Contrary to popular belief, ticks aren't limited to the woods. The dense suburban and city neighborhoods around Nassau County and Queens have plenty of the habitat they need, from park edges and greenways to landscaped yards and brushy lots.
Ticks sound like a “country problem,” the kind of thing that you would worry about when you’re hiking upstate, but not when you’re walking the dog around the block. But that assumption is what often catches people off-guard close to home.
Ticks need a host to feed on, and they need shade and moisture so they don’t dry out. Low vegetation gives ticks what they need to hide, and you can find that everywhere from parks to overgrown vacant lots to shrubby borders between properties. All it takes for ticks to get established in places like that is for host wildlife to walk by, and that can mean anything from deer to mice.
Your own yard can hold plenty of ticks even without looking wild. Shaded foundation plantings and leaf-filled corners, or stone walls near groundcover, can give ticks what they need. The ticks will then climb to the tips of low vegetation and wait for a leg to brush past, a behavior called “questing.”
The eastern end of Long Island has a tougher time with ticks than the western, denser areas. But that doesn’t mean that Nassau and Queens are in the clear—not by a mile. People have been encountering ticks more and more often over the years. It’s not a rare event to find ticks on your leg after going outside in suburbia.
If you're tired of worrying about ticks every time the dog comes in from the yard, Mosquito Squad of Nassau County and Queens offers tick control that treats the shaded, brushy zones where ticks wait, helping protect your family with up to 90% reduction in pest activity on a recurring 21-day cycle.
