Anyone know anything about Seed Ticks?

[SLP]

I need some advice. The family and I went looking at some land the other day. Liked it other than we got covered in hundreds of these tiny ticks that were near impossible to get off of us. I would hate to buy land where this would happen each time we went there, but I don't know enough about them to form a decision. I had never heard of them before this, and from searching the Internet I found out what they were. It sounds like these tiny guys are the larva stage of ticks soon after hatching.

My question is, does this just occur once or twice a year? I believe maybe could live with is if it is an occasional occurrence. However I would hate to buy land and these guys are there always there?

Does anyone know how often and for how long are they in this seed tick stage? Anyone have land where they deal with this?

I would greatly appreciate any input.

[Splatterback]

Correct, they are immature ticks (likely lone star or dog ticks if you leave near KY). Don't know how you plan on using the property (for recreation, hunting or for a house) but keeping the grass cut low on the property should do the trick as ticks avoid areas with sunlight and low vegetation. Residual insecticides can be used along weedy edges if problems persist. They only stay at that stage (larvae) for one blood meal after which they molt into a nymph, take a blood meal, and then into a sexually reproducing adult. The later stages (nymph/adults) aren't as dense since they are dispersed via blood hosts or killed in some manner (predation, killed by host, etc). Females can oviposit thousands of eggs so you likely ran into on area where a animal(s) infested with adult ticks congregated. Hope this helps.

[SLP]

Thanks so much for the reply.

It is all wooded on the property. My wife and kids love to hike and explore so we would really use it mostly for hiking and camping, likely also some hunting as my son gets older. That's the thing we really wouldn't have any lawn to spray, so it is what it is. What I really am trying to figure out is does this seed larva stage happen repeatedly throughout most of the spring summer and fall, or do they only lay eggs once or twice each year and the rest of the time they would be in the other stages? If we could just avoid the woods a week or two when they were in this stage, I don't think it is too big a problem. If they were often laying eggs and it was constantly recurring much of the year then it could be a nightmare.

I never knew about these little guys and and just trying to understand if this was a fluke rare occurrence or a common one that would happen every time we went there. I have two young children and we spent a few hours getting the ticks off of us and my daughter has bites all over her legs. It would defeat the entire reason to buy the land if our children didn't like to go there.

Thanks again for the information.

[Splatterback]

I would guess there are some seasonal fluctuations in seed tick numbers but other than in the spring when the overwintering adults become active again it would be hard to predict to the week. If you could avoid weedy areas or places you know animals are bedding you should be fine. In most cases they are not as abundant in just leaf litter (woods) they really prefer that knee level vegetation or higher. However as long as deer or other mammals are present the ticks will be there and it only takes a small patch that is infested to pick up numbers your family saw.

[RoadToad]

Here's an article that may help a little: http://voices.yahoo.com/what-seed-ticks-6029558.html

It seems that seed ticks don't travel far from where they hatch. That's why you'll run into hundreds, or even thousands of them, all in one place. But one thing it mentions is that seed ticks are more prevalent in that area (Missouri) during late summer. I'll bet the same applies in Kentucky or Indiana. Also, this dry summer has been good for some spiders and other arachnids; I would guess it's probably good for ticks, too.

[Tyme2fish]

Would Roundup work on seed ticks? Sorry, I couldn't resist.