Tick season 2022 – periods of tick activity by month

You can make forays into nature all your life, go hiking, relax in the summer with your grandmother in the village and still not learn about ticks. Or you can go for a walk in the nearest park and accidentally pick up this dangerous animal.

The tick season begins in early spring (from March) and ends in autumn. Favorable conditions for their existence are air temperature within +20C°, humidity – 80%. Parasites are most active in the spring, when they are just awakening from winter hibernation.

Parasites wake up in early spring during the flowering period of snowdrops and swelling of the buds. As soon as the snow melts and the air warms up, pests crawl out of their shelters. Ticks wake up at a temperature of +1 - +3C°, but become active at +10C°.

The period of tick activity may begin differently in each year. Everything depends on climatic conditions. Ticks appear in the spring after the snow melts and the air warms up, and this can be either the end of March or April. If the winter was harsh, with temperatures dropping to critical levels, the number of parasites will be insignificant.

When do ticks appear?

On a note!
The most favorable temperature for life and development of parasites is +20 degrees Celsius, humidity within 80%.

Myth. Only residents of Siberia, the Urals and the Far East should be afraid of ticks.

In fact . There are many more areas endemic for tick-borne encephalitis. The dangerous territory extends from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean. But you can also become infected in the Central Federal District (almost half of the territories of the Tver, Yaroslavl regions, etc.). A complete list of endemic areas is available on the Rospotrebnadzor website. Moscow and Moscow region. (with the exception of Dmitrovsky and Taldomsky districts) are free from this disease. However, a tick bite is dangerous not only because of tick-borne encephalitis, but also because of borreliosis (Lyme disease), an equally dangerous but more common disease that infects every third tick in the Moscow region.

Life cycle features

Nymphs, fertilized females, overwinter. The former continue the development cycle, the latter complete it - they lay eggs, giving life to a new generation. In spring, the number of eggs laid is in the thousands. The life cycle of a tick lasts 2 years, during which time the parasite changes 3 hosts.

After their birth, the larvae begin to look for their first host. They become wild animals, rodents, birds. They drink blood and disappear after a few days. In well-warmed soil they molt and turn into a nymph. This happens either at the end of summer or autumn. In the first case, the pest looks for a host again, in the second, it hibernates.

The second host for nymphs are wild animals, domestic animals, artiodactyls, rodents, and parasites also attack people. Having drunk blood, the nymph falls to the ground again and turns into an imago. Further development continues in the spring of next year. Young females and males find prey, drink blood, and achieve sexual activity. They begin to lay eggs.

Life cycle of a tick

Fighting methods

Preparations for treating the area against ticks

You can repel them with cologne with a strong smell, essential oils of citronella, lavender, and cloves. They use sprays and aerosols - Gardex, Reftamid Antiklesch, Raptor, Raid, Taiga, Off, Moskitol. Spray clothes thoroughly; some products can be applied directly to the skin.

To rid your land of parasites and ensure safe outdoor recreation, they use smoke bombs - Quiet Evening, Whirlwind, Fomorian. Use solutions for spraying grass and trees based on insectoacaricides. You can poison with the drug Cifox, Sinuzan, Executioner, Medilis-Ziper, Forsyth.

Ticks are not poisoned en masse, as this increases the chances of death of natural enemies - birds, animals, insects. This explains the fact why there are a lot of ticks. Initially, after using chemicals, pests disappear, but along with them, natural enemies. Over time, the population of pests increases, but there are no “exterminators” of them. A situation arises when people say, before there were no ticks, now there are a lot of them.

Pests can become active at the end of March and end their activity in November. Therefore, you should always remember about safety, but you should not be afraid of panic. Not all ticks are contagious; if you consult a specialist in a timely manner, the risk of the disease is reduced or the disease proceeds without complications. You should protect yourself in advance with clothing, anti-tick medications, and get vaccinated when visiting dangerous territories or areas.

When are ticks dangerous for people?

The period of tick activity directly depends on the life cycle. They awaken after hibernation at the end of March and April. But pests become especially dangerous a little later. The peak of activity is observed in May and continues in the first or second decade of June. Everything depends on climatic conditions.

On a note!
What kind of weather do ticks like? Warm, moderately rainy. Mass reproduction is observed at 20-25 degrees Celsius with frequent short-term rains. It is impossible to be in the forest in such conditions due to the huge number of blood-sucking parasites. Whether ticks are active in the rain depends on the amount of precipitation. If it is a small splash, the pests are in no hurry to hide and remain on the alert.

In July, tick activity decreases, which is facilitated by several factors.

Arachnids are eaten by natural enemies - birds, animals, reducing their numbers.
Females who have already exhausted their energy potential die; the younger generation of pests is at the development stage.
Air temperature rises and humidity decreases.

The tick season ends with the onset of persistent cold weather. When this happens, it is difficult to predict in advance. If the first frosts begin in September, the pests will rush to take cover, will no longer emerge from their shelters until spring, and will not become active. In stable warm weather, ticks disappear at the end of October and disappear completely in November.

On a note!
The second generation of young ticks may appear by the end of August, but the parasites are not as active as they are in the spring. Both adult females and nymphs have one goal - to drink blood and continue the development cycle. Both are dangerous to humans.

If you describe tick activity by month, the picture looks like this:

March-April – low;
May-mid-June – high;
July, August – average;
September-October – low.

The acceptable time of day is day, but if you stay in the wild at night, the likelihood of tick infection increases. The reason is prolonged contact with grass, thickets, and bushes.

Second peak of bloodsucking activity

During the dry summer months, ticks hide from the sun and heat. They have to go down to the roots of plants and climb into cracks in the soil, where the moisture necessary for their life is stored. Because of this, they have little opportunity to ambush their prey, but the parasites climb onto the grass at night, so even in the hot summer there is a chance of catching a bloodsucker.

Ticks appear again towards the end of summer, when the heat subsides, but there is still enough warmth and moisture in the air for them to have the opportunity to spend time in wait for prey. Bloodsuckers remain active until sub-zero temperatures occur.

In hot regions of the country, for example, in the Kuban, Volga region and Crimea, the summer diapause of ticks is longer, but in the Urals, Siberia, Leningrad region, Karelia and other colder regions it is short or may even not exist at all. In the latter case, most attacks will occur in June and July.

Danger to humans

Diseases from ticks
Pests feed on blood and are carriers of dangerous diseases. After a tick bite, a blister, a red spot, itching, irritation, and an allergic reaction appear. In the absence of the virus, the effects of activity disappear on their own without special treatment within a week. Once the virus enters the bloodstream, the development of a terrible disease begins; the incubation period lasts from several days to 2 months.

Carry:

theileriosis;
piroplasmosis in dogs;
Lyme disease;
erpichiosis;
hematozoonosis;
tularemia for cats, dogs;
tick paralysis;
fever;
encephalitis.

The most dangerous are ixodid ticks. The virus remains in the blood and is transmitted to the younger generation. Ticks themselves do not get sick, they transmit the virus to humans, and become infected by the bite of an infected wild animal. They wake up early in the spring, are active throughout the warm season, and may disappear in November. Unfavorable weather conditions can reduce the activity of this type of parasite.

Kinds

Dust mites are parasites that enter the home mainly through bird feathers and food products from agriculture. Once inside the house, the tick easily finds shelter in secluded and dusty places. Dust parasites feed mainly on dead epidermis rather than blood. The tick is not dangerous in itself, but its waste products are harmful to health and cause allergies. You can fight this parasite by regularly ventilating the room, wet cleaning, frequently changing bed linen and periodically cleaning pillows and feather beds containing feathers. It is also necessary to thoroughly clean food.

Barn mites are another type of mite that can cause serious damage. But their habitat is more limited. Granary mites settle in places where rotting plants accumulate. Barns are also a risk area, as parasites are attracted to grain crops stored there. They can be found in foods such as bread, flour and milk. These insects are carried by small rodents, which form the basis of their diet. Typically, people involved in agricultural production are susceptible to granary mite attacks.

Taiga ticks are the habitat of these forest pests of the taiga type. This tick is an encephalitis carrier. This type of tick is also considered one of the largest representatives of these parasites. Their diet consists of the blood of large animals and birds.

Just like taiga ticks, dog ticks are the main carriers of diseases, including encephalitis.

Feasibility of vaccination

In Siberia, the issue of protection from dangerous pests is acute. Resist mass disease with a vaccine. People who plan to visit Siberia in the next six months are subject to mandatory vaccination. In this way you can protect yourself from encephalitis. 3 vaccinations are provided with an interval of 1 month. Vaccinations are carried out in Moscow and other cities in public and private clinics.

There is no vaccine against borreliosis and some other diseases; they protect themselves with repellents to repel parasites and thick clothing. In the forest you should dress so that there are no exposed skin areas. When you get home, you should throw everything in the wash.

On a note!
Once a tick appears on a human body, it does not immediately become active. Absorbed into the skin after approximately 2-3 hours. In a simple way you can protect yourself from a dangerous disease.

Precautionary measures

Nonspecific and specific preventive measures will help minimize the likelihood of tick attacks and infection with viral encephalitis. The first group includes the use of protective suits and maximally closed clothing, the use of repellent insectoacaricidal and modern acaricidal drugs with proven effect. Specific preventive measures are vaccinations against tick-borne encephalitis and seroprophylaxis.

Choosing a natural area for recreation: where is the risk of meeting ticks?

When choosing a natural place for a picnic or rest stop, you should give preference to hills or elevated areas that are illuminated by the sun from all sides. Here the risk of encountering ticks is minimal. Individuals also do not like dry pine forests on sandy soils, areas without dense tall grass and near coniferous forests.

The likelihood of an unpleasant meeting depends on several factors:

the number of ticks that have already woken up from hibernation;
weather;
presence of direct sunlight and rain on the site;
landscape feature: lowland, highland;
the presence of tall thickets of plants and low bushes;
What time of day did you go outdoors?

Individuals prefer to wait for prey in tall grassy thickets, in plant litter and on the leaves of low bushes. They never climb higher than 1 meter.

note

Many people mistakenly believe that ectoparasites attack by jumping from trees.
As a result, people build their travel routes incorrectly. Trying to avoid encounters with arachnids, they bypass the forest with relatively safe tall trees and walk through grassy thickets, where the risk of tick attacks is highest. Blood-sucking ectoparasites are found in large numbers in shady areas of forest belts, in dense tall thickets of weeds and under bushes. They love to inhabit low-lying areas, areas near shady deciduous forests and swampy areas.

Protective suit and acaricidal preparations against ticks

The second important point of nonspecific prevention is the use of protective suits or maximally closed clothing, as well as insectoacaricidal repellents and modern acaricidal preparations against ticks.

Rospotrebnadzor gives recommendations that will help avoid an ectoparasite bite:

gather your hair under a cap or put on a hood;
tuck the jacket into the trousers;
wear white or light-colored clothes without patterns or patterns, on which it is easy to notice a small dark crawling tick;
It is better to use a jacket with long sleeves and thick cuffs;
Tuck trousers into socks with thick elastic and wear high shoes;
treat clothing with an acaricidal-repellent agent;
do not sit on the grass and do not rest near dense thickets of weeds;
Every few hours, independently or with the help of travelers, inspect clothing, hair and body for the absence of ectoparasites.

You should not bring flowers or other objects into the house that may have ticks on them. After a walk in nature, pets should be carefully examined for the presence of ectoparasites.

To protect against tick bites, it is better to choose acaricidal-repellent drugs that both repel and kill ticks. Before use, you should carefully read the instructions. Particular attention should be paid to the period of action of the active component. This indicator determines how many hours later it is necessary to reapply the drug to the skin or clothing.

Specific preventive measures

Preventive vaccination is the most effective way to protect against tick-borne encephalitis. It does not guarantee 100% that a person will not become infected, but it significantly facilitates the course of the disease.

Preventive vaccinations are mandatory for certain categories of people whose professional activities require prolonged exposure to nature. These include employees sent to endemic regions, students in construction teams, forestry specialists and agricultural workers who work in the fields.

Seroprophylaxis is the administration of immune serum to an unvaccinated person who has been bitten by a tick. This is an emergency measure that reduces the risk of contracting a dangerous disease.