Is it normal for the ticks to make a last stand before they die off? Or hybernate or whatever....lol
Yes it is and I wish I hadn't read this thread -- baaad Karma - lol lol
I was just thinking that we got lucky this year by not seeing "the last stand" of ticks on the dogs or the horses - lol lol
I will probably see some now that it's been mentioned - lollol
Since you are in New York, I am really surprised to hear you say that about the ticks. I am from the OH/PA border originally and, like you, was never used to seeing ticks on anything but the dogs.
We retired to Middle Tennessee and I nearly threw up the first year when I saw the Lone Star ticks, out in battalion force, after my horses:???:
I'm used to it now, but I look at EVERY square inch of all four horses. I have found ticks in the edges of their ears, under their chins, way up in the darkest spots under their tails and anal area, INSIDE their sheaths, plus all the normal spots.
It is probably too cold for you now, but if you bath your horses heavily with iodine shampoo, and wait a few minutes, it will make the ticks stand straight up and you can pick them off really easy.
For some reason, the iodine will numb them for a bit, but it rarely kills the evil little creatures --- they are tough:-x
The Lone Star ticks we have are almost impossible to kill, so I keep an empty horse cookie jar (heavily sprayed with Repel-X) on the counter in the barn and throw the ticks in there. Tick purgatory so-to-speak
Also as an FYI, pull the ticks out as quickly as possible. If they are allowed to back themselves out, they will FIRST regurgitate back into their host & that poisoned "gunk" will cause an allergic reaction to one degree or another. A doctor on a local morning radio show said that.
The ticks are why I feed garlic to three of my horses from March thru mid-October. It is 90% effective in keeping the ticks off. I know that for fact, because the 4th horse had an ulcer three years ago and I am afraid to feed him the garlic. I pick more ticks off him in a night than I do off the other three combined over a week's time:sad:
ACK!!! My head itches, I am done "tick talking"