Read our full review of Orkin to learn why we recommend this company over other nationwide pest control services.Ticks should be removed carefully and as soon as possible, once they are spotted.Įven though there are 800 species of ticks worldwide, only a few are of concern to cats and humans. Not only will a professional pest control company have the proper pesticides needed to kill ticks, but the company’s experts will also have specific recommendations for your yard and home. If you have a serious tick infestation or if the above measures don’t work, consider calling a professional pest control service. Homemade tick tubes are unlikely to work because they use the wrong kind of permethrin and they may inadvertently poison other wildlife in the process. While many DIY websites explain how to make your own tick tubes using toilet paper tubes and cotton balls, the experts at the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program advise against making your own. A quarter-acre yard will need about six of these tubes twice a year. When they do, the permethrin on the cotton will kill any ticks living on the mice. The cardboard tubes contain cotton treated with the active ingredient, permethrin, which mice will take back to their nests to use as bedding. These products will only be useful in areas with both mice and ticks because they’re designed to kill ticks that live on mice. The mulch or gravel will also serve as a visual reminder to you and your family that you need to take extra precautions when going beyond the barrier. Your goal is to create a hot, dry barrier that’s three feet wide that ticks won’t want to cross. If you use mulch, make sure it’s made of dry wood chips rather than damp, shredded material. If your lawn is near an unkempt wooded area, consider putting down a border of mulch or gravel. You should also bag up any leaf litter or other lawn debris for disposal. If you get a little behind on your mowing and find yourself cutting down your grass significantly, use the bag attachment on your mower, as leaving lawn clippings behind can create a favorable environment for ticks. Depending on your lawn’s species of grass, you can let it grow to a height of 4–4.5 inches before cutting it back down to about three inches, but don’t let it grow taller than about six inches. Shaggy foliage creates shadowed, cooler areas for ticks to hide in. This can be as simple as mowing your lawn regularly and trimming weeds or overgrown brush. The most important step you can take to rid your yard of ticks is destroying their preferred habitats. Ticks will often travel to moist areas on the body before latching on, so examine your pet’s armpits, knees, and groin, in addition to its neck, ears, and feet. If you have outdoor pets that have been in these areas, make sure you check them for ticks. If there’s a tick infestation, a few ticks will likely latch onto the fabric in search of a meal. While wearing long pants and tall socks to protect your legs, drag the fabric over tall grass and overgrown plants in your yard, particularly on the border of wooded areas. Cut a swatch of fabric about 5” by 5” and attach it to a long pole. If you think you might have ticks in your yard, you can perform a simple test called a tick drag. Here are a few ways to get rid of ticks in your yard. Tick control involves a combination of prevention practices and insecticides. Better yet, wear long pants, high socks, and bug repellent when walking through areas where ticks live. If you notice a tick on your skin, you should remove it immediately, ideally within the first 36 hours after being bitten. During this period, the mouthparts of the tick will hook into the skin with barbs, making it very difficult to remove completely. Still, you’ll want to keep your family and pets free from ticks, which latch on and feed off a host for up to 10 days at a time. Of course, these are largely worst-case scenarios, and most tick bites don’t bring illness. There’s also been evidence that the bite of a lone star tick can cause a person to develop an allergy to red meat. Ricketts, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and tularemia can also be spread by ticks. The most common of these tick-transmitted illnesses is Lyme disease, associated with the deer tick, or blacklegged tick, in the East and northern Midwest. Ticks feed on human and animal blood, and they can transfer bacteria and other pathogens into their hosts when they feed, causing disease.
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