Citing the mild winter and recent heavy rainfall, some experts anticipate an increase in activity for ticks, mosquitoes and other pests, though others say the activity has not substantially increased since last summer.

Joanna Coles, Warren County extension agent for agriculture and natural resources, said insects and arachnids that retreat underground or find other out-of-the-way hiding spots during winter returned to active life earlier than normal.

“We had tick incidents in February,” she said, adding that the extension office doesn’t usually receive calls about ticks until April or even May.

Because of the mild winter, many insects normally deterred by the cold were able to emerge from their winter hiding places early, Coles said.

“They got a head start and it seems like people are noticing a lot more of them,” she said.

Because of this head start, ticks and mosquitoes have had more time to breed a larger local population, Coles said.

The increased populations for ticks and mosquitoes will last through the summer and fall, she said.

“We’re used to spotting them and treating them at a certain time,” she said. “We’ll have more ticks to deal with until winter.”

Coles said the two main species of ticks in the Barren River region are the American Dog Tick and the Lone Star Tick.

The American Dog Tick has been known to spread Rocky Mountain spotted fever, the symptoms of which include fever, headache, abdominal pain and vomiting. The Lone Star Tick can spread Erlichiosis, which can cause muscle ache, fatigue and in some cases a rash that forms when someone afflicted with the disease consumes red meat, Coles said.

Lyme Disease is carried by the black-legged tick, which is not typically found as far west as Bowling Green, she said.

Coles said she’s unsure if this will mean a noticeable increase in tick-borne diseases this summer, though she urged caution.

“If you get bit by a tick and start to see some of these symptoms, then you know you need to see a physician,” she said.

Coles also suggested a few precautionary measures like regularly treating pets for ticks, keeping a well-maintained yard, which cuts down on the number of cool hiding places for ticks and using insect repellents with diethyltoluamide, also known as DEET, a common ingredient in repellents.

Lee Townsend, an extension professor in the University of Kentucky’s entomology department, who could only communicate via email, said an increase in the populations of numerous insect and arachnid species can reasonably be expected based on the milder winter.

“All arthropods – ticks, mites, spiders and insects may be above normal,” he said.

Despite this predicted rise in the tick population, Townsend doesn’t anticipate an increase in tick-borne illnesses in Kentucky.

“Probably the incidence of infected ticks would not change much, but the key is to protect yourself from exposure to ticks to avoid painful and irritating bites,” he said.

Townsend said checking oneself for ticks regularly is important.

“They usually crawl around for a time before settling to feed,” he said, adding that it’s best to remove the ticks before they attach.

“Infected ticks have to feed for several hours before transmitting a disease, so prompt removal is important,” he said.

The tick is often attached to the bite when the bite is discovered, in which case Townsend recommends grabbing the tick with tweezers “as close to the skin as possible” and gently pulling it off.

Tick bites can often be hard to identify, Townsend said.

“Tick bites are not distinct; people’s reaction varies,” he said.

Once the bite mark is identified and exposed, it should be cleaned with soap and water, he said.

Mosquitoes, while irritating, will not be a public threat unless the Zika virus spreads to Kentucky, he said.

Chris Schalk, an extension agent for agriculture at the Barren County Extension Office, has not been worried about ticks or even noticed a higher-than-average number of calls from Barren County residents concerning them.

Because of the “extremely wet weather” the area has seen lately, Schalk is more concerned about an increased and more active mosquito population, he said.

Over the last few years, the early summers have been wet as well, meaning this year won’t mean a dramatic increase in mosquito activity, Schalk said.

He also said he’s not expecting to see diseases spread because of the mosquitoes.

“It’s always a possibility, but as long as people take regular precautions, they’ll be OK,” he said.

Schalk had a few suggestions for dealing with mosquitoes like using insect repellent and not letting any kind of standing water, often a breeding ground for mosquitoes, linger on your property.

“Just use best practices on your farm and yard,” he said. “Nothing drastic. Just common-sense stuff.”

Warren County’s Road Department offers a mosquito spraying service that sprays pesticides from a truck as it drives along the roads of Warren County and the city of Bowling Green, though road department Director Jerry Young said they will spray private property upon request.

The road department is expected to spray parts of the county two to three times a week until October, he said.

Last summer saw an increase in demand for the service, due mainly to a fear of the Zika virus, according to Josh Moore, director of public works, which oversees the road department.

So far, he said, there doesn’t seem to be more people than normal calling to request that the road department spray their property and doesn’t expect a steep increase in calls unless circumstances change.

“I don’t think we’re going to have a rash of new calls unless we have an outbreak of a new virus that has the public concerned,” he said.

Steve Parker, vice president of Rid-All Pest Control Services, also said he isn’t worried about diseases or insect-based problems being more widespread than normal this summer.

Parker said he considers the last few winters, even the ones that saw an unusual amount of snow, to have been mild in terms of temperature.

“We never really in the past few years have had a deep freezing winter that has kept things at bay,” he said.

A summer with a decreased insect population requires a winter that stays colder longer than is typically the case in Kentucky.

“You have to have pretty extreme temperatures for extended times to kill things like that off,” he said, adding that this sort of scenario is unlikely to ever happen in Kentucky’s climate.

Mosquitoes and ants have been “rampant” lately, as they often are early in the summer, though neither insect seems to be much more prevalent this summer than in summers past, Parker said.