Where there are blacklegged ticks, there is a higher risk of catching Lyme disease. Blacklegged ticks are found in cool, wooded, and humid habitats and are often carried by local wildlife like deer and mice.
Lyme risk varies enormously from one area to the next. It has a lot to do with ecology, and understanding this can help you protect yourself.
The dangerous tick is the blacklegged tick, also called a deer tick. It’s the only one in Michigan that transmits Lyme disease. It’s been expanding across the state over recent decades.
Then there's the bacterium and the animals that carry it. Ticks aren't born infected. They pick up the Lyme bacterium by feeding on infected wildlife, above all the white-footed mouse, which is the main reservoir of the bacteria. The more mice there are, the higher the risk of Lyme disease transmission.
Deer don’t infect many ticks, but they are a common host for adult ticks to feed on, so with more deer come more ticks. Deer passing through your suburban backyard can easily shake off infected ticks.
Ticks dry out easily, so they need cool, shaded, humid cover: woodland, leaf litter, brushy borders, dense groundcover. A patchwork of forest broken up by yards and trails, the classic Michigan mix of suburb meeting woods, is close to ideal for ticks. Research has even found that fragmented forests, with small wooded patches favorable to mice, have more ticks than most places. That’s because the predators and biodiversity that would otherwise keep mice in check do not, so ticks get a bit of a tailwind.
Your own property's risk depends on how much of that surrounds you, and the habitat side is the part you can manage at home by doing things like mowing grass and trimming landscaping.
If you're tired of living inside a Lyme hot spot, Mosquito Squad of Greater Lansing can help. This can be done by treating the areas where infected ticks build up, helping protect your family with up to 90% reduction in pest activity on a recurring 21-day cycle.
