'Stick your pant legs into your socks so they can't crawl up into your private bits,' recommends Vett Lloyd

A biologist with Mount Allison University says nowhere in the province is safe when it comes to ticks.

According to the Department of Health, most of Nova Scotia is now considered an area of high risk for Lyme Disease, an illness caused by blacklegged ticks.

Vett Lloyd says the problem likely started along the province's south shore.

"Because it's warmer. Nice warm winters mean more of them survive," she explained. "And it's closer to Maine. A lot of the ticks were introduced by birds flying over from the States, so you've got a double whammy."

She says ticks don't travel far on their own, but can hitch a ride by embedding themselves for up to a week in deer, mice and birds.

"They have spread and wherever a female ends up, once she's had a good blood meal, she can lay 2,000 to 5,000 eggs," explained Lloyd. "So the problem can get out of control real quick."

The ticks are here to stay so Lloyd says we just have to learn to live with them.

If you're an outdoor lover and have a fear of ticks, you may want to head to the beach.

"They don't like salt and they don't like dry," she said.

"But grasses, trees, basically they like everywhere in the Maritimes. They like old forests, old fields, the edges between them."

The tiny, bloodsucking arachnids can't transmit disease unless they've started to feed on you.

Lloyd recommends using a variety of methods to reduce the risk of that happening, including using a bug repellent and keeping your skin covered with clothing.

"The old advice, stick your pant legs into your socks so they can't crawl up into your private bits," she said. "Granted it's not always fashion forward, but it's probably better than having ticks walk up your leg."

Lloyd also recommends doing a daily tick check.

"You strip down, you look at yourself in the mirror, and if you've got something that looks like a black freckle with legs, you take it off you."

You can do that with tweezers or a variety of tick removal tools, but don't smother them or try to burn them off.

"The last thing you want to do is annoy them, because if you do that, they're regurgitate their gut contents with all the bacteria in your blood stream," she explained.

Not every tick will transmit disease but the longer it's embedded in your skin, the higher the risk.