Tick me off, insects hitching a ride into backyards

It’s tick season and even though they’re likely found in the bush or tall grass, they might be found in your backyard too.

Ticks will hitch a ride with dogs, deer, birds, and most commonly, mice.

Microbiologist Jason Tetro says one way to prevent ticks in your yard is to remove bird feeders.

“I know it sounds weird, but there was a study done where the concentration of ticks on the ground below a bird feeder was actually higher than anywhere else.”

If you like having birdfeeders in your yard, just be sure to keep the area around them tidy. He suggests cleaning up areas that don’t get a lot of trimming or where you have leaf waste as ticks like to hide there.

Another place to keep tidy is the woodpile.

“We think of them as really great for a fireplace, but they’re also really great for mice, unless you keep them neat and compact and dry.”

He also suggests checking treehouses for ticks.

The most common tick in Saskatchewan is the American Dog Tick, as well as the Wood Tick. Tetro says the black-legged ticks that carry Lyme Disease are not common in Saskatchewan.

He says ticks usually travel as north as Prince Albert, and most of the ticks in the province are south of the North Saskatchewan River.

He says the best way to repell them is with DEET.