TURNER PUBLISHING • May 25, 2021
May has been designated Lyme Disease Awareness Month, and in Maine, that means ticks are ready to feed on any warm-blooded traveler they can sink their jaws into. It’s important to take precautions now and throughout the summer and fall months to avoid tick bites. Use insect repellants, especially something DEET-free if that’s an option, preferably with a notation that ticks are one of its primary targets. Ticks can be notoriously hard to kill. Swatting or crushing doesn’t always get the job done. One method is to fill a cup partway with water and add a squirt of dishwashing liquid. The increased viscosity makes it impossible for the ticks to climb out, which they surely can accomplish when in plain water. The ticks pictured here succumbed within minutes of placing them in the “vessel of Doom.”