Studying what makes ticks ... tick, and why they stick around in winter

Just when you thought you were safe from ticks A renowned expert on the bedeviling bugs says they’re still active in winter. Jonathan MacInnis reports.

The warm weather is long gone but some of the creatures we associate with it, aren't -- including ticks.

The insects are still showing up on pets and humans, including one man who found hundreds on himself and his clothing.

Dr. Vett Lloyd is one of the leading tick experts in the country and she is studying ticks sent to her lab to figure out why the ticks are still around.

She looks at samples sent to her from St. Stephen, N.B., northern New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

“Most people expect that when it’s cold, ticks go away, but they don't," says Lloyd, who adds that ticks are alive and active under the snow.

“The moment we have a warm day, there's a little bit of sun on the snow, melts and they're hungry and they're ready to go, all you need to do or your dog needs to do is walk by there and you can get a tick,” Lloyd said.

Or you could find yourself in a nightmare scenario like one hunter did recently.

“He described having hundreds of ticks on him, he scraped a few off his clothes and sure enough they are ticks,” Lloyd said. “They are just little baby ticks and he had walked through a nest and you can see exactly how tiny these are.”

Lloyd's research shows ticks found this time of year tend to be better fed because people don't check themselves or their pets as often as they do in the summer.

“That's a problem because it takes the ticks a certain amount of time to pass on the disease, so if it's fed for several days on you, there's a much higher chance of getting a disease from it,” Lloyd said.

Lyme disease is the most prevalent.

On average about 20 per cent of the ticks sent to Lloyd's lab test positive for Lyme disease. Ticks from Nova Scotia test higher, as do ones from southern New Brunswick where it can be as high as 30 per cent.

Lloyd says ticks should be considered year-round pests.

She recommends the use of flea and tick repellant to help keep them at bay.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jonathan MacInnis.