You check by dragging a light-colored cloth slowly through the shaded, brushy parts of the yard and the edges near any wild vegetation, since that's where ticks wait. In much of flat, irrigated Los Angeles the tick risk is low, but properties near the foothills, canyons, and open space are a different story and worth checking.
You are probably worried about being bitten by ticks. This is entirely reasonable since tick bites don’t feel great and they can cause bigger problems. So it helps to know where ticks live so you can take action.
The western blacklegged tick is the one that carries Lyme disease around here. You can find it most often in cool, shaded chaparral, oak woodland, and the leaf litter and grass edges along trails and canyons. It does not thrive on open and sunny lawns. A flat yard in the city or valley, well away from open space, is usually low-risk. But a property backing onto the Santa Monica Mountains, a canyon, or brushy hillside is much higher risk.
There is a trick you can use to check for ticks. You can do it by using a square of light-colored cloth on a stick or length of rope. Pull it slowly over places where ticks tend to hide (leaf litter, brush, and so on). Stop and look at the cloth every few feet. Ticks will often latch onto the cloth, and the amount you see tells you whether you have a problem and how bad the problem is. This is called a tick drag.
In California, tick season doesn’t work the way it does in the rest of the country. Adult western blacklegged ticks are most active in the cool, wet months, roughly late fall through spring, rather than midsummer. So the time to be most vigilant in LA is the rainy season, not the dog days.
If a tick drag shows you evidence of ticks on your property, there are things you can do. Mow your grass short and clear leaf litter on the wild edge. If need be, you can also add a border of dry mulch or gravel, three feet wide, between the brush and the rest of your yard. Beyond that, tick treatment is the best thing you can do.
If you're tired of wondering whether your hillside yard is harboring ticks, Mosquito Squad of Los Angeles can help. Mosquito Squad treats the brushy, shaded edges where ticks gather, helping protect your family with up to 90% reduction in pest activity on a recurring 21-day cycle.
