Tick Control Around Your Home

That depends what kind of tick you have. Oval and flattened in shape, American dog ticks are brown with whitish to gray markings. When unengorged (i.e. not filled with blood), the female blacklegged tick is roughly 1/8”, while male ticks are slightly smaller at about 1/16”. Both male and female deer ticks have flat, oval bodies, and are not hard-shelled. Lone star ticks have reddish brown oval bodies that become slate grey when engorged. Females have a single whitish to silvery spot on their backs. Male lone star ticks have several inverted horseshoe-shaped whitish spots along their backs.

Habitat modification and the removal of hosts are key to getting rid of ticks. Keep grass cut low, and trim back vegetation along trails, paths, and yard edges. Remove debris and ground cover to discourage rodents from making your yard their home since ticks like to attach themselves to rodents.

Most ticks prefer to hide in grass and shrubs while waiting for a passing host, so be sure to keep your yard well maintained and mowed. They prefer vegetation located in transitional areas such as where forest meets field, mowed lawn meets unmowed fence line, or a foot trail through high grass or forest as these areas are where most animals travel sometime during each 24-hour period.

Ticks are parasitic arachnids. Adult ticks are approximately 3 to 5 mm in length depending on age, sex, species, and “fullness”. Ticks are external parasites, living by feeding on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians.

Many species of ticks live for about two to three years. Most of their life is spent out in the environment rather than on a host or in a host’s nest. During their entire lifetime, they will only have up to three blood meals.

In our area, the black-legged tick, also called the deer tick, mainly carry the bacteria that transmits Lyme disease.

Ticks are often picked up in wooded areas or patches of overgrown vegetation. They have to stay attached to their hosts for several days to properly feed, meaning they travel wherever their host goes.

Colder winters can cut down the number of ticks that survive through winter. However, studies show only around 20 percent of the population die off. Carefully controlled lab experiments, using freezers, show that ticks will die between -2 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit. A mild winter can mean less die off and more ticks in the spring when the pests emerge.

Wearing tick repellent and long-sleeved clothes can help prevent ticks from attaching to skin. Avoid sitting on logs, stumps, or the ground in bushy areas. Periodically inspect clothing and the body for ticks to remove them before they become attached.

Ticks can be infected with bacteria, viruses, or parasites. Some of the most common tick-borne diseases in the United States include: Lyme disease, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, anaplasmosis, Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness, Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever, and tularemia. Some can be dangerous.