They're small, they can latch onto you anywhere, and they're going to be out in full force this long weekend.

Ticks can carry Lyme disease and other illnesses.

Dr. Mark Vooght with the provincial health authority said personal protective measures will help to keep them away.

“People this weekend need to take precautions,” said Vooght. “And, of course, the ticks have been out for a month at least already. I noticed that when I was out biking and walking in Buffalo Pounds a few weeks ago. So we all need to take precautions.”

He suggests using DEET spray products or icaridin spray products or lotions before going outside for periods of time, and spray thoroughly.

“What I also do is I spray it, especially the icaridin that I really like because it’s not quite as irritating to the skin as DEET, is I spray it on my hiking socks quite heavily.”

Vooght said to check for ticks as soon as you get home, and you can wash off the ticks with a shower quickly.

“If you’re wearing long pants, you can tuck the bottom of your long pants into your socks,” he said. “Spray heavily, the top part of your socks. The ticks don’t like that, and they just sort of drop off. But if you’re going with short pants, just spray your legs and spray your hiking socks as well. And the top part of the hiking sock that sticks out of your boot. The ticks really don’t like that. They just fall off.”

So you've been outside during the long weekend and found yourself or a loved one with a tick. Now what? Vooght said you can safely remove them with some fine tooth tweezers.

“Just get close to the skin, as close to the skin as possible,” Vooght said. “And you just gently pull it off with the tweezers. And the important thing is you want to get close to the skin because you don’t leave bits of the head behind, which can cause infection.”

Vooght said there have been nine cases of Lyme disease in Canada, and seven of those found their origin outside of Saskatchewan.

But he adds that the percentage of the kind of ticks that can carry Lyme disease have been increasing in the province.

`The reason for that... is that it`s the longer, warmer seasons will be more conducive to the ticks growing in population as well as the mice and the deer and so on that they hitchhike on and subsequently bite us.``

He said it will be interesting to see that as the planet warms up, how that will effect the tick population in the future.