They Are Not Santa's Reindeer But They Could Still Be Leaving Presents at Your Home!

Look around during the holidays and there are a plethora of reindeer on front lawns. From the plastic vintage reindeer from the 60’s and 70’s to the modern blow-ups, reindeer seem to be everywhere. Now look more closely, that is not actually an animatronic reindeer, it is the reindeer’s Jersey cousin, the white tail deer. Yes, whitetail deer are now abundant in New Jersey, even in suburban settings.  And like their reindeer cousins, the white tail deer are leaving presents on your lawn, but these are presents you don’t want. They are leaving ticks.

So what do you do when you get a present you don’t want? Well, while you can’t exactly give the ticks back to the deer, there is a way to keep ticks off of your lawn and thereby keep you and your family safer. The best system is called a Mosquito & Tick Reduction Program. The way the system works is a low-grade adulticide is dispensed through a mist-blower. The technician takes extra care to cover areas known to be most commonly used as tick breeding grounds, like leaf piles. The treatment will also be expanded to cover your lawn, beneath any decks, and under structural overhangs. The Mosquito & Tick Reduction Program may sound like some other systems but with this program the product that is used dries much faster. It is more effective than "power spraying" or liquid backpack spraying which soaks surfaces. With this program low-grade granules are applied to leaf litter beds and wooded areas within 5-10 feet of grass for even greater protection.

Some people may think that this is a lot of work to get rid a creature whose nymph is the size of a poppy seed. How much damage could something that small really do? Make no mistake, ticks are small but they are a serious health hazard. It is estimated that 50% of the adult black-legged ticks in New Jersey are infected with Lyme disease which means that these tiny beings can and do cause permanent health problems. And Lyme is not the only disease these pests can transmit.

Although we have been led to believe that people get tick bites when they go for long walks in the woods, studies have shown that approximately 70% of Lyme disease transmissions are from tick bites people receive in their own yards. This is the same yard where many of us have erected swing sets for our kids to play on, or flower gardens for our own enjoyment so it is important to safeguard these areas.

It may seem odd to talk about ticks, during the holiday season when they are significantly less active, but this is actually the perfect time to prepare for the start of tick season. The Mosquito & Tick Reduction Program starts in April and runs through October with a technician coming out monthly to administer treatments. Now is a great time to get in touch with Cowleys to make sure that everything is ready for an April start!