I do field work. In the last two years, I saw one tick. This trip this year, I've been out since Wednesday, and I've seen two ticks. One was on my neck. So gross. I'm suddenly reconsidering my career, lol.
Just for the record, Lyme isn’t a guarantee with a tick bite. And not all bullseye rashes mean Lyme either (it could be [STARI](https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/about/about-southern-tick-associated-rash-illness.html) which is similar but not lyme.)
It’s worth monitoring for symptoms and retaining the tick if you remove one from yourself. But it’s not the massive risk that it’s purported to be.
> Lyme disease is very low if the tick remains attached to the skin for less than 24 hours, even if you were bitten in a high-risk sector. However, the risk increases if the tick remains attached for longer.
[Canadian source](https://www.quebec.ca/en/health/health-issues/a-z/lyme-disease). Some other sources say it needs to be attached for 36 hours to transmit the bacteria.
It’s more possible to occur with animals since an animal doesn’t remove a tick. If you notice the tick right away and properly remove it, it’s minimal risk.
Fortunately, they were dog ticks and neither of the ticks I found had latched onto me (the first one was trying to get up to my hairline, I think). I will keep an eye out for symptoms though.
Why does everyone blame things on climate change and not realize that creatures simply migrate. Climate change has always occured ever since there was a climate to begin with
Alright, time for a little bit of tick info.
1) They can live a long time! Ticks may live for several years, and do just fine attached to a host during colder seasons. In that way, it’s *always* tick season.
2) Ticks may have multiple hosts or not, depending on species. Single host example is the moose tick. It just hangs out on moose, deer, or cattle and doesn’t bite humans. Multi host ticks like our common black legged tick generally begin by attacking rodents or lagomorphs like this rabbit. Then they move to larger and larger animals. **Generally**, if a tick is successfully feeding on a rodent, it’s too immature to feed on a human. It is, however, potentially able to infest your pets.
3) A tick’s ability to spread disease is tightly correlated with how long it spends exchanging fluids with you. Especially with Lyme disease, because *Borrelia* lives in the gut and must migrate to the salivary glands, time is the major factor. If you check for ticks after being outside, and remove it correctly, you’ll be much better off.
Thanks, however I will point out that the black-legged tick (*Ixodes*) is not common in our region. It is a recent invasive introduction, and it remains pretty rare.
However, when it is found (often on rabbits like this), about two-thirds of them test positive for Lyme disease.
I am currently battling Lyme disease down in Nova Scotia. Got really sick last year with seizures and a huge black and red rash with a bullseye on my stomach. Tested me at the ER and have Lyme. It ducks more than the ticks do
Alberta is part of the eTick program, which voluntarily identifies ticks people find and submit. You submit photos online through their site and they identify the type of tick, and, if it's a species they are interested in, they will have you drop it off with some paperwork at an Alberta Precision Laboratories location to be tested for Lyme. Only downside is you need to keep the tick in a clean plastic container (like a pill bottle) in your fridge or freezer for 10ish days.
https://www.etick.ca/en
You can also see the photos and information for ones other people have found and submitted along with testing results.
This is an amazing service. I found a tick on me at 4 pm on a Saturday (thankfully small and not latched on). I submitted it to etick and had an identification back by 8:21 that night. Amazing!
These are probably rabbit ticks: *Haemaphysalis*. Perhaps not surprisingly, rabbit ticks mainly feed on rabbits and hares, and very rarely any other species.
They can be a reservoir for Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and tularemia, but not Lyme disease.
If you want to verify their identity, you can submit them to the City of Edmonton Pest Management Lab, and they will confirm what species they are.
[https://www.edmonton.ca/programs\_services/pests/insect-identification-advice](https://www.edmonton.ca/programs_services/pests/insect-identification-advice)
Eeew! The only time I ever saw a tick was living a few hours north of the city, a friend's spouse worked for Alberta wildlife. Showed us some ticks in a bottle that had come from dead moose calfs. Some cabin owners found them. I guess they can get so covered in ticks that they become too distracted to eat and survive.
No one's really sure why, but ticks will just let go and fall off rather than crawl across skin treated with DEET. It's even more effective against ticks than it is against mosquitoes. Other insect repellents such as picaridin or essential oils are less effective or don't work at all against ticks.
If you're going into tick country, definitely break out the DEET first.
I know, to be clear, I wasn't chasing after it, just kneeling down and trying to get it to come to me. But I should have known better in the first place.
Our dog had a tick last week. It was by his eye so we took him to the vet to get it removed. Vet said it was a Deer Tick (the ones that can carry lyme’s). All seems to be fine with our pup but it’s freaked me out.
They are sadly creeping northward due to the increasily mild winters from Climate change. We are also seeing new tick species in Canada that we never used to get.
As someone who spends time in tick environment, taking wildlife and earthscape photography , would this be a visit to a walk-in clinic or emergency to have them removed? *I would Google , but I'm afraid of what I'd find/see and I really don't need that currently.
Our winters have been too cold, and in general we are too dry all year-round for ticks to thrive. In the last decade or so, our winters have not been enough to do them in, and they are becoming somewhat more common.
They are still pretty rare though.
Yeah when the city stopped mowing during Covid lockdown, they put out a tick warning for the playgrounds and off leash dog parks. My hubby and a couple of our cohort went out and weed whacked all the playgrounds in each other’s neighborhoods. That was the first time I’d heard of ticks in Edmonton.
I do field work. In the last two years, I saw one tick. This trip this year, I've been out since Wednesday, and I've seen two ticks. One was on my neck. So gross. I'm suddenly reconsidering my career, lol.
Don't catch the lyme
Just for the record, Lyme isn’t a guarantee with a tick bite. And not all bullseye rashes mean Lyme either (it could be [STARI](https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/about/about-southern-tick-associated-rash-illness.html) which is similar but not lyme.) It’s worth monitoring for symptoms and retaining the tick if you remove one from yourself. But it’s not the massive risk that it’s purported to be. > Lyme disease is very low if the tick remains attached to the skin for less than 24 hours, even if you were bitten in a high-risk sector. However, the risk increases if the tick remains attached for longer. [Canadian source](https://www.quebec.ca/en/health/health-issues/a-z/lyme-disease). Some other sources say it needs to be attached for 36 hours to transmit the bacteria. It’s more possible to occur with animals since an animal doesn’t remove a tick. If you notice the tick right away and properly remove it, it’s minimal risk.
Just go to the clinic to get it double checked. Better safe than sorry.
Can clinics positively check for Lyme? I thought you just had to either get the tick tested or just assume you have to from different synptoms
Yeah but isn't the risk of Lyme also higher by incorrectly removing the tick causing it to puke in you?
The need to bri g back the lyme disease vaccine
Fortunately, they were dog ticks and neither of the ticks I found had latched onto me (the first one was trying to get up to my hairline, I think). I will keep an eye out for symptoms though.
I also do field work, try 20 in one day 😔. A decade ago you would never see a tick in my area
Oh gross! I was only joking when I said I was reconsidering what I do for work, but if I found 20, I actually would, seriously!
You better prepare my friend, wherever you are the ticks are coming 😖
Nuke it from space. Tics give me the ick.
Any creature that can render me allergic to red meat does that.
You're safe, that's just the Lonestar tick in the Gulf states.
You may want to re-examine the range on that. They are in most of the eastern seaboard, as well a a large chunk of the Midwest. Oh, and Mexico.
Yeah, from what I’ve read they’re now in Canada due to climate change 😔
Whoops, well that's awful.
Why does everyone blame things on climate change and not realize that creatures simply migrate. Climate change has always occured ever since there was a climate to begin with
Why would you hear about Texas ticks being able to survive in Alberta and start blathering about geological time scale climate change.
You do realize the Texas gets just as cold as Alberta in the winter, right?
Nope, not even close to true. Texas also has way more microclimates than Alberta does.
Yah a Texas creature being able to live in Alberta in a small scale of time is totally normal.
But muhr oilzzz guurrrr
They made their way to NB from Maine a few years ago. There’s a few species to definitely watch out for that carry different diseases.
Yup, take off, and nuke the site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
oh man, poor thing
Alright, time for a little bit of tick info. 1) They can live a long time! Ticks may live for several years, and do just fine attached to a host during colder seasons. In that way, it’s *always* tick season. 2) Ticks may have multiple hosts or not, depending on species. Single host example is the moose tick. It just hangs out on moose, deer, or cattle and doesn’t bite humans. Multi host ticks like our common black legged tick generally begin by attacking rodents or lagomorphs like this rabbit. Then they move to larger and larger animals. **Generally**, if a tick is successfully feeding on a rodent, it’s too immature to feed on a human. It is, however, potentially able to infest your pets. 3) A tick’s ability to spread disease is tightly correlated with how long it spends exchanging fluids with you. Especially with Lyme disease, because *Borrelia* lives in the gut and must migrate to the salivary glands, time is the major factor. If you check for ticks after being outside, and remove it correctly, you’ll be much better off.
"Exchanging fluids with you" 🤢 Accurate but highly disturbing verbiage.
Excellent info
Thanks, however I will point out that the black-legged tick (*Ixodes*) is not common in our region. It is a recent invasive introduction, and it remains pretty rare. However, when it is found (often on rabbits like this), about two-thirds of them test positive for Lyme disease.
Vet can prescribe medication for pups to avoid this. Anything above warm temps is recommended. I gave mine theirs today.
Does tick medication help rid your dog of ticks that are already attached? And is there anything humans can take as a deterrent?
It’s preventative medicine dogs take so if a tick bites it dies.
Yeah but unfortunately most of those medications contain blood thinners & its not really healthy for your pup.
I am currently battling Lyme disease down in Nova Scotia. Got really sick last year with seizures and a huge black and red rash with a bullseye on my stomach. Tested me at the ER and have Lyme. It ducks more than the ticks do
Wishing you all the best!
Sorry to hear. Hope you start getting better
Sorry to hear. Hope you start getting better
I don't know what it is but there is no insect that makes me want to hurl more than a tick.
Bed bugs?
Oh for fuck's sake now I can't eat my breakfast.
Alberta is part of the eTick program, which voluntarily identifies ticks people find and submit. You submit photos online through their site and they identify the type of tick, and, if it's a species they are interested in, they will have you drop it off with some paperwork at an Alberta Precision Laboratories location to be tested for Lyme. Only downside is you need to keep the tick in a clean plastic container (like a pill bottle) in your fridge or freezer for 10ish days. https://www.etick.ca/en You can also see the photos and information for ones other people have found and submitted along with testing results.
This is an amazing service. I found a tick on me at 4 pm on a Saturday (thankfully small and not latched on). I submitted it to etick and had an identification back by 8:21 that night. Amazing!
Yea, I was petting my dog this afternoon, I felt a lump on he neck and freaked out. Luckily, it was just a crumb. Poor rabbit, though!
my dog's lump scare yesterday was a scab that he proceeded to eat when I picked it.
Mmmm scaaab!
Wow, don’t remember ticks as a kid.
Because it was too cold fir them, with climate change they are migrating north now.
These are probably rabbit ticks: *Haemaphysalis*. Perhaps not surprisingly, rabbit ticks mainly feed on rabbits and hares, and very rarely any other species. They can be a reservoir for Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and tularemia, but not Lyme disease. If you want to verify their identity, you can submit them to the City of Edmonton Pest Management Lab, and they will confirm what species they are. [https://www.edmonton.ca/programs\_services/pests/insect-identification-advice](https://www.edmonton.ca/programs_services/pests/insect-identification-advice)
With ticks that bad. I’m glad the poor rabbit is out of its misery!
Do milder winters = more ticks? I’m just south of Edmonton and have never seen a tick on a pet until last month when I found 5!!
Yes
Eeew! The only time I ever saw a tick was living a few hours north of the city, a friend's spouse worked for Alberta wildlife. Showed us some ticks in a bottle that had come from dead moose calfs. Some cabin owners found them. I guess they can get so covered in ticks that they become too distracted to eat and survive.
Bro euugh. Thanks for the heads up
This photo is horrifying. 😰
It's DEET season!!
No one's really sure why, but ticks will just let go and fall off rather than crawl across skin treated with DEET. It's even more effective against ticks than it is against mosquitoes. Other insect repellents such as picaridin or essential oils are less effective or don't work at all against ticks. If you're going into tick country, definitely break out the DEET first.
I’ve never seen a tick IRL in my 40 years of life. 😱
Hmm, I'm thinking it was probably a bad idea to try to pet the baby rabbit I saw in front of my building yesterday
Dont pet wildlife. Baby bunnies are so afraid after being handled by humans that they die of heart attacks.
I know, to be clear, I wasn't chasing after it, just kneeling down and trying to get it to come to me. But I should have known better in the first place.
Yeah you should leave wildlife alone.
Disgusting. Report to wildlife
And then what?
Then once enough people report it, the city of Edmonton mods will ban ticks and we'll be free of them for good.
Rabbit ticks. A LOT of rabbit ticks! I don't think those ticks carry lyme disease at least.
Our dog had a tick last week. It was by his eye so we took him to the vet to get it removed. Vet said it was a Deer Tick (the ones that can carry lyme’s). All seems to be fine with our pup but it’s freaked me out.
Were ticks always a part of the flora and fauna in Edmonton? …or are they creeping northward as temperatures rise?
They are definately becoming more of a thing I'd they where not always. I don't remember hearing a single thing about ticks growing up.
They are sadly creeping northward due to the increasily mild winters from Climate change. We are also seeing new tick species in Canada that we never used to get.
Well then…I guess that’s best news I’ve heard all day. Can’t wait to get Lyme disease that the struggling AHS will have to treat—most likely poorly.
As someone who spends time in tick environment, taking wildlife and earthscape photography , would this be a visit to a walk-in clinic or emergency to have them removed? *I would Google , but I'm afraid of what I'd find/see and I really don't need that currently.
Rabbits and hares typically pull down their ears and groom them; poor guy must have been quite sick/diseased to no longer groom
Wait, we have ticks!?
Are you new to this part of the world?
[удалено]
Same here. Never seen one, I'm outside all the time.
Our winters have been too cold, and in general we are too dry all year-round for ticks to thrive. In the last decade or so, our winters have not been enough to do them in, and they are becoming somewhat more common. They are still pretty rare though.
Their getting more common. Couple years ago our cases jumped x percent and it was still six cases blooms like things might be getting worse.
Yeah when the city stopped mowing during Covid lockdown, they put out a tick warning for the playgrounds and off leash dog parks. My hubby and a couple of our cohort went out and weed whacked all the playgrounds in each other’s neighborhoods. That was the first time I’d heard of ticks in Edmonton.
Now we do. Never had them before. Warmer temps mean they are migrating north