WLBZ Interviews Dill About Ticks as Weather Warms Up
Jim Dill, a pest management specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, spoke with WLBZ (Channel 2) about the arrival of ticks now that the weather is beginning to warm up. Despite the cold weather in winter, ticks are able to survive throughout the year, according to the report. “When you get a long winter like we had, everybody’s going, ‘Oh yeah, it was really really cold this winter, is that going to take care of the ticks?’ Unfortunately, they’re under about two or three feet of snow so they’ve not been active because it never got above 40 degrees,” Dill said, adding the snow can act like a blanket, insulating the ticks from the cold. He said summer offers the best chance of killing off some of the pests. “Moisture’s very important to ticks, especially during the summer months,” he said. “If we have a long dry summer a lot of times that can actually really impact their numbers.”