The range where ticks are found is growing, and it’s expanding more and more into Chicagoland. This is due in part to larger deer and rodent populations, as well as milder winters.
It’s unsettling, and also, unfortunately, common. You go years without ticks in your yard, and suddenly you’re pulling them off your dog seemingly every day in the spring. You’re not necessarily doing anything wrong. The world is changing, truly.
The blacklegged tick, the one that carries Lyme, has spread through the Upper Midwest and into northern Illinois and the Chicago collar counties over recent decades. Areas that had few ticks a generation ago now have established populations. This is a nationwide problem, it’s not just Chicagoland.
The hosts brought them along. Tick spread tracks closely with deer and white-footed mouse numbers. Both deer and mice, much like people, have been moving to the suburbs. And as they scurry and leap through properties, they leave behind ticks.
Ticks have to hide to survive the winter. They do this by going into places like leaf litter and under snowpack. But as the winter skews warmer, even by a couple of degrees, it makes it far easier to do this. So they survive in greater numbers. What you end up with, then, is a fearsome combo: more surviving ticks to start with, reproducing earlier, their numbers multiplied from a larger base to begin with.
What it means for you is that while your yard may have previously “always been fine,” you can’t always count on that these days. If ticks are showing up, treat it as the new normal for your area rather than a fluke, and start checking yourself, the kids, and pets after time outside.
From there, the same basics that work anywhere else apply. Mow grass, rake leaves, hire help.
If you're tired of finding ticks in your yard, Mosquito Squad of Chicago can help. Mosquito Squad treats the places where ticks hide during the day. This helps control them on a population level, and that helps protect your family. Expect an up to 90% reduction in pest activity for up to 21 days at a time.
