Fight the Bite: Be Aware of Tick and Mosquito Habitats

[ERIKA MACHTINGER] Being aware of habitats, times, seasons, and even temperatures where ticks and mosquitoes are more prevalent can help reduce your risk of vector bites.

If possible, avoid habitats where ticks and mosquitoes might be.

Many ticks are common in wooded areas, especially those with undergrowth and leaf litter.

But other ticks are found in areas with tall grasses like fields and roadsides.

Many mosquitoes thrive in areas with standing water.

This could be around your house if you have standing water in containers, tires, or even some types of plants like bromeliads outside or near marshy habitats or ephemeral pools in the forest.

We can classify habitats into risky and safer.

For example, we can call this shaded part of this yard tick risky and this open sunny area of this lawn tick safer.

Take a look at this hiker walking through the tall grass.

Do you think this area would be tick risky or tick safer?

If you said tick risky, you were right.

The long grasses here would potentially be a tick risky area since ticks can climb these grasses and quest for potential hosts.

So if you were in this habitat, practice tick bite prevention methods like long sleeves, gaiters, or repellents like DEET to reduce your risk.

What about this ephemeral pond surrounded by bare trees?

Do you think this would be mosquito risky or mosquito safer?

The standing water suggests there are good development habitats for mosquitoes here, so if you said mosquito risky, you were right.

This type of habitat is a mosquito-risky habitat.

If you know you're going to be in tick or mosquito-risky habitats, you can also reduce your bite risk by maximizing your distance away from the most likely areas where ticks and mosquitoes may be.

If you're on a trail, stay close to the trail's center when hiking or biking.

Try to keep recreational activities at least nine feet from the forest edge if possible.

Place or move recreational equipment like basketball hoops and soccer nets away from the woods so that if a ball is lost, like this baseball, it doesn't have to be retrieved in tick habitat.

Be aware that if you lose a baseball or a soccer ball in the woods, you may be entering tick habitat and you should take proper precautions.

Along with avoiding habitats, you can also avoid conducting activities at certain times of the day, times of the year, or at certain temperatures to reduce tick and mosquito bite risk.

For mosquitoes, avoid outdoor activities at dusk and dawn in the warmer parts of the year to reduce the risk of bites.

Some mosquito species are only active during these times of the day.

Others are daytime flyers, so you may see some flying around.

While many ticks are active at various life stages all year round, the greatest risk of tick bites from important species is considered late spring through summer in the northeastern United States.

This is when the nymphal life stage of blacklegged ticks is active, which is small and much more difficult for people to see.

However, many tick species are active during other seasons, so avoiding ticks altogether can be a bit more difficult.

The most common ticks that bite people and domesticated animals are active year round.

Ticks can even be active in cooler temperatures down to 38 degrees Fahrenheit or sometimes even cooler.

This means that even if you are bundled up for a fall or winter hike, ticks may still be active.

Tick activity depends on the temperature where the ticks are, so even if it's 32 degrees outside but the sun is shining on tick habitat, this creates a warm spot for ticks and they may be looking for a host.

Ticks do tend to dry out fast and need humid conditions, so plan activities during the hottest and driest part of the day to reduce tick bite risk.

But understand that ticks can find ways to stay humid, so even this time of the day is not risk-free.

You may have noticed a pattern throughout this video that there's always some element of risk when outdoors.

Avoidance may not always be possible, but even if you can be aware of the times of day, seasons, and environmental conditions that are suitable for ticks and mosquitoes, you can help reduce your vector bite risk.

And remember, practice good personal protection measures like using repellents and permethrin-treated clothing along with these recommendations.