Ticks! Yuck!

Anyone else here in Cali having problems with tick populations exploding? I hate the things and had never dealt with them before last summer (right after we got our dog). My neighborhood got them really bad last year, and it appears this summer is going to be a repeat. We sprayed our yard last weekend and the weekend before, and then last night - yep, we pulled three ticks off our puppy, Kali. I think they are brown dog ticks. I have the creepy crawlies now. Every single time I itch, I'm envisioning ticks crawling on me. Aren't the spiders and earwigs enough? And that stuff we sprayed - it listed earwigs. But I think they just showered in it and came out feeling revitalized.

Ick. I hate bugs. Now I'm afraid to go outside at all.

No tick problem here but I sure will keep an eye out. Thanks for reminding me to put Frontline on the dogs.
Ick for ticks!

Oh yes! Definitely keep an eye out, especially since you are right up the street from me! I put Frontline on Kali for the first time earlier this week. Do you know how long it takes after the ticks bite the dog before it's supposed to kill them? Kali is my first dog as an adult, and I've never had to deal with this kind of stuff before. =)

I need to stop thinking about this stuff. I am seriously giving myself an anxiety attack. I hate bugs, but those ticks... There is just something about the way they look that makes me want to cringe and scream like a little girl.

The black widows seem to be breeding like crazy right now too (along with the earwigs). My skin is just crawling thinking about it. And I'm searching the internet for ideas to better control it and I keep coming across horror stories. It's just making it worse. =)

I don't know how long it takes Frontline to start working on ticks. I know it takes a few days for the fleas to drop off. Sorry I can't help you.
We have the earwigs too and haven't seen any widows yet, now they make me cringe...I remember one time when I woke up in the morning and looked over and between my bed and nightstand was a widow hanging out....yikes...I freaked out!!!! The roaches are starting to show up in the garage, that's another creepy but too. I've only seen one thank goodness. Doesn't it bug you (no pun intended!) the way roaches scramble when you turn the light on?!!?!!?
We both need to think about flowers or something!!!
Where in Ontario are you Sharon?

I've only seen one flea (I think it was a flea), and that probably came over through the fence when Kali was saying hi to the other dogs. Ick.

Oh my goodness! I think I would've had a heart attack if I saw a widow inside the house! Those scare the crap out of me. I have goosebumps all up and down my arms right now just thinking about it! Kali and I almost walked into a black widow last night. She had spun a little web right next to the gate to our backyard (which is right next to the back door). Seemed like an odd spot, because that gate gets opened on a daily basis, usually multiple times a day. Hubby went out there and killed it with an electric fly swatter. He was like a kid in a candy shop with all the snap crackle popping of the spider body (and it usually smokes a bit too). There were a couple other widows he found on the back patio, along with a number of regular spiders. Ick. Cringe.

Oh yuck. Roaches. Those are my other set of arch enemies. When we first bought the house, it had sat empty and there were roaches. We bombed like 3 times before we actually starting moving in. I hate them. Hate them. Hate them. Hate them. I don't think I've seen any yet, but there are all kinds of little black beetle type bugs running around through my backyard of weeds (manicured weeds, but weeds nonetheless). I hope they're beetles and not roaches.

I was just thinking I needed to stop thinking about bugs and move on to something pleasant. I put in my requests for pest control companies to call me, so now I can move on. Looking for arborists to come prune my tree. And on a positive note, I'm including a picture of my purple shamrock bulbs that are growing. Because that makes me smile. =)

I'm off of Euclid, below the 10 freeway. Whereabouts are you at? I'm always running up to Upland and Rancho to do my shopping. =)

I've gotta get my hubby one of those zappers!
We live off Archibald and 6th. We're pretty darned close. My daughters live off of Euclid and 11th.
I love your oxalis. I have one too.
You should come visit my iris garden in Chino, do you like irises? I have almost 400 growing at my mom's property where I grew up. The bloom season is over but there's about 10 blooming now. I've been working there all day digging up and replanting some new ones.
What a great day, huh??!!?!?
Louise

Hi Louise,

Make a run to Harbor Freight and Tools! I think we found them there and they were about $5 (maybe cheaper?). They run on D batteries and are fabulous! The hubby and his buddies have a blast with it. Sometimes you can see the little buggies even smoking. Blech.

We are very close! And your daughters too!

Thanks! This is my first oxalis. It sounded like something that would be easy and pretty, and that I could keep in the house. I put half inside and half outside, but the ones outside haven't made a move yet. =)

Louise, I would absolutely LOVE to come see your iris garden in Chino!!! Irises are my very favorite flower in the world! I've been considering ordering some irises, but I wasn't sure what kind I should go with that would tolerate the heat well here (along with the poor soil if I was to put them in the ground and not sure if I could keep irises in containers?). So I'm still in the research phase of that one. My neighbor has a few irises and said she would share some with me when she was ready to dig hers up and replant. I'm not sure what kinds she has though.

Today is fantastic! The weather is gorgeous! I spent the morning out on the front porch getting some daylilies potted (my first experience with those too!). They will be happy to be getting sunlight and proper nutrition again after their trip in a box over here. I've heard those are pretty hardy, so figured I'd try my hand at those too. I'm so tired of looking at the weeds and garden beds that need a lot of work. I'm just going to cover everything with containers of plants. =)

I think I will go to Harbor Freight and get one of those! We have been killing flies since I got back from the garden. I don't know how so many got in here but there aren't any now!!
You can come see the garden anytime. I also have daylilies there too. Yes, daylilies are very hardy and easy to grow just like irises. I dug a bunch of irises today and you are welcome to some if you'd like. Here's a great link for you, it tells you how to plant or pot irises.
http://www.schreinersgardens.com/about_iris.shtml
Too bad you just missed all the blooms on the irises, I would have loved you to see it. It's pretty spectacular.
Let me know when you'd like to come to mom's and see the garden. Tuesday through Friday are bad for me though, I watch my 2 year old granddaughter those days. Any other day is fine.
Looking forward to meeting you.
Louise

Ooh, Louise! Really? I would love some if you don't mind! That would have been fantastic to see all those irises in bloom! Oh well, I guess maybe next year? =)

What else do you grow? I'm very interested, especially since you are right up the street from me, and that gives me a good idea of what kind of plants I can make work here. Thanks for the link too. That will be helpful. =)

Hmmm... Mondays are usually good for me, though not tomorrow. Maybe next week if that would work for you? I would love to see the garden.

I look forward to meeting you too! =)

-Sharon

I saw a tick in my back yard too. Brought in by squirrels, raccoons, possums or skunks I think.
The other day my dog had a big one on his nose. Since, I have been giving him tick medicine in his neck. I heard from the vet that 1/3 of the ticks tests positive for parasites!

Ticks scare me, mrs_colla! I ended up having pest control people come out and spray my yard, as much as I wanted to avoid that. I can't handle the ticks. Right now, my yard is pretty barren and without grass or anything, so it's a friendly environment to them. I'm hoping by next summer, I can have plants in place that will help to repel them and keep them out of my yard. I don't want to have to spray again. Before, I would go out at night with a flashlight, and there would be all kinds of movement on the ground. Now it's so still out there. But those ticks and the possibility of parasites freak me out! We started Frontline on the dog too, but it doesn't seem to repel them at all before they bite her. I heard Advantix may do a better job at repelling BEFORE the bite. Hopefully that medicine will keep the ticks off your dog!

So far, it seems to work! We walk around the open spaces every day, and my 18 pound dog loves to crawl under bushes. So far, no ticks!
Christie
edit: this is my dog's smile, not a mean face :D

This message was edited Jul 5, 2011 9:30 PM

That is the cutest smile! =)

I tried to get my dogs to smile, but no luck. Beautiful set of teeth too! My yard is full of fleas, but haven't seen any ticks. Time to spray the yard, house and put advantage on dogs (after their baths).

Yuck. I hate fleas too. I think one of the yards nearby has fleas, because I tend to see one (usually just one) after walking her around the block. Otherwise, I don't see any. Glad you're not seeing ticks though!

Knock on wood! Our dogs are 10, 9, 4 and 4 and we have never seen any indications of fleas and don't know how I would know if they had a tick. Our place in San Diego had a row of Eucalyptuses, which are supposed to be a natural deterrant to fleas. Also penneroyal (sp). Do not know if that is an herb or what. Don't know why we don't have fleas here, but will take the blessing with a smile.

That is great, quiltygirl! Maybe the eucalyptus does help! I was just reading about pennyroyal the other day. Apparently is repels both fleas and ticks. I'm planning on getting a few pots going and setting it around in strategic areas. Perhaps using this and some other plants I can avoid having a pest control company spray next summer.

Lucky you, Quiltygirl! We have it all, ticks, fleas, giardia, ... :-(

What exactly is giardia? That's one of the things they get shots for, isn't it? Kali is my first dog (as an adult), and I never had to worry about all that stuff before. When we brought Kali home as a puppy, I was so paranoid about letting her go play on the grass, for fear that she would pick something up and get really sick since she wasn't fully vaccinated. Terrified me. I think I'm an overprotective mommy to my puppy.

Here is my munchkin, showing off her grill...

I noticed the tick infestation was exceptionally bad this year too, although they have slowed down now. I think it was the wet winter and spring, with all the extra undergrowth to cling to? I was pulling those big fat deer ticks off my poor boxer almost every day for a while. At first she didn't like it, but once she figured out what I was doing she wanted to smell and sniff them (EWW) We live in a rural area, and their 'backyard' is about 40 acres of scrub and redshank, so there is no controlling the source. They seem to have let up now, though, as everything is drying out.
No big black widow issues, almost never any fleas, and zero roaches in my area. But it's supposedly a bad year for rattlesnakes, though I haven't seen one yet, on our walks.
This is a pic of my crew waiting paitiently for 'mom' to come for a walk.

Gardenza, what a cute pack you have!

Hmm, Gardenza, you do not live far from me, I wonder if I should worry about ticks. We have flat open land - used to be flood plain, but the foothills to the Ortega range start behind our neighbor. A few times our escape artist dogs, 2 miniature pinschers or put pack of 4, get out and get as far as the fringe of those hills. I worry more about coyotes than ticks. How do you know if your animals get ticks?

Gardenza - I can't imagine having that much land! Your dogs must love to go run around through all that! Cute pups, by the way! Kali was not happy when we were pulling ticks off of her either, and it took two of us - one to hold her down, the other to actually pull the tick off. She's a wriggly little thing. I think the ticks we were getting were the brown dog ticks. Ick. That's awesome that there are no fleas or roaches out that way! (Roaches are my worst nightmare, probably even more than spiders or ticks or bedbugs). Rattlesnakes scare me though.

Quiltygirl - If you are running your hands down your dogs backs and bellies and legs, you would probably feel any ticks that have been there for a length of time. Those things can blow up pretty big if they've been on there for a while. I've seen on those animal cops shows where the ticks are so big, you can clearly see them on the dog from a distance, even big furry dogs. But it's definitely harder to find them right away on big furry dogs. Particular areas I would check are around the ears and between toes. We also found one that had bit Kali on the neck, and that one was harder to find. Other than that, I'm not sure how else to know whether your dogs has them or not. Little vampires.

We only own 5 acres, but the land around us is mostly empty. And I know it sounds rediculous, but those silly dogs won't go on their own unless they are actually after a coyote, which happens. They think I'm the head of the pack, so they just wait for me to go! Oh, and the Lab disappeared a few months ago, I don't know what happened to him:>(
Quiltygirl-I think your pinschers have very short hair, so the fat dear ticks would be obvious. The little brown ones that Sharon deals with are harder. But if you just rub your doggy's skin you will feel them-like feeling little moles that catch on your nails. And on my dogs they seem to like the underside of the neck, and under the collar. They are HARD to kill, you have to either drown them or crush them. I use rocks! And don't worry about leaving the head in, it doesn't happen. There will be a bump, because the ticks irritate the skin, but it heals. But if you do have a tick problem you probably want to get them a Lymes shot at the vet.
Sharon-Kali looks like a sweetie! You asked about Giardia, it's a bacteria that is in water, like streams and creeks. If you or the dogs get it, I believe some of the symptoms are diarrhea, nausea, and fatigue.
How about that cold weather this morning!? Is it July, or May?

Gardenza, that's pretty funny that the dogs won't go by themselves. Kali never gets an opportunity to go anywhere by herself. Though she has tried to make a break for the street a couple of times. Sorry to hear about the Lab. That is very sad. =(

Once I get them off the dog, I drop it into a glass of rubbing alcohol. Okay, good to know about giardia.

Strange, strange weather. I wonder what that means for the summer heat and how long it'll last this year.

I am enjoying this respite. We are blessed this summer. My folks and 2 sisters live in the Dallas area and they had 14 days 99 degrees and up in June and every day plus the ten day forecast for July. There lows are sometimes higher than our highs!

I am guessing the dogs show some sign of discomfort when there are ticks on them? Yes the min-pins have the shortest, but darkest hair. Here is a (not flattering) shot of 3 from the backside, the 4th and newest is a ditto of the black min-pin.

I'm having internet/computer issues, sorry for the delayed response. We are using a new ATT internet service, which gives us super fast internet, but a limited number of MB's per month, so if we use them up in 2 weeks, it's 2 weeks of no internet, (gasp, gasp, choke!!) so I'm on an internet diet :>(
Anyway! Yes, I think I could get pneaumonia from the drastic temperature changes! And I hear that the midwest is getting cooked recently-but we are supposed to be warming back up too. I just keep reminding myself that in 6 months I'll be missing all this warmth! The advantage of this elevation is being above the clouds when they are the kind that roll in off the ocean-the June gloom kind. So when I go 'off the hill', which means leave Anza and go to Temecula or Hemet, I drop down into a sea of clouds. The opposite happens when the temps are really high, and it's muggy and humid-then we get those thunderstorms and rain showers.
Is Kali a water-loving dog? I know some types love to get into mud puddles and wading pools and splash around. I think Ontario gets hotter than here, so it must be pretty toasty some days. Or is she more the AC vent kind of pup? The lab used to just plop over one, and 'chill'.
I don't think that dogs really notice the ticks. I've never seen any of mine make an effort to get them off. Then again, I generally find them in areas that are hard for them to reach with their mouths, so maybe...
Quiltygirl, who are your pup looking at so hard in that pic? They sure are focused on her! It looks like you have a bit of a mixed bunch too-and they are all buddies :>) I bet their personalities are pretty different. I know the grey one is a herder, but I've never dealt with pinschers or shepherds.
Hope you both have a good week, don't know when I can get back here,

Fooled ya. The 'gray' one is called S'More cuz she looks like chocolate and marshmallows melted together! Although she has the coloring and even some body style of a NZ Healer sne is actually a Chihuaahua - papers and all. A fat one. The 2 black Min-pins are great buds to each other but that is the end of any friendliness amongst the 4 dogs. In that photo they are looking at me go into a fast food restaurant to get food.

I'm not gonna believe that till I see the whites of her eyes! That's a Chihuahua? Do you have another pic?
LOL, I got fooled twice-they aren't focused on you, it's the food you're bringing back out!
So are you in between the 15 and the 215? or on the western side of the 15? I drive to Corona about once a week to see my Grandma-in-law, and now when I go through Wildomar I think about your 'pack' out there. The world is a small place!

We are west of the 15, taking either Baxter or Bundy.

BTW, I was going INTO the restaurant, so it was anticipation of food.

She has no 'whites of her eyes', but here is another photo. This is a Halloween costume - Princess S'more. You know you have gone nuts when you are sewing dog costumes using sequin fabric that gums up the needle on your machine.

OR, when you are hand sewing sequins in colors to match the chiles on fabric. Here is Tipper as a Chile Dog. I made her 'dress' reversible with a Christmas plaid on the other side.

Those are so cute, quiltygirl...

Now I have to re-adjust my perception on your pack! I had everybody at 50 lbs or so-they must all weigh in around 15 or 20 lbs! What a unique chihuahua!
I love your imagination! Chile Dog! You could make money at Halloween and Christmas making costumes! I admire your crafty skills. I 'imagine' stuff, but the actual assembly rarely happens. I do have one 'invention' that I love-I am a really cold sleeper, while my husband could sleep in 50 degree temps with a sheet. So I took a flat sheet, folded it in half and sewed it up the long side (picture HUGE pillow case), then folded a down comforter in half and stuffed it in (picture HUGE pillow) and that is the perfect size and warmth for just my side of the bed:>) I think a lot of people would buy one, since it seems like couples are always arguing about the temperature. But I'm not motivated enough to try to make them for sale.
You do live close to the mountains, then! It's still country out that way. Sometimes it seems like one day it will just be one long community between San Diego and Los Angeles.

Not so much country as you. As least no anymore. But we are kind of tucked away, so close to everything, but feel like country. Cleveland National Forest is behind us, up the hill. I am glad the house development that went in a few years after we moved here has low light, downcast street lights! I have been up your way and through it a few time. One time, when DD was doing horses in 4H we were up there in the arena run by maybe the Elks. It was November and although the sun was nice, the wind was something else and went right through us! It was night be the time we were going down hwy 79 and I was pulling the horse trailer for maybe the second time. Traffic built up behind me, but thankfully everyone was patient as I had no clue where to turn out till I got close to Galaway Downs.

Your bed creation sounds kinda like a sleeping bag. Too claustrophobic for me. I love it cold in the room, but also like the feeling of snuggling up with the blankets. Hubby would like to sleep with the heat on! He keeps muttering about marrying a Scandinavian from Wisconsin.

Tipper, the chile dog, is actually about 45#, so medium, medium/large. S'more is a very overweight cheeweewee (lol) - like I could cast stones. and is 11#. The female min-pin is probably close to average, and the male is SOLID, taller and muscley. He was a rescue, maybe there in something else in him, but his looks look standard. Making costume would not be profitable with those details and the time. Oh yea, the Petco costume contest the dogs were entered in (lots of dogs wearing 'off the rack' clothes) was won by a MOUSE!!!! Her owner had her in a tank with sand, a little drink umbrella, a tiny strip of terrycloth as an umbrella, a tiny saucer of water as a pool and she was wearing one of those hair scrunci things as a 'bikini'. clever

Just thought I would chime in from Nor Cal....picked 2 off each dog....and two off of one child. This seems like a heavy year. Usually we MAY find ONE in a single year between all of us!

Quiltygirl-If they awarded the effort put into the costume, you would have won! But I have to admit, that must have been a cute mouse!
Sorry your experience at the Gymkhana field wasn't nicer-I've enjoyed many sunny Saturdays there, although not so much these days. I know how stressful it must have been hauling a trailor down that road-too few places to turn out, too many impatient people!
Plantmum-I just hope this was a fluke, and never happens again!

Plantmom - where is The American Canyon? That is a New one to me and i am not at my computer to Lolo Up. Maybe All The extra rían we had this year has made ticks more plentiful.

Actually folks were pretty patient with me coming down the Hill.

LOL...American Canyon is a small city at the southern end of Napa County, about 45 minutes or so north of San Francisco!