CBC News46%
‘You’re going to be naked’: Thorough tick checks the new norm as parasitic pests spread 43%
By Raechel Huizinga0%
6/28/2026, 9:00:00 AM
Keywords: New Brunswick, Ticks
BS Summary: This article contains 31 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Appeal to Emotion, and Hasty Generalization, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 20.2% saturation with 167 hits. Analysis detected 1,863 faulty-reasoning hits from 826 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 46.7% and a BS Rank of 43% (11,792 of 20,381 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 57.90% of the article peer group.
Once upon a time, no one believed Dr.
Vett Lloyd when she said there were ticks in New Brunswick.
Now, her lab is filled with the dead bodies of the tiny, parasitic arachnids.
Lloyd has been studying ticks at Mount Allison University in Sackville for 15 years, after she was bitten by one and contracted Lyme disease.
Her collection includes the bad ticks, the not-as-bad ticks, young and old ticks, still-living ticks in leafy jars and frozen ticks in plastic bags, and ticks that get dropped off by a local veterinarian who gets them from local kittens.
If the poetic justice is a tad gruesome, well, it fits right in with the tick research world, which has lately been an echo chamber of doom and dire warnings.
Like it or not, the ticks are advancing and Canadians will have to adapt
Tick season is longer than ever.
Here’s how to protect your dogs and cats
The Earth’s warming climate is pushing ticks north into new habitats that were previously too cold for them to survive.
While they were barely interesting to scientists in the 1990s — or even 15 years ago, as Lloyd will tell you — 40 species of ticks have now been identified in Canada.
They include some that pose serious health risks, according to Health Canada.
WATCH | How to perform a tick check in New Brunswick:
The key to a thorough tick check
Lloyd’s own research looks at "what it is that makes a healthy tick, with the intent of making unhealthy ticks" by using their own bacteria against them.
"Unfortunately, what seems to be happening is when the ticks get the Lyme disease bacteria, they actually get healthier and stronger," she said.
"It’s the last thing we need.
Great!
The infected ticks are overwintering better, are more aggressive and more likely to survive!"
She paused, apologetic.
"That wasn’t good news.
We’re trying to reverse that process."
In the meantime, ticks are probably here to stay, and they advance further each year.
For that reason, doing a tick check after spending time outdoors is crucial, according to Lloyd, and should be given the same daily activity status as brushing your teeth.
Since some ticks can be smaller than a poppy seed, those checks need to be thorough — very thorough.
"At some point during the day, you’re going to be naked," Lloyd said.
Check every crack and crevice, she warned.
"You may not enjoy it.
I certainly don’t.
But you will get used to it."
‘A freckle with legs’: How to spot a tick
Ticks don’t fly, but they’re very good at crawling, Lloyd said.
Still, you shouldn’t rely on that creepy-crawly feeling to alert you to the presence of a tick on your body.
Ticks will generally move up your limbs slowly, making it difficult to feel them, in pursuit of warm, moist and dark places where they’ll be less detectable.
"Think about what’s at the top of your legs.
That would be a good place to look," Lloyd said.
Ticks will also set up camp in armpits and hairlines, she added.
When ticks are young, they can be smaller than a poppy seed, making them difficult to spot.
"Find a mirror, find a friend," Lloyd said, adding that parents living in a high-tick area should be checking their young kids nightly.
(You can find out whether you live in a high-tick area using this provincial dashboard.)
N.B. website shows where you might be at higher risk of finding ticks
Lloyd doesn’t have much faith in the concept of tick management.
It’s not really possible, she said, but there are a couple of ways to protect yourself.
Tick repellant — make sure it’s actually been tested on ticks, Lloyd cautioned — can be a helpful tool to take with you into nature.
When possible, wear long sleeves or pants and a hat to give those ticks fewer places to settle in and suck your blood.
WATCH | More reports of Lyme disease in New Brunswick:
More ticks mean more testing for Lyme disease
While ticks occupy no real niche in the food chain, according to Lloyd, ground-foraging birds including chickens will eat them.
In fact, she has 20 free-range chickens of her own.
A scientist and self-proclaimed nerd, Lloyd said she counted the ticks at her home before and after getting her chickens.
She observed a 90 per cent drop, presenting a wonderful possibility: Could chickens be the solution to our tick problem?
"The obstacle in that is just the logistics of keeping chickens," Lloyd said.
Ticks will mostly disappear in the winter, but Lloyd said there’s no reason to save your outdoors adventures until then.
"The main thing is, no matter how disturbing this is, it’s summer.
Summer doesn’t last long.
Get outside, enjoy living in a beautiful place, and then do a tick check."
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