From grasshoppers to ticks: pests on the rise across the Borderland

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — People in the community have seen grasshoppers jumping and flying around El Paso, becoming somewhat of a nuisance.

But new data also shows that ticks have also surged across the country.

Dozens of people have posted on the popular social media account @therealfitfamelpaso about their encounters with grasshoppers swarming the city.

NMSU Entomology professor Scott Bundy said this is something we don’t see every year.

“It’s it doesn’t happen every year and some years have a lot more than others and some years have none. So, it kind of depends on the year and what the conditions are like,” Bundy said.

Bundy told KFOX14 there are about 160 species of grasshoppers.

The most common is the pallid-winged grasshopper, which has invaded the southwest desert.

“The moisture is probably the most important thing so when we get extra rainfall like in the wintertime, like we had some in January and you know the spring, that really, it greens up the vegetation and the grasshoppers are happy and then they build up in huge numbers,” Bundy said.

But this infestation could be coming to an end soon in the next couple of weeks, all depending on the temperature.

“A lot of people think they should spray insecticide, but it doesn’t do any good because you won’t get them and you’ll spray something you don’t intend to,” Bundy said.

What won’t be coming to an end any time soon are the fleas and ticks.

Morning Anchor Victoria Balderrama reports on the rise of grasshoppers and ticks in the Borderland

Since temperatures are fluctuating, new data from the CDC shows Texas experiencing a year-round season.

Dr. Lauren Boyer at Kern Place Veterinary Hospital confirms there is a spread of ectoparasites.

“I feel like I’ve seen more flea and tick cases already than in some of the previous years. Almost every week we’re seeing something come in with little seed ticks on them, fleas. We had a cat that came in that had a lot of flea dirt on it,” Boyer said.

It’s not just here, according to CDC’s tick bite tracker.

Visits to emergency rooms for tick bites are higher than normal in many parts of the country right now.

“There’s definitely multiple different diseases and issues it can cause, and I think I used Lyme as an example before, but if you have a tick that can give a dog Lyme disease, a person could get Lyme disease also,” Boyer said.

Boyer said if you notice ticks on your pet go to the vet. But you also want to try and take preventative steps.

Tags: