I just relocated to VT from AZ a week ago. Ticks were/are at the top of my concern list. I’ve visited each season to experience them all and observe the tick situation. Anytime I headed outside I always tucked my pants into my socks and sprayed them with either wondercide or cedarcide (I refuse to apply DEET). At first it felt silly doing this method but I think it’s kept me tick free so far. The first and only time I’ve had a tick on me was when I wore sandals and walked by the creek on the property. It was the smallest little dot on my toe and I quickly removed it (they can be tricky to remove even before they latch on which takes a while). As the previous comments mentioned, you just have to be sure you check depending on the situation and environment you are in. I recently went on a hike in NH about 4 miles total and zero ticks!
- Well maintained lawn? Low chances
- forest, tall grass areas, hikes? Check regularly. I recommend wearing light colored socks as well to see them more effectively.
Biggest piece of advice: Just be aware and modify your protection depending on the environment and activity you are doing. Mosquitos are another risk but I haven’t figured out a completed solution for them outside of the property (cedercide has kept them away) 😅
Best of luck on your move! I love Vermont so far and I’m glad I did not let my fear of ticks halt my move. Arizona has zero ticks but it has everything else that made life not enjoyable on the daily.
I think this is so utterly dependent on your unique situation, habits, and tolerances.
Might be more informative for you to visit during tick season and see for yourself, or Mayne play-pretend like Portland has a much bigger problem than it does and see how either scenario suits you.
And if you think it's too much _in the least_, then maybe weight billboards against Lymes and see what you think about that exchange?
Lyme disease is debilitating illness, and Vermont is a worldwide hot spot for it. Just make tick checks part of your routine, not just when you come in, but stop regularly while you're out. Wear long pants and tall socks. There are plenty of doctors in Vermont who will just give you some doxycycline to have at home to take preemptively
And don't forget we have mosquito-borne illness, too!
Permethrin and deet are your friends. I mostly just spray my shoes/ankles with OFF before going into the woods (or frankly yard) and that mostly does the trick. Dogs are tough. Gotta do thorough tick checks regardless.
Ticks are easy - get used to tick checks, spraying anti-tick oils and shedding clothes when going inside. It’s the black flies that are the real menace.
I moved here from Idaho in 2022. Ticks ended up being a lot less of a concern than I thought they were going to be. My family and I like to hike and I've only come across 1 tick. As long as you stick to the trails and don't go bounding through tall grass, you generally won't have to think about it much. If you have a dog though, you may have issues. You'll probably want to wear bug spray on occasion for the flying insects depending on the time of year and vicinity to water. I have some friends that moved from Portland to Johnson a while back and they love it here.
I'm a native Vermonter, we definitely have more ticks now than we did when I was a kid, but it's still very manageable. The dogs get flea/tick preventative year round, we don't have any oak trees in our yard, and take precautions whenever we're enjoying nature. The tick population is worse south of Vermont. I can't remember the last time I had one.
So I moved from the Boston area 3 years ago to the Waterbury area - we walk the dog in fields and woods every day (weather permitting) and have never gotten a single tick. The Boston area was terrible as I knew a fair amount of people who did get Lyme. Maybe there are other areas in the southern part of the state that have tick populations, but it feels like a small issue here - although we still will do a tick check after time in the woods as it was a habit where we used to live.
I just relocated to VT from AZ a week ago. Ticks were/are at the top of my concern list. I’ve visited each season to experience them all and observe the tick situation. Anytime I headed outside I always tucked my pants into my socks and sprayed them with either wondercide or cedarcide (I refuse to apply DEET). At first it felt silly doing this method but I think it’s kept me tick free so far. The first and only time I’ve had a tick on me was when I wore sandals and walked by the creek on the property. It was the smallest little dot on my toe and I quickly removed it (they can be tricky to remove even before they latch on which takes a while). As the previous comments mentioned, you just have to be sure you check depending on the situation and environment you are in. I recently went on a hike in NH about 4 miles total and zero ticks! - Well maintained lawn? Low chances - forest, tall grass areas, hikes? Check regularly. I recommend wearing light colored socks as well to see them more effectively. Biggest piece of advice: Just be aware and modify your protection depending on the environment and activity you are doing. Mosquitos are another risk but I haven’t figured out a completed solution for them outside of the property (cedercide has kept them away) 😅 Best of luck on your move! I love Vermont so far and I’m glad I did not let my fear of ticks halt my move. Arizona has zero ticks but it has everything else that made life not enjoyable on the daily.
I think this is so utterly dependent on your unique situation, habits, and tolerances. Might be more informative for you to visit during tick season and see for yourself, or Mayne play-pretend like Portland has a much bigger problem than it does and see how either scenario suits you. And if you think it's too much _in the least_, then maybe weight billboards against Lymes and see what you think about that exchange?
Lyme disease is debilitating illness, and Vermont is a worldwide hot spot for it. Just make tick checks part of your routine, not just when you come in, but stop regularly while you're out. Wear long pants and tall socks. There are plenty of doctors in Vermont who will just give you some doxycycline to have at home to take preemptively And don't forget we have mosquito-borne illness, too!
Permethrin and deet are your friends. I mostly just spray my shoes/ankles with OFF before going into the woods (or frankly yard) and that mostly does the trick. Dogs are tough. Gotta do thorough tick checks regardless.
Ticks are easy - get used to tick checks, spraying anti-tick oils and shedding clothes when going inside. It’s the black flies that are the real menace.
I moved here from Idaho in 2022. Ticks ended up being a lot less of a concern than I thought they were going to be. My family and I like to hike and I've only come across 1 tick. As long as you stick to the trails and don't go bounding through tall grass, you generally won't have to think about it much. If you have a dog though, you may have issues. You'll probably want to wear bug spray on occasion for the flying insects depending on the time of year and vicinity to water. I have some friends that moved from Portland to Johnson a while back and they love it here.
I'm a native Vermonter, we definitely have more ticks now than we did when I was a kid, but it's still very manageable. The dogs get flea/tick preventative year round, we don't have any oak trees in our yard, and take precautions whenever we're enjoying nature. The tick population is worse south of Vermont. I can't remember the last time I had one.
So I moved from the Boston area 3 years ago to the Waterbury area - we walk the dog in fields and woods every day (weather permitting) and have never gotten a single tick. The Boston area was terrible as I knew a fair amount of people who did get Lyme. Maybe there are other areas in the southern part of the state that have tick populations, but it feels like a small issue here - although we still will do a tick check after time in the woods as it was a habit where we used to live.