Tick Control in Nassau County: Protecting Your Family from Lyme Disease on Long Island

Nassau County and the Lyme Disease Risk

If you live in Nassau County, you live in one of the highest-risk areas for Lyme disease in New York State. Long Island’s combination of deer populations, wooded corridors, and dense suburban landscaping creates ideal conditions for black-legged ticks — also called deer ticks — to thrive and spread Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. Each year, thousands of Long Islanders are diagnosed with Lyme, and many more cases go unreported.

Nassau County Department of Health routinely issues tick advisories in spring and summer. Whether you live near wooded edges in Old Westbury, have a yard backing onto a nature preserve in Syosset, or simply have a lawn in Massapequa where deer pass through — tick exposure is a real and present danger for your family and pets.

Know Your Enemy: The Black-Legged Tick

The black-legged tick is the primary vector for Lyme disease in Nassau County. Adults are roughly the size of a sesame seed; nymphs — the juvenile stage active from May through July — are the size of a poppy seed. This is what makes them so dangerous: nymphs are virtually impossible to spot, yet they are responsible for the majority of Lyme disease transmissions. The tick must typically be attached for 36 to 48 hours to transmit Lyme disease.

Other tick-borne diseases present in Nassau County include Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, and Powassan virus — the latter of which can be transmitted in as little as 15 minutes of attachment and has no approved treatment.

Tick Habitat in Your Nassau County Yard

Ticks don’t jump or fly — they quest, climbing onto vegetation and waiting for a host to brush past. The highest-risk areas in a typical Nassau County yard include:

• Leaf litter and woodpiles along fence lines

• The transitional zone between lawn and wooded or brushy areas

• Dense groundcover plantings like pachysandra, ivy, and ornamental grasses

• Areas where deer frequently travel or rest

• Shaded, moist areas under decks or in garden beds

When to Start Tick Treatment

Black-legged ticks become active when temperatures consistently reach 35-40°F — meaning they can be out as early as late February in a warm Long Island winter. For practical purposes, most Nassau County homeowners should schedule their first yard treatment in April, before nymph season begins in earnest.

A professional tick control program typically involves:

• Barrier spray treatments — residual acaricides applied to vegetation, lawn edges, and groundcover; a single treatment provides 4-8 weeks of protection

• Recurring seasonal applications — typically April/May, June/July, and September/October to break the tick lifecycle at each active stage

• Habitat modification recommendations — removing leaf litter, trimming brush, creating wood chip barriers

Protecting Your Kids and Pets

Professional yard treatment is the foundation of tick protection, but it works best as part of a layered strategy. Check children and pets daily during peak tick season (April through September). Use EPA-registered repellents containing DEET or picaridin. Keep your lawn mowed and clear leaf debris promptly in fall.

Start Your Tick Program Now

Nassau County’s tick season is already underway. Don’t wait until someone in your family gets a bite to take action. Professional barrier spray treatments are safe for children and pets when applied correctly and represent one of the best investments you can make in your family’s health this spring and summer.

Call Nassau County Pest Control at (516) 517-9150 to schedule your spring tick treatment. We serve all Nassau County communities and can typically get a technician to your property within days.