Story Created: May 28, 2009 at 8:58 PM MDT
Story Updated: May 29, 2009 at 11:05 AM MDT
Female deer tick, which can carry Lyme disease, is seen under a microscope.
"This year it seems like every time I take one of the pets to the mountains with me to go play, I come back and we got ticks," said Fred Dustan of Boise.
Dr. Leslie Tengelsen, the Deputy State Epidemiologist, said spring time is tick time and ticks are hungry, ready to latch onto any animal or human.
The warning: it may be worse now, than in years past.
"There is nothing worse than finding a bunch of big ticks on your dog or worse on yourself," Tengelsen said. "You can find ticks in the sage brush, in the foothills or up in the mountains."
Dustan said he's taken trips to Horseshoe Bend, CJ Strike Reservoir, and the North Fork of the Boise River this spring, and already experienced tick troubles.
"I started finding them all over my dog," he said. "The bump there on his fur and right there he has a bump."
Health experts said this spring tick population, especially in southern Idaho, is growing.
While ticks in Idaho rarely carry disease, Dr. Tengelsen said there's always a possibility, so proper removal is crucial.
"Taking a tweezers and gently grabbing the tick right where the head attaches to the skin and just gently pulling upwards until the tick lets go is best way to remove a tick," Dr. Tengelsen said.
She added that you never want to suffocate a tick or use a lighter.
"They might actually inject more of a disease into you if you stress them like that with those folklore remedies," she said.
Her advice: always do a thorough tick check when you get home from the outdoors.
And Dustan agreed, saying "these ones this year are real tiny."
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