Lyme Disease: A Serious and Growing Threat, Right in Your Own Yard!
Lyme Disease is on the rise in the U.S. Your odds of contracting the disease are directly related to the number of ticks on your property that carry the disease-causing bacteria. Lyme Disease is not an illness to be taken lightly; it can be difficult to diagnose, and if it goes undiagnosed and untreated, it can result in serious, permanent damage to the victim's joints and heart.
Animals can be affected too! Dogs, cats, horses are all subject to Lyme Disease.
Why do the deer ticks have Lyme Disease?
As most people know, the deer tick is the culprit that infects people and animals with Lyme Disease. Naturally then, when most people think of the disease, they think of deer and deer ticks. Deer do serve as hosts to the deer tick, but they are passive hosts. The most important players in the spread of Lyme Disease are the white-footed mouse and chipmunk. These rodents primarily harbor the bacteria that cause Lyme Disease. Ticks pick up the bacteria when they feed on the blood of infected animals. While in the immature stages, deer ticks pass the Lyme Disease bacteria to and from the mice and chipmunks they typically feed on. During the tick's nymph stage, they might also feed on humans and pets.
At this point the ticks are light in color and no bigger than pinheads, so they are hard to see and can easily go undetected.
Regional currently offers two different methods for getting rid of ticks around your yard. Our all-natural mosquito treatment also kills ticks. Click here for more information about that treatment.
We also offer tick boxes that can be placed around your yard. These tick boxes help kill the immature stages of ticks when they feed on mice or chipmunks.
How do the tick boxes prevent Lyme Disease?
The Tick Control System is a small plastic box which holds an insecticide that Is effective against ticks, and a bait that is attractive to mice. The bait will attract mice living on and around your property to the system's boxes. As a mouse moves through a box, it will pass under a small applicator wick containing a low-dose insecticide. The wick will lightly brush its head or shoulders, gently applying traces of the insecticide. The insecticide won't harm the mouse or any other animal that might touch or even eat the bait, but it will kill the ticks that the mice are carrying. A single dose will protect the mice for up to 40 days against any new ticks.
