of ticks doing tick things, you may want to avoid this article):
https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-a ... ses-5-593/

If the blacklegged tick (the vector for Lyme) starts moving into Colorado, I would imagine the risk for endemic Lyme disease here would increase. The blacklegged tick range maps from the CDC show that it is not too far away, occurring in both Kansas and Utah, unfortunately:
https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/geographic_distribution.html
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Re: Ticks on mountains

Post by nyker »

This year I've also seen some large swollen ticks on rabbits feeding on the grass, they're pretty visible even from 15-20ft away
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Re: Ticks on mountains

Post by Iguru »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCNH66ar-6s
These are the biggest ticks I have ever seen.
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hoodayer
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Re: Ticks on mountains

Post by hoodayer »

I got one this weekend going up Mt Ouray - first time seeing one in CO. Gives you the heebie-jeebies. Gonna start checking after each hike during tick season.
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Re: Ticks on mountains

Post by timisimaginary »

stephakett wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 10:56 am
Iguru wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:25 am My dog had a couple deerticks on her that I picked off, and she subsequently tested positive for Lyme.
Now, I have Nexgard for her. Wish there was a similar drug for humans.
Ticks would be my creature of choice for extinction.
i didn't give my dog flea/tick medication until the first time i saw a tick crawling on him, when he was around 5. now he is on bravecto and i wish they made the same thing for humans.

i've seen a few in colorado over the years, all under 10K in hot/dry areas, but they're nowhere near as common as i found them to be in missouri. science says they are food for other animals, and that they keep animal populations at manageable levels, but i say kill them all with fire. :evil:
my brother-in-law trains dogs for a rescue organization, he worked for months training a young Rottweiler and made so much progress with that dog, from a big energetic undisciplined dog into a well-behaved and fully trained, great friendly dog. less than a year later, after the dog was adopted, he came down with Lyme nephritis, a deadly condition contracted from Lyme disease, and had to be put down. it was so sad.

if you have a dog in tick territory, please please please put it on tick preventatives. as bad as Lyme can be for humans, it can be so much worse for dogs.
"The decay and disintegration of this culture is astonishingly amusing if you're emotionally detached from it." - George Carlin
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two lunches
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Re: Ticks on mountains

Post by two lunches »

timisimaginary wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 5:13 pm
if you have a dog in tick territory, please please please put it on tick preventatives. as bad as Lyme can be for humans, it can be so much worse for dogs.
my point was that there were allegedly "no" ticks here for a very long time and now there are.
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interloper
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Re: Ticks on mountains

Post by interloper »

I've encountered ticks in the Sangres every year for the past four years. Rito Alto drainage, Cottonwood Creek drainage, North Crestone drainage, and Dimmick Gulch.
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Re: Ticks on mountains

Post by timisimaginary »

stephakett wrote: Wed Jun 09, 2021 9:34 am
timisimaginary wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 5:13 pm
if you have a dog in tick territory, please please please put it on tick preventatives. as bad as Lyme can be for humans, it can be so much worse for dogs.
my point was that there were allegedly "no" ticks here for a very long time and now there are.
sorry, wasn't meant to be accusatory or aimed at anyone in particular, just wanted to mention it since it came up a couple times in this thread.

i have known people in the past who didn't want to spend the money or didn't think it was worth it because "our dog only goes in the yard" even though most ticks get picked up by dogs in the yard. stories like what happened to that dog are a good reminder of just how serious a tick-borne illness can be in a dog. same for heartworm preventatives. our current dog was adopted and his original owners didn't give him any, and he had a long recovery from heartworms before we got him. no dog should have to go through that.
"The decay and disintegration of this culture is astonishingly amusing if you're emotionally detached from it." - George Carlin
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