ABC BugGuy

Researchers fed wild deer medicated corn to make their blood deadly to ticks. A CDC-funded proof-of-concept study in Connecticut fed free-ranging whitetails Cydectin-coated corn in 2021 and 2022. The active ingredient was moxidectin, a drug related to ivermectin. The idea was to let the deer eat it, let the drug show up in their blood, and when ticks bite the deer, the ticks are exposed to it.

The study found moxidectin levels high enough to target ticks in 24 of 29 deer, or 83%, while the treated corn was available. The researchers did not claim ticks stopped attaching to deer, because that is not how this works. The tick still bites. The point is that once it feeds on treated blood, it dies or fails to engorge like normal. Deer are major reproductive hosts for ticks, and if adult female ticks cannot fully feed, drop off, and lay eggs, you are not just killing one tick, you are attacking the tick population at the source.

— Stephen Ziegler
Outdoor writer | Owner, DeLong Lures

So when the the Utah Based pest control company sends the door to door salesman to your house on a Segway, be sure to ask them how they background check their employees?

Suspect in custody after attempted child abduction reported in Brighton Township A suspect is in custody after an attempted child abduction was repo...

Mom knows what she’s doing.

Now that the rain has stopped, evaporation will occur, and as it does, mosquitoes will emerge from all those small pools of water around the home.

This includes not just buckets, tires, and birdfeeders, but also poorly draining gutters, the dog's water bowl, and some of the kids' toys in the yard.

MOSQUITO BE**ER OR DUNKS IN THESE POOLS ARE SAFE, NATURAL, AND EFFECTIVE. The active ingredient is a fungus that is harmless to humans, birds, pets, and wildlife. But to mosquito larvae, the fungus is food, and they die before becoming mosquitoes.

The freshest spider bloom ever! That's just one spider sack on the side of the house. These are orb weavers, and their webbing can spoil the look of your home and paint job. Don't worry. Through cannibalism, their numbers drop dramatically, and only a few survive to adulthood.

BUT these spiders do well and are very helpful on fences and tree rows. They make “Charlotte's Web” and catch a large number of mosquitoes.

Some tick bites can trigger a red meat allergy, cases reported in Illinois