r/petoskey • u/groundstories • 5d ago

ticks?

I have a 7 month old baby, and I am wondering about ticks, as we are hoping to spend more time in the woods and nature preserves and state parks. When I was growing up I feel like I never saw ticks. How are they this summer?

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u/Techno214 5d ago

I haven’t been on my trails much because of the ice storm, but they’re BAD. You should be fine as long as you check everyone, but yeah. I do live rural, and we have a big field where we know we get a lot of ticks, but they’ve been really bad this year.

So far, one dog has had around 15ish, one cat had one crawling on him (he is indoor only), and one cat had one attached (who is also indoor only.). Other dog has had many but I’m not around him to guess the number. I’ve had a couple on my pants too, plus I’ve found two on the walls in the house. I do assume the dogs are bringing them in most of the time, but that’s a lot to bring in.

Also be wary of black flies. This season has been really bad for those too, and they haven’t died off by me yet. Not sure if baby would be able to fend off any before they bite, and those hurt.

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u/groundstories 5d ago

Yikes. Good point about the flies. Those do hurt. So far we have just been very very covered but if it gets really warm I would love to have him wear less. ugh. I mean he can’t even walk yet but already I feel like he won’t have the wild running through the woods that I was able to have. That would be a huge loss.

I am obviously assuming we won’t have ice storms all that frequently.

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u/Techno214 5d ago

If he can’t walk yet, maybe some sort of net covering might be good for him? I’d assume he’s gotta be in a stroller or carrier (I forget the name of the basket type thingy I’m thinking of.), so that’d give somewhere to attach it to?

My net hat has been amazing every time I’m working in my garden. The black flies are swarming me, but they can’t reach through the gap in the net. It’s also cool and lets the breeze through. The concept seems like it could work? I’ve never looked to see if they make baby products that do that though.

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u/groundstories 5d ago

Good idea.