How the pros kill ticks: Unwitting mice and deer get a dose of bug spray

If anyone knows ticks in Maine, it’s the researchers at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute’s tick lab. They’ve been studying the eight-legged disease carriers for 26 years, learning about the deer tick’s emergence and rise to prevalence in our state.

Now they’re sharing their expertise through a new website, TicksInMaine.com.

“This new website is specific to Maine and Mainers and focuses on prevention of tick-borne disease,” Dr. Peter Rand, the lab’s senior investigator, said in a news release.

Rand warned Mainers back in the mid-1980s that the deer tick was crawling its way to Maine, according to MMC. Sigh, those were the days.

The new site includes many familiar warnings and advice about ticks, such as tips to avoid bites, how to safely remove a tick, and the symptoms of Lyme disease.

But it also features information I’d never seen before. For example, these photos of ticks that, fair warning, may haunt your dreams tonight.

A tick laying eggs. Source: TicksInMaine.com

A tick laying eggs. Source: TicksInMaine.com

Use a lint roller on yourself and your pet after spending time in tick habitat. Source: TicksInMaine.com

Use a lint roller on yourself and your pet after spending time in tick habitat. Source: TicksInMaine.com

Deer tick larvae on a mouse ear. Source: TicksInMaine.com

Deer tick larvae on a mouse ear. Source: TicksInMaine.com

Besides the photos, the site explains how the professionals seek and destroy ticks. Along with spraying both synthetic and plant-based acaricides (pesticides that kill arachnids, such as ticks), they’ve devised ways to covertly apply repellent to mice and deer. Ticks catch a ride on those critters, disseminating much further than they can crawl alone.

A bait box. Source: TicksInMaine.com

A bait box. Source: TicksInMaine.com

One method uses a bait box to lure mice inside, where a small wick treated with the pesticide fipronil “lightly brushes the mouse, gently applying a very small amount,” the website states. The fipronil has almost no environmental impact and doesn’t harm the mouse or other animals. Studies have shown this approach leads to a 60-80 percent decrease in ticks after one year, and a 90-100 percent reduction after two years, according to the site.

Source: TicksinMaine.com

Source: TicksinMaine.com

Another device attracts white-tailed deer with a bin of corn. As the deer snack, their “ears, heads, necks, and shoulders rub against vertical rollers that are treated with acaricide. Through grooming, the deer also transfer the acaricide to other parts of their bodies,” the website states.

These “four-posters” are effective, but come with a few caveats: They’re expensive, requite regular maintenance, and several states ban them due to concerns that congregating deer will promote the spread of infectious diseases.

That’s a sample of what I learned on TicksInMaine.com. The more knowledge, the better in the battle against tick-borne diseases.

 

Jackie Farwell

About Jackie Farwell

I'm the health editor for the Bangor Daily News, a Bangor native, a UMaine grad, and a weekend crossword warrior. I never get sick of writing about Maine people, geeking out over health care data, and finding new ways to help you stay well. I live in Gorham with my husband Nick and our hound dog Riley.