Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Tick?

As pests go, ticks get more than their share of press, particularly in spring and summer. It’s not good publicity, of course. No one talks about what a delicious, nutritious meal ticks make for chickens, turkeys, ducks, songbirds, frogs, lizards, spiders and other beneficial animals, and how serving as that vital link in the food chain makes them valuable to a variety of ecosystems. Instead, the focus is on protecting ourselves and our pets from Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and other diseases ticks may carry.

There’s good reason for concern: The number of tick-borne diseases is rising each year, as milder winters allow more ticks to survive the cold season, and as these pests continually migrate to new geographic areas. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that nearly a half-million Americans are diagnosed and treated annually for Lyme disease alone each year, and that number is steadily climbing. People are understandably frightened for the health of their families and pets. That fear motivates them to call for pest management services.

Phones start ringing with calls for tick services at the first hint of spring, and they continue through fall and sometimes beyond. The season is getting longer and the tick pressure more intense in the Midwest, reported Doug Foster, entomologist and owner of Burt’s Termite & Pest Control in Columbus, Ind.

“We normally start our program in March or April, depending on the weather, but this year we had some unseasonably warm weather in February, and we started getting some calls then,” he said. “When I talked with the Indiana Department of Health, they said that they had started seeing tick activity in February, too. It cooled off a little in March, but by April, we were going full speed ahead with tick services. Our monthly program usually runs through September or October.”

Foster added that he had talked with a PMP in Minnesota recently who said their season is becoming longer as well. “It’s interesting to see how tick pressure is increasing. The past couple years we’ve been hearing about this more and more, because the winters are so much easier — lighter.”

Indeed, pest management insiders can look at the increasing pressure as interesting, because they know that there are plenty of control measures in their arsenals for managing ticks.

But to outsiders, growing tick populations can be downright scary, and PMPs need to be equipped to assuage their fears.

COLLABORATION. With health concerns top of mind for consumers, it makes sense for PMPs to be knowledgeable about potential tick-borne diseases, prepared to answer questions and offer proactive educational support. Foster recommends building a solid working relationship with not only your local, but also state, health department. His relationship with the Indiana Department of Health, for example, keeps him up to date on new species, population trends and customer education.

“We get people bringing ticks into the office all the time, wanting to know what they are and if they carry Lyme or other diseases. We consult with the Indiana Department of Health when we need help with that. They’re on the front line just like us, monitoring the different tick species and tracking their activity,” he said. “In fact, that’s where I learned about the Asian longhorned tick, a fairly new invasive species here in the Midwest. They explained that it’s becoming commonplace for a farmer to find several hundred of these ticks on a cow or horse, and they asked us to let them know if we run into any of them, to help them track their numbers and locations.”

Like many other state health departments, the Indiana Department of Health provides customer-facing educational materials to help PMPs keep their clientele informed. “They give us cards, about the size of a credit card, sharing images of the species to watch for in Indiana, plus instructions for protecting yourself from tick bites and removing ticks when they attach,” Foster explained. “We pass these out like Halloween candy! People love them because, while they may know a lot about mosquitoes, cockroaches and ants, they don’t know much about ticks, and ticks frighten them. These cards offer them reassurance. They also give us instant credibility when customers see we’re working with the Department of Health.”

CONTINUED GROWTH. Results of the 2024 PCT State of the Tick Control Market report, summarized in the following pages, reflect optimism toward the growing business potential of tick management services. PMPs shared their insights into the relative importance of tick work to their bottom lines and detailed the treatment protocols they’re using to keep populations in check.