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Finding a tick on your child can be unsettling, but prompt and proper removal dramatically reduces the chance of infection. Ticks are small parasites that can transmit diseases—most commonly Lyme disease in many parts of the United States—if they remain attached and feeding for many hours. The goal when you discover a tick is to…

Tick-borne diseases are a growing public-health concern, and homeowners, land managers, and public-health officials increasingly look to targeted control options to reduce tick populations around homes and recreational areas. Two commonly discussed tactics are tick tubes and granular tick treatments. Though both aim to reduce the risk of human exposure to ticks, they work very…

Ticks are more than a nuisance; they are vectors for diseases such as Lyme, anaplasmosis and babesiosis, and controlling their numbers around your home is an important part of reducing human and pet exposure. Tick tubes are a popular, low-effort tool designed to reduce local tick populations by interrupting a key part of the tick…

Each spring, Pacific Northwest hikers begin to notice something unwelcome joining them on trails: ticks. May in particular often sees a spike in tick encounters across forested and brushy hiking areas, a pattern driven by the life cycle and behavior of the region’s dominant tick species (notably the western black‑legged tick, Ixodes pacificus), the seasonal…

May in Seattle is the time when the city shifts from cool, rainy spring toward longer, sunnier days, and that combination makes backyard standing water an important early-season mosquito breeding ground. Spring rains fill gutters, saucers, puddles and planters, while yard cleanups and gardening leave tarps, toys and pots that can hold water. Even though…

If you live in King County, Washington, mosquitoes are more than a summertime nuisance — they’re a diverse group of insects with different habits, habitats and public‑health implications. Understanding which species are most common locally helps explain when and where you’re likely to be bitten, which diseases (if any) are a concern, and which control…

Every spring, Seattle residents start asking the same question: when will the mosquitoes return in force? In the Pacific Northwest’s mild, maritime climate the answer isn’t a single calendar date but a seasonal pattern driven by temperature, rainfall, and local breeding habitat. Mosquito activity in the Seattle area typically begins once nighttime and daytime temperatures…

When ants turn up inside a home, one of the first—and most important—questions for a homeowner is whether they’re dealing with nuisance foragers or a species that can damage wood. Two commonly confused groups are “moisture ants” (a loose term for several small species that prefer humid, decaying materials or soil) and carpenter ants (Camponotus…

Finding a sudden cloud of winged carpenter ants—or scattered winged bodies—inside your home in May can be alarming. Those flying ants are reproductive “alates” on mating flights, and their appearance often signals that a mature colony is nearby and that new colonies could be forming. Because carpenter ants excavate wood to create galleries, a swarm…

When you find ants trailing across your kitchen counter and spray cans or traps only seem to slow them down, it’s natural to wonder how long it will take to actually get rid of the colony once you’ve put out bait. The short answer is: it depends. Baiting works very differently from contact sprays —…