2016 mouse plague = 2017 increased risk of Lyme in the NE USA

Hi CD! And thank you for the article! I read that too just the other day and was disappointed in the misinformation, and yet grateful they actually see the connection.

The problem is, they still only think the issues plague the Northeast! We have had an extremely mild winter, and so the mouse population will "explode" here as well, increasing the number of Lyme cases as well.

I've been seriously considering getting some guinea fowl this spring...I've been on the fence because of having a lot going on...but I think it will be worth it. I've heard they make an enormous difference in the tick population, even from hobby animal farmers who have had tick problems with their beasts...claiming just two guineas made a significant reduction.

They don't scratch, so they don't ruin anything. They also eat fleas, snakes, small rodents...all the undesirables. Another thing I worried about was predators, but since they can fly, they are pretty good at not only escaping a predator, and their alerts can scare it off before it even approaches. They don't need a lot of space or a dedicated laying area, because they like to lay in brush and on the ground in hidden places. If you don't want a continuous flock, I hear the eggs are very good for eating and larger than a chicken egg.

I had a relatively light "tick" season last year, but I fear that this will be an up-turn year...

Yes, that's the typical Agenda 21 propaganda that they beat us over the head with daily. I'm glad people are waking up to that fact, and realizing that it is propaganda.

That article had so much misinformation and fake news, it was sickening. Why don't they update that tired old message? They've been reporting that same exact message since the 80's. There are SO MANY more helpful things they could have said about lyme disease than that. LIKE... spray permethin around your house in the spring and the fall to kill ticks, OR, if you get bit by a tick, KEEP IT, and submit it to a tick testing facility. That's useful information. Instead they say mice are the core problem. More fake news. It's not just mice that have lyme, pretty much any mammal in the forest has lyme disease. They said we need more foxes and owls to kill the mice. Guess what, the foxes and the owls have lyme too!

Gah... National Propaganda Radio.

It's not propaganda - the fact is a mild winter increases the population of many things - ticks and mice included. The reason we should be concerned is because the ticks are not 'born' with the Lyme bacteria, they pick it up from the white footed mouse (the only true reservoir of Lyme) and then carry and spread it to whoever or whatever they bite from there forward.

And, just getting a cat is not the fix for everyone. I live in an older home and it's not a dump or trash heap and we have mice come in from somewhere we simply can't find (likely under the house somewhere) and although I do have a cat, they don't always keep the mice out. Now, my house is not overrun by mice, but I do get one or two a year using traps.

Yes PeteZa I agree with you on the people not knowing about lyme. I got lyme in Pennsylvania. East Coast. I got it in one county where I lived all my life. No dr there admits lyme is a thing. Never was lyme once brought up to me as a possible cause to my myriad of symptoms. And if I go back there to visit a specialist they deny my lyme as real.

But 8 years later i moved a county over and bam within a few months I was at my new primary with yet again symptoms of something (this time heart stuff) but always some symptom or another. Anywhoo, this dr ran all kinds of tests and said, hey your heart looks ok, but have you had a lyme test? That could be the reason for all your health troubles. Bingo!!

So in this new county, only one county over from the one where every dr denies....every dr talks about it. Every dr nods their head in agreement with my diagnosis. Every person I meet here has lyme, or a family member with lyme. Every one of them says, lyme is a real problem here. In fact, on the hiking/walking/biking trails here there are signs everywhere about the dangers of lyme and how to protect yourself.

So why is this county so forward thinking and the other county one over so in denial??? I have no idea....lifestyle, healthcare and economic situations are similar in both counties.

Oh and interesting....our new vet here tests my dog at every visit for lyme. Our old vet who was excellent in our old town never tested for lyme. The dog got the vaccine but that was it. I am not aware of how reliable this test is but at least they attempt to keep atop of what might be brewing. (She is not symptomatic so that is not why the vet tests...it is standard care here)

Since moving here (into the middle of the woods) and finding out I have lyme we don't attract any wildlife close to our house. This means no bird feeders at all. Not anywhere on the property (we have 4 acres). No way in heck am I going to attract birds or even raccoons,skunks, chipmunks, mice, squirrels or any other critter that may decide there is a meal in the seeds either in the feeder or what has fallen to the ground.
We have a deer fence to keep the deer out of the lawn area. I am giddy that there is a cat that I see on our property stalking/hunting mice and chipmunks. What we will do this year is put up several bat houses hoping they get the mosquitos and owl housing hoping they get the mice.

I also have not planted any landscaping. I used to have acres of flower gardens, and I planned to in this new house too, but after lyme....nope not interested in playing around with foliage.

We haven't gotten guinea hens yet as I am still too sick to look after an animal other than my dog. But someday that will be another line of defense.

We use premethrin spray on the lawn and about 20 feet into the woods around our house (I hate chemicals but I hate lyme and what it has done to me too) sooooo. This spring I will put out premethrin bedding stuff for the mice that are out there.

That is all I can do and hope I am controlling the population on my property as best I can.

I have dreams of getting hundreds of guinea hens and setting them free in the county...hoping they will just eat up all the ticks and keep reproducing. In hawaii there are no ticks....why? Probably because chickens are running free everywhere, eating all the bugs all day long. Chickens are on the beach, on the sides of the roads and in the woods and jungles too. So jealous. Someday my husband and I dream of moving to hawaii.....tick free hawaii!!