Community Forums

BFlinn181 · 05-12-2018, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonyMac

"They should spray poison all over the campground ..." Uh, YEAH!! That's what the poison is all about. Wow, do you spray misquito repellant on yourself? I bet you take all those pills your doctor prescribes too. It's about "what's worse, ticks or the poison that kills them and probably not much else." I'll bet on manmade chemical compounds before I'd bet "this tick probably doesn't have Lyme disease." ygbsm

In my neighborhood when a lawn service sprays herbicide or pesticide, they put up little flags all over the lawn to warn folks. Problem is, most dogs can't read. My comment was about what strategy did the OP expect the campground to do? Most repellants, by their very name, aren't poisons but repellants. Do you want them to post warning signs? That'll help business.

Biting insects and arthropods cause dozens of diseases to humans and pets. This is a risk you take every time someone opens your door. To expect a campground, a place that people go to be outside and in a different environment, to warn and refund fees because you encountered nature is a bit much.

TonyMac · 05-12-2018, 01:08 PM

Here's my point -- What would Donald Trump do? I'm not talking about the President, I'm talking about the guy who owns a golf course or 5. What would a high end property owner do to ensure the safety and health of his paying guests and the reputation of his high end property? What is available to alieviate this situation? One guy saya a large flock of geese. Another says chickens. How about this: Irritate Their Feet. Ticks don’t like to cross paths lined with wood chips or gravel. Think of it like humans walking over glass—not pleasant. Place a gravel or wood chip buffer zone between lawns and wooded areas to help keep ticks from crossing onto your property. This took 52 seconds to find on the interweb and we haven't even touched chemicals. But do something, doing nothing is usually wrong.

Teamfoxy · 05-12-2018, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sicduc

You are in for a surprise this summer! Apparently because of the long snowy winter the tick and flea situation on The Cape is at a historic all time high, with health alerts on all the local news outlets. Again, if the campground had informed us we would have chosen a location off The Cape.We are aware of insects and the great outdoors, but this scary!!! Picking off so so many ticks after being outside for such a short period of time is like a horror show!

Since we lived in Wareham for 18 years before moving back to Florida 15 years ago, I am not surprised by a tick problem in New England. We still have relatives in that area that we visit every summer. I have no way of knowing when you booked your trip, but probably before the weather turned warmer. We booked our August dates near the end of March before Bayview had even opened for the year.

Vibrio vulnificus (Flesh Eating Bacteria) is fairly active in Florida from May to October. We also have Dengue Fever, Chikungunya, Zika, several forms of encephalitis, etc. All of those can be as bad or worse than Lyme Disease. How many of the hotels in Pompano Beach are issuing warnings to guests and would give tourists a refund because they got bit by a mosquito?

Its up to you to learn about the area you are going to and take the necessary precautions.

twogypsies · 05-12-2018, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonyMac

Ticks don’t like to cross paths lined with wood chips or gravel. Think of it like humans walking over glass—not pleasant. Place a gravel or wood chip buffer zone between lawns and wooded areas to help keep ticks from crossing onto your property.

Didn't work on the gravel path we took & were immediately swarmed with ticks.

BFlinn181 · 05-12-2018, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonyMac

Here's my point -- What would Donald Trump do? I'm not talking about the President, I'm talking about the guy who owns a golf course or 5. What would a high end property owner do to ensure the safety and health of his paying guests and the reputation of his high end property? What is available to alieviate this situation? One guy saya a large flock of geese. Another says chickens. How about this: Irritate Their Feet. Ticks don’t like to cross paths lined with wood chips or gravel. Think of it like humans walking over glass—not pleasant. Place a gravel or wood chip buffer zone between lawns and wooded areas to help keep ticks from crossing onto your property. This took 52 seconds to find on the interweb and we haven't even touched chemicals. But do something, doing nothing is usually wrong.

Love to see a link to this bit of wisdom. Diatomaceous earth works for some pests like snails and slugs, not heard a tick can't walk on wood chips or gravel.

TonyMac · 05-12-2018, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BFlinn181

Love to see a link to this bit of wisdom. Diatomaceous earth works for some pests like snails and slugs, not heard a tick can't walk on wood chips or gravel.

https://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/w...rid-ticks-yard

Like I said, they should do something, doing nothing hasn't worked. There is not much on this planet grosser than being assaulted by ticks. In a junkyard/trailer park, ok, I get it. But an RV park, I think not. Do something, 52 seconds on the interweb found something. Call Orkin -- idea #2.

BFlinn181 · 05-12-2018, 07:47 PM

I doubt if Orkin or gravel borders would solve the tick problems New England has had for decades. Ironic that the linked article, Organic Life, first banner ad at the top was for a garden sprayer, one of the side ads was a Raid bed bug spray. Their photo showed a perhaps 1' border of gravel at the edge of a driveway. Doing a quick search the CDC says you need a border of wood chips or gravel at least 3 feet wide. How many hundreds of yards of gravel or wood chips would it take to surround a campground? Wood chips would draw ants and other things that like to live in damp wood chips.

Teamfoxy · 05-13-2018, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonyMac

Here's my point -- What would Donald Trump do? I'm not talking about the President, I'm talking about the guy who owns a golf course or 5. What would a high end property owner do to ensure the safety and health of his paying guests and the reputation of his high end property?

Bad example if you ask me. Didn't somebody just die in Trump Tower because "the Donald" was too cheap to install sprinklers?

jpspaz · 05-13-2018, 08:13 AM

With the increase in global travel and trading of the last 20 years, these new diseases are only going to get worse. Living in CT I am all too aware of the tick and Lyme disease problem. I know plenty of people who have suffered from it. At times local jurisdictions have sprayed but I really don't know if it is effective. It would be nice if the campground did something to control such a huge problem but I am not surprised they didn't. Many campers would also be turned off knowing that they sprayed chemicals all over the place. Every spring we also deal with gypsy moth caterpillars that destroy trees and leave a total mess on everything. I wonder why campgrounds don't take some simple steps to protect their trees but I haven't seen it yet. It doesn't require spraying chemicals either.

As for the tick and other disease carrying insects, the government needs to research natural predators for those insects. Ticks serve no purpose in the environment as far as I know so if we could find a natural predator to control the population that would be the best option. I read last year about an experiment where they were altering mosquitos so that they could not reproduce. A step in the right direction.

BFlinn181 · 05-13-2018, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpspaz

With the increase in global travel and trading of the last 20 years, these new diseases are only going to get worse. Living in CT I am all too aware of the tick and Lyme disease problem. I know plenty of people who have suffered from it. At times local jurisdictions have sprayed but I really don't know if it is effective. It would be nice if the campground did something to control such a huge problem but I am not surprised they didn't. Many campers would also be turned off knowing that they sprayed chemicals all over the place. Every spring we also deal with gypsy moth caterpillars that destroy trees and leave a total mess on everything. I wonder why campgrounds don't take some simple steps to protect their trees but I haven't seen it yet. It doesn't require spraying chemicals either.

As for the tick and other disease carrying insects, the government needs to research natural predators for those insects. Ticks serve no purpose in the environment as far as I know so if we could find a natural predator to control the population that would be the best option. I read last year about an experiment where they were altering mosquitos so that they could not reproduce. A step in the right direction.

Ticks aren't insects, (3 body sections, 6 legged) but arachnids, (8 legged, 2 body sections) like spiders. Sadly our government does little scientific research, a large segment of our population doesn't believe in science, so funding is constantly cut, not expanded. The political and economic ramifications always interfere with pure scientific research when government funding is involved. Ticks (like mosquitoes) are an important part of the food chain for many other living organisms. Elimination of all ticks would cause a ripple effect through the whole ecosystem. This article on the NPS website gives good information.

Finding natural predators and introducing them into the environment has a very checkered past full of really poorly researched actions. Look at Cane Toads in Australia (beetle control) Kudzu (cattle feed) Asian Carp (fish farming) European Starlings (insect control) and I could give many more examples of good intentions gone bad.

Bigdogboogie · 05-13-2018, 09:43 AM

It's a banner year for ticks here in Arkansas too.

I spent last week at a COE CG and ticks were really thick even for this area. I sprayed the dog and myself daily and still got a couple of the wretched little hitch hikers.

Ticks and chiggers are a fact of life here and the deer,squirrels,rabbits etc. carry them from the woods and fields into lawns and camp grounds constantly.

Some of the lawns in subdivisions get sprayed with pesticides so heavily in the spring and summer that the chemical smell is almost overwhelming. I'm happy the CG's don't spray that heavily.

On the plus side, The mosquitoes seem to be scarce this year.

jfran304 · 05-14-2018, 03:53 PM

A natural predator for ticks is the opossum so quit running over them in the road.

Opossums - killers of ticks | Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

CharlesinGA · 05-15-2018, 08:27 PM

Guinea Hens. Noisy birds but excellent for controlling the tiny critters, especially ticks.

Charles

twojayhawks · 05-16-2018, 07:16 AM

We used to RV to Lake of the Ozarks quite a bit years ago. I think it was Memorial Day weekend in about 2000 and we arrived at our favorite CG. While I was setting up I became aware of the tick issue, it was way worse than normal. We had dogs so it was even more of a disaster than it normally would have been. After the first stroll with the dogs we were inundated we picked dozens of ticks off us & the dogs. Ran up to Walmart for spray for us & oil for the dogs. Worked OK but it wasn't the best trip. The ticks were the subject of everyone's small talk at the CG but I didn't see anyone leave & I believe the CG was sold out. We never returned & that experience is partially why we prefer the concrete pads & well groomed grounds normally found in private RV parks.