How to Get Rid of Ticks in Your Yard?

 
You might know ticks as annoying pests that you need to worry about throughout the summer. They aren’t the most pleasant guests because they can carry diseases that harm your health. However, tick control services and other solutions are readily available. It’s just a matter of learning how to get rid of ticks in your yard using the method that’s right for you.

Get Rid of Ticks with Natural Remedies

Before you go on a tick-eliminating spree, it’s important to consider the best way to deal with these pests. Of course, you can blast them with pesticides. But those can be a bit harsh, especially if you have a loved one who has a sensitive respiratory system. If you’d like to learn how to keep ticks out of your yard with natural remedies, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s review some options.

Cedar Oil Spray

Cedar oil spray is a practical, nontoxic treatment that removes ticks. You can find it in most home improvement or gardening stores. Just apply it to any area of your yard where you’ve noticed tick activity. What’s also beneficial about this spray is that you can use it directly on your skin or clothing when you’re out and about.

While buying a ready-made cedar oil spray is easy, you can always make the mixture yourself if you’re stuck at home without it. Grab an empty spray bottle and add about 60 drops of cedarwood oil. Then dilute with water and add in an ounce of grain alcohol. After that, shake it up, let it settle, and then usher the ticks away from you with a few sprays.

Eucalyptus or Neem Oil

Eucalyptus and neem oil are like kryptonite for ticks. They’ll die instantly if they come in contact with these essential oils. Like cedar oil spray, you can easily make this solution. Grab a spray bottle and mix 30 drops of your chosen oil with four ounces of water. Shake and then spray away.

Diatomaceous Earth (DE)

Another excellent tick treatment for the yard is diatomaceous earth. It’s a powdered form of diatoms and probably one of the more potent natural remedies pests fear. If you plan to use this around your home, don’t worry. It’s entirely safe for kids, pets, and adults.

However, when ticks come in contact with it, they will become dehydrated immediately. That’s a death sentence for ticks because it kills them within a few hours. After a few sprays around your yard, you’ll notice less tick presence, allowing you to enjoy your backyard comfortably.

Get Rid of Ticks with Chemicals

Natural remedies are powerful and can eliminate ticks. But sometimes, the issue may call for more aggressive measures. In these cases, there are multiple options to choose from.

Acaricides

Acaricides can be used as a tick treatment for the yard. However, you must combine this solution with other tick control measures to make the most of this method. It’s also important to note that you should be careful when working with this chemical because it can be highly toxic. If you feel uneasy using this around your home, let the experts at Mosquito Joe® take care of the problem for you.

Fogger:

A fogger is a device that spreads insecticides to eliminate ticks and other pests that may be lurking in your yard. For the most effective chance at tick removal, look for EPA-approved foggers that include a specific insecticide for ticks.

Permethrin Yard Spray:

Another effective tick control measure is permethrin spray. It’s in the pyrethroid family of insecticides and is an excellent tool for perimeter pest control. Before spraying away, read the label on your product because not all permethrin sprays can be applied to particular surfaces or plants.

How Do Professionals From Mosquito Joe® Get Rid of Ticks?

Tick control can be a DIY project, but depending on the method you use, it will require dealing with chemicals, consistent application, and continued maintenance in order to be effective. If you’d rather not deal with all of that, then enlist the help of the local pest control professionals at Mosquito Joe. We know the best way to get rid of these pests, and how to keep them away. Here’s how our process works:

1. Tick inspection

We start with a tick inspection to find out the problem areas in your yard. Remember, although ticks love grass, they can also enter your home through pets or vermin. So we’ll need to check the interior and exterior for certain hot spots they may frequent.

2. Treatment

Following an inspection, we’ll treat your yard and other areas to remove ticks immediately. While we do this, we ask that you keep kids and pets away from the treatment area for at least 30 minutes to allow the application to dry. Once it’s settled, everyone will be able to enjoy the outdoors.

3. Follow-up Treatments

We’ll usually return for a follow-up monthly treatment to keep ticks at bay. Since these pests have a unique life cycle, missing a treatment might mean a rise in the tick population in and around your property. Tick treatment for the yard should start around spring and go into the early fall for the best results.

Maintain a Tick-Free Yard with Mosquito Joe

Now you know how to get rid of ticks in your yard. You can use these methods to protect your family and pets from ticks. If you’re not sure how to apply these methods or you would rather not take a DIY approach to tick control, let the experts at your local Mosquito Joe take care of ticks for you. We offer mosquito and tick control services, and can help you with other pest problems too! All of our work is backed by the Neighborly Done Right Promise™, which guarantees complete customer satisfaction. So, don’t let a tick problem get under your skin, call the pros at Mosquito Joe, and request a free quote today!

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How to Prepare for a Severe Tick Season

 

It doesn’t matter if it’s the spring, summer, or fall; when the weather permits and outside temps are reasonable, many of us venture outdoors to relax and have some fun. Whether parents, kids, and the family dog go for a hike, head to the beach, or simply roughhouse and relax in the backyard, it’s essential to be on the lookout for ticks.

These tiny, blood-sucking pests can have an outsized impact on the health and well-being of the entire family. Don’t wait for someone to get bit and possibly be infected with a common tick disease. Prevention is key. It’s time to prepare for tick season.

What You Need To Know About Ticks

There’s a lot to learn about ticks; they can be weirdly, even disgustingly fascinating. For instance, did you know that ticks aren’t insects? Ticks have eight legs and are classified as parasitic arachnids. Adult ticks range in size from that of a poppy seed to an apple seed, and they feed on the blood of warm-blooded animals. When engorged with blood, these tiny biters swell from the size of a small seed up to the size of a blueberry!

Because ticks are so small, you are unlikely to feel their bite. But once a tick finds someone to bite, it grasps the skin, cuts a hole in it, inserts its barbed feeding tube, and begins to suck blood. The barbs hold the tick in place while the host moves about. An adult female tick can remain attached to its host, feeding on its blood for seven to ten days, after which it will detach and fall off. After the first 36-48 hours of feeding, a Lyme disease-carrying tick is most likely to transmit the disease bacterium to its host.

Immature ticks, called nymphs, are the most frequent cause of Lyme disease in humans. Measuring just 2 millimeters across, nymphs are very difficult to see. Nymphs are most active feeding during spring and summer, which is often considered tick season.

Ticks generally make their homes in wooded areas with overgrown shrubs, tall grasses, fallen branches, and plenty of leaf litter. They typically rest at the tips of grass and shrubs, waiting to grab onto a passing animal to feed. But ticks are not only found in woods. They are plentiful in the coastal brush and grasses around the beach and can make their home in your backyard. In fact, most humans are bitten by ticks in their own gardens.

When is Tick Season?

Depending on your climate, tick season, or the time when adult ticks are most active, is from early March to mid-May and mid-August to November. However, for the following thirteen states, tick season is year-round:

  1. Alabama
  2. Arizona
  3. California
  4. Florida
  5. Georgia
  6. Louisiana
  7. Mississippi
  8. Nevada
  9. North Carolina
  10. Oregon
  11. South Carolina
  12. Texas
  13. Washington

When Does Tick Season End?

Tick season typically ends when temperatures drop below freezing. However, to kill off ticks, the weather must be below 10 degrees Fahrenheit for a sustained number of days. As winters get warmer, tick seasons will last longer, and more people and pets risk getting bitten.

Risks and Symptoms of Tick Bites

Most tick bites are painless, with just a few mild symptoms like redness, swelling, or soreness at the bite. However, some ticks carry and transmit disease-causing bacteria and can lead to Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tick-borne relapsing fever, and Tularemia, among others. And even those ticks that don’t transmit disease can have their head or jaws detach from the tick’s body and remain in the host they bite, causing infection. This is why it is critical to learn to remove ticks safely. Of course, because feeding ticks suck blood, bites can lead to anemia.

Unlike most biting insects, ticks bite once and hang on rather than biting in clusters. The more they feed, the larger and more noticeable they become. Harmless tick bites often cause no symptoms or visible signs. Some cause a red bump that looks like a mosquito bite. People who are allergic to tick bites may experience:

  • Painful swelling at the bite
  • A rash
  • A burning sensation
  • Blisters
  • Shortness of breath in extreme cases

However, not all tick bites are so relatively harmless. Symptoms of tick-borne diseases include:

  • Rash at the bite site*
  • Full body rash
  • Fever
  • Chills
  • Headache
  • Stiff neck
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Weakness
  • Muscle aches
  • Joint pain
  • Swollen lynch nodes
  • A fever spoke around 102 or 103°F
  • Abdominal pain

*A Lyme disease rash looks like a bullseye, with a red bump at the center, surrounded by a ring of paler flesh, surrounded by a reddened ring. If you, a family member, or a pet is showing any of these symptoms following a tick bite, seek prompt medical attention.

Preventative Routine to Best Prepare for Tick Season

Although ticks are found in some of our favorite getaway spots, like the woods, mountains, and beaches, most people get bitten by ticks in their own backyard. Ticks hide and breed in unkempt or overgrown vegetation. So, let’s see how to prepare for tick season:

Your property:

  • Keep your grass well-mown
  • Keep your trees trimmed
  • Keep up with the weeding
  • Remove leaf litter
  • Move swing sets and sandboxes away from shrubs, bushes, and other vegetation
  • Discourage deer and other wildlife
  • Keep fences and other barriers to wildlife in good repair
  • Layer gravel or cedar wood chips between the lawn or garden and any wooded areas
  • Don’t over water; ticks are attracted to moisture
  • Have professional tick control service spray every month

Your pets:

  • Apply a monthly topical flea and tick medication
  • Keep bird feeders and bird baths away from pet areas
  • Carefully inspect your pet’s body each night
  • Give regular baths
  • Launder pet bedding and toys

You and your family:

  • Avoid tall grass and wooded areas, hiking only in the middle of trails
  • Wear lightweight clothing to make it easier to spot ticks on it
  • Wear clothing that completely covers you, tucking pant legs into socks when hiking
  • Treat boots, hiking wear, and camping gear with permethrin
  • Tie back long hair or wear a hat
  • Shower after returning indoors, and carefully inspect your body for ticks, paying particular attention to:
    1. Neck
    2. Under arms
    3. Behind ears
    4. Behind knees
    5. Inside elbow joints
    6. Under hair and on the scalp
    7. Inside the belly button
    8. Around the waist
    9. Groin area

When examining yourself, your kids, and your pets, check the same areas, plus the ears, mouth, and between the toes for your pet. If you find one attached, remove the tick safely, and save it for testing should symptoms develop.

Keeping Your Family Safe During Tick Season

While the ways to prepare for tick season may seem burdensome, they are nothing compared to suffering with a tick-borne disease. According to insurance records, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that “approximately 476,000 Americans are diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease every year.”

This accounts only for humans who sought medical care contracting just one of the diseases ticks carry. Don’t let one of your family members, furry or not, become a statistic. Make tick season precautions a regular part of your family’s health care.

Mosquito Joe for Reliable Tick Control Services Near You

Tick season preparations may seem like a heavy lift, but Mosquito Joe is here to help! Not only do we provide effective mosquito control and flea control, but we can also help you rid your property of ticks. Our barrier spray applications target tall grasses, shrubs, plants, and trees where mosquitoes, fleas, and ticks hide and breed. Our professional technicians will tailor our services to meet your property’s specific needs.

As a Neighborly company, we make it our business to become the local experts on the pest issues in neighborhoods across the country. And you can trust that we do our work promptly and efficiently because every visit is backed by the Neighborly Done Right Promise™  and the Mosquito Joe® Satisfaction Guarantee!

Don’t Wait for Tick Season – Contact Us Today!

This tick season, protect your family and secure your property for bite-free fun with Mosquito Joe! Call us today at 1-855-275-2563 or contact us online for a free quote or to schedule professional tick control services. Because you and your family deserve to enjoy summer!

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How Far Can a Tick Jump?

 

Have you ever wondered, How far can a tick jump? If so, you’ve come to the right place! Let’s dig into the cool facts about how ticks travel so you can be better protected from the nasty little suckers.

We make no bones about it; BUGS are our business. So we make it our business to know everything about bugs. To battle bugs effectively, we have to know the answer to all kinds of bug questions. Yes, we’re nerds when it comes to bugs.

Take the tick, for example. Ticks are pests that cause all kinds of problems for humans and pets that venture outdoors. The results of their bites can range from mild skin irritations to serious health consequences. There’s a ton more to know about ticks, but we’ll focus on a few questions that may have been “bugging” you for a while.

Now, we understand that most people don’t think about ticks like we do, at least not until they become a problem. But there are a few tick questions we get quite often, one of the most common being: How far can a tick jump? This is actually more of a trick question than a tick question.

Despite being outfitted with four pairs of legs, adult ticks don’t jump at all. Each leg is covered with short, spiny hairs and ends in a couple of tiny, curved claws. Between the two claws is a small, sticky pad. The hairs, claws, and sticky pads are all designed to assist the tick in locating, grasping, and crawling onto its host — no jumping required. And it’s wired to crawl upwards once it does attach.

Unlike the enormously strong flea legs, a tick’s legs are not geared for locomotion so much as for grasping. They seem to get around quite a bit, so people often ask, “Can ticks jump and fly?” No, they can’t jump, and ticks don’t have wings, so they can’t fly either. They are essentially grounded, but not in a good way! Living close to the ground doesn’t mean ticks can’t move up in the world. They still manage to get around quite well.

So, how fast do ticks move? On their own, not very fast. If they were a vehicle, they would be a tractor, slow and plodding. But they are skilled at utilizing other means of transportation. Our response to the question “Do ticks jump or fly?” is that they don’t need to. They have found more efficient ways to get around, much to our disadvantage.

How Ticks Move in Nature

So, if ticks do not fly or jump, how do they reach your property? How do ticks travel? A tick’s primary mode of travel is on the host whose blood it feeds on. This could be an animal, a human, or both. Ticks are not too picky when it comes to transportation; they’ll take the first ride that comes along.

In the wild, a tick climbs to the top of a plant or a long blade of grass to search for a host. This host-seeking behavior is called “questing.” While holding the plant with its third and fourth pair of legs, the tick stretches out its first pair of legs, waiting for an animal to approach. Ticks can feed on mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and humans. Warm-blooded hosts are their favorite. With the slightest brush, a tick can grab on and instinctively crawl upwards toward the host’s head and ears, seeking thinner skin.

The tick grasps the host’s skin and cuts into it with its claws. During this process, the tick also secretes a numbing agent within its saliva that helps its bite go undetected. Then it inserts a barbed feeding tube, and the blood buffet is open. An adult tick can remain attached, feeding, for a week to 10 days. During that time, the host continues daily life and may transport the tick several miles. Once sated, the tick releases its hold and drops off its host. Soon, it will again climb to the top of another plant to resume questing.

How Ticks Get on Humans

The most common way a tick finds a human host is through questing. This is the host-seeking behavior where the tick crawls to the top of a plant or grass stem to wait with its forelegs outstretched. When a human brushes against the undergrowth, the tick grabs on and then crawls to a preferred site to attach and feed. Sometimes, ticks wind up on tree leaves, branches, and shrubs. Although it’s more common to find ticks in low-lying areas, this is not always the case. The second most common way ticks find human hosts is through their pets. If your dog or cat is bitten, the tick may drop off in your home or yard. That proximity makes you a more likely target when the tick resumes questing. This is why it’s a good practice to inspect your pet for ticks after spending time outdoors, especially during spring and summer.

Preventing Tick Bites

The most important step to preventing tick-borne disease is learning all about tick bites and how to find them. Then, you can take essential steps for tick bite prevention. These steps include avoiding typical tick habitats like wooded and grassy areas when possible. When out hiking or walking, try to stay on designated or established pathways to avoid encountering ticks. You’ll also learn the ways to help limit ticks on your property. When walking where ticks are likely to be, wear long sleeves and pants in light colors. While ticks cannot jump or fly, they are excellent at hitchhiking a ride and will cling on if you brush past their perch. Covering your skin makes it harder for ticks to attach and start feeding, and the light clothing makes the tiny pests easier to spot.

You won’t feel a tick bite (because they anesthetize the skin before biting), so vigilance is key to remaining healthy and free of tick-borne diseases. Despite all the tick-avoidance precautions you can take, it is critical that you examine your pets, kids, and yourself for ticks when returning home from the outdoors. Showering is an excellent way to rinse away any ticks that are not yet attached. Unfortunately, washing your clothing won’t kick ticks; you’ll also have to toss them into the dryer and run it on high heat for 10 minutes to kill any tick adults or larvae. If you get bitten, properly removing the tick is essential to avoid the diseases they spread.

The Importance of Tick Testing

Testing is important if you, a family member, or a pet gets bitten by a tick. Tick testing will let you know what diseases the tick is carrying. It will not determine whether you were infected, but it alerts you to whether you need to consider treatment. Your doctor will advise you on potential treatment after receiving the test results.

When removing a tick, take care not to crush it. Instead, seal it in an airtight container or wrap it in tape. Make a note of the date of the tick bite, where on your body you were bitten, and the approximate location where you encountered the tick. Some people, especially those with a compromised immune system, prefer to test immediately. Others save the tick(s) for testing if they develop symptoms.

Protect Yourself and Your Family From Tick Bites

Although ticks do not fly or jump, they represent a health hazard for you, your family, and your pets. Ticks that carry various diseases are becoming more plentiful as development further encroaches on their natural habitat and more areas experience warmer seasonal temperatures. Therefore, it is critical that you take steps to protect yourself from these bloodsucking, disease-carrying pests.

In addition to these precautions, employing professional tick control services by your local Mosquito Joe is essential to limiting exposure to ticks around your home. We provide effective tick control as part of our comprehensive pest control services. All our work is backed by the Neighborly Done Right Promise™ and our Mosquito Joe® Satisfaction Guarantee, so you can count on excellent results. We come out to your property, tailoring our service to your specific needs. Discover effective, professional tick control near you. We have locations across the country. Our reliable pest control service is trusted by thousands of homeowners and businesses across the U.S.

Don’t let ticks keep you from exploring the great outdoors. Request a free quote at the top of this page, or call us today at 1-855-275-2563. You deserve to enjoy your outdoor spaces without worrying about tick bites. Let Mosquito Joe make the outdoors fun again.

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How to Detect Ticks: Can You Feel a Tick Bite?

When temperatures begin to rise, tick bites become a concern for families who enjoy outdoor activities. In fact, any time temperatures reach above 40 degrees, ticks become more active. So, hiking, camping, going to the beach, and even enjoying a barbecue in the backyard can be interrupted by a tick bite. Detecting a tick early and removing the tick properly from the bite area is crucial to preventing tick-borne diseases like Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

What do ticks feel like? Can you feel a tick bite? If you can’t feel a tick, how can you detect and remove ticks to avoid illness? Here’s what you need to know to protect yourself, your family, and your pets with essential tick bite detection and prevention.

Can You Feel a Tick on You?

Can you feel ticks on your body? Unfortunately, the answer in many cases is no. So, what do ticks feel like? When ticks are in the nymph stage during spring and early summer, they’re the size of a poppy seed, making them nearly impossible to feel. Even when they bite, you won’t feel a tick nymph, yet they are the ticks most likely to transmit Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections.

If you can’t feel a tick bite, how do you know if you’ve been bitten? Detecting ticks or nymphs requires super-close visual examination. Even then, a tick can be in a place you can’t see on your own. They like to bite the back of your neck or the top of your scalp. That’s why it’s wise to have a friend or loved one help you scan your body for ticks after being outside, especially in places on your body that you can’t see.

As ticks grow, it may be easier to feel them moving on your skin, but there’s no guarantee. A tick crawling on your body can feel like a very slight tickle—it’s a sensation that can be easily missed if you aren’t purposefully checking for them. You’re more likely to find a tick by seeing it crawling on you or someone else.

Not only are you unlikely to feel a tick or nymph moving on you, but you can’t feel a tick bite. Even once the tick bites and embeds itself into your skin, you’re unlikely to feel it. The bite doesn’t hurt, itch, or burn. While the tick feeds on your blood, its body begins to swell, making it easier to spot and locate. A tactile search is one way to find or feel a tick on you. Search by running your hands lightly over the areas of your body where ticks are likely to crawl or bite, including:

  • Under the arms
  • Inside the belly button
  • On the back of the knees
  • In and around the ears
  • Between legs
  • On the scalp or in your hair

What Does a Tick Look Like?

Since you cannot feel a tick bite or even a tick crawling on you, it’s important to look for them visually. But what do ticks look like?

Ticks are arachnids, and they look a lot like the spiders and mites they are related to. Tick eggs look a lot like red caviar, and the hatchlings and nymphs look like minuscule spiders or mites. A hungry tick has a flat body with a teardrop shape. The head is at the more pointed end of the body. Tiny tick larvae have just six legs, while nymphs and adult ticks have eight. Once a tick bites, it embeds in the skin, attaching through a barbed feeding tube. The feeding process includes injecting the host with a mild painkiller, so you cannot feel the tick bite, attach or feed.

As the tick feasts on its host blood, the tick’s body swells enormously. An adult female tick can swell up to 200 times her original body size as she drinks blood. She may swell to half an inch long, making her much easier to spot.

Related Topic: What Are the Best Essential Oils to Repel Ticks?

What Does a Tick Bite Feel Like?

Unlike bites from mosquitoes and other bugs, tick bites do not typically cause immediate skin irritation or itching sensation. When it embeds itself in your skin, the tick injects its saliva, which contains a numbing agent called kinases, enabling the insect to avoid detection while it feeds on its host.

You can’t feel a tick bite when it bites you. Many individuals with Lyme disease were unaware they experienced a tick bite until symptoms of the disease emerged well after the tick was gone. What does a tick bite look and feel like? The answer depends on the type of tick and your specific physical reaction.

Tick bite lesions can vary in appearance, size, and sensation. In most cases, a bite that does not transmit a tick-borne illness will resemble a mosquito bite without extensive itching or pain. It is a small red bump that will fade within a couple of days.

Since you cannot feel a tick bite, it’s good to know what the bites look like. Here are some of the different tick bite lesions and reactions that are cause for concern:

  • Redness or rash around the skin indicates inflammation and possible infection.
  • Bulls-eye rash—a telltale sign of a tick bite; this can signal a potential infection of Lyme disease.
  • Bite area with a tick still attached and its head burrowed into the skin.
  • Fever, chills, aches, and pains, can be signs of a tick-borne illness.

Related Topic: How to Properly Check and Remove Ticks from Your Pets

If you notice any of the signs or symptoms listed above or find a tick attached to you, contact a medical professional who will have the proper tools to remove the tick safely. Once removed, professionals can test the tick for disease to ensure you receive any necessary treatment. If medical attention is difficult to reach, learn how to remove a tick safely.

Contact Us for Effective Tick Control

Contact your local Mosquito Joe to keep ticks at bay and your family and pets safe. In addition to trust-worthy mosquito control service, our service professionals will provide an effective, long-lasting barrier treatment to keep ticks out of your yard for up to thirty days. To learn more about our pest control services, including our natural barrier treatments, call 1-855-275-2563 or request an estimate online today.

Frequently Asked Questions About Ticks

Why are there so many ticks?

Ticks are not a new threat, but as their population and habitat continue to grow and expand, the potential threat to humans and animals increases. Climate change plays a part in rising tick populations. And as more forests and wooded land is developed into housing and shopping districts, the areas where ticks once lived in isolation are gone. The combination of a rising tick population and people moving into their traditional habitat increases the chances that you will encounter ticks.

Where are ticks most commonly found?
Ticks live in areas where hosts are plentiful. This includes wooded areas, meadows, and marshes. You can also encounter ticks at the beach, particularly along walkways from the hills overlooking the water, down past heavy vegetation to the sand. Nearly anywhere there is sufficient vegetation, you will find ticks.

How to identify a tick bite?
It’s essential to recognize a tick bite, so you can remove the tick and seek treatment if the bite becomes infected. But a tick bite looks like a small red swollen area, similar to other insect bites. It may have been bitten by a tick bite if:

  • There is only one bite. Mosquitoes and fleas often bite multiple times.
  • The red swelling at the bite site has a small black dot at the center.
  • The red swelling has a hardened center.
  • A bull’s eye rash forms. If the red swelling is surrounded by unaffected skin, that is ringed with a red circle. This is the characteristic appearance of a tick bite that transmitted Lyme disease.
  • A rash forms at the site of the bite and is accompanied by fever, body aches, sore joints, swollen lymph nodes, and lethargy.
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Do Ticks Breed on Dogs?

Ticks might not only carry diseases that may affect you and your pet, but they can also breed on your dog. A tick on your pet can eventually lead to an infestation on your furry friend and in your home. By being vigilant and interrupting the mating cycle, you can help keep your dog happy and healthy.

How Do Ticks Breed?

Ticks can breed quickly and are sometimes hard to spot, making tick infestations such a common problem in tick-prone areas. It can start with your dog when they venture outside or during a walk in a grassy or wooded area. Though the breeding process can vary by tick species, these general steps can take from weeks to months, depending on conditions in your area:

  1. The ticks wait on blades of grass or other plants for a passing host. They can’t jump, so they attach to a host when the animal (usually a small animal such as a rodent) brushes by wherever they’re lying in wait.
  2. The tick feeds on this initial host, sometimes for several days, before dropping to the ground.
  3. The tick molts, becoming a nymph, then lies waiting for a second host. They prefer smaller hosts such as rabbits or raccoons at this stage. They’ll feed, drop to the ground, and molt again, becoming adult ticks.
  4. The tick will wait for a third host. At this stage, they prefer large hosts such as deer and dogs. If they attach to your dog, they will feed, breed if possible, and can even lay eggs on your dog that will hatch into larvae. Those larvae will feed on your dog, and the cycle will begin again.

How Do Dogs Get Ticks?

Some things attract or harbor ticks, and it’s worth keeping them in mind. If you can eliminate these things from your yard, you can reduce the chance that you’ll have a tick problem.

  • Tall grass and overgrown plants: These can harbor ticks and give them easy access to your dog and the rest of your family.
  • Leaf piles: Since these areas are also prime spots for ticks to hide and breed, keeping them clear can reduce the number of spots ticks like to gather.
  • Animal and Bird Feeders: Ticks are often found in areas because they can attach themselves to the rodents who eventually come to eat the birdseed or other feed. They wait for an animal to come by and attach to them while they feed.

Of course, you can’t eliminate every plant in your yard, and rodents are a fact of life in many areas. But getting rid of these more obvious hiding places is a good start.

Related Topic: How to Check Dog for Ticks

What Do Ticks Do to Dogs?

Aside from breeding on your dog, ticks also feed on your dog’s blood, which creates a new set of concerns:

  • Too many ticks feeding on your dog can weaken the dog, causing lethargy and general discomfort.
  • Ticks can carry Lyme disease, which can also infect your family.
  • The breeding cycle can continue, causing a worse infestation over time.

Knowing what to do if your dog has a tick will help mitigate these issues. Checking the dog over regularly, especially along their back, legs, and hind end, is a good idea and will help you spot ticks before they cause too much irritation. Remove them using tweezers and pluck them out as close to the dog’s skin as possible. Be careful when using a tweezer to remove ticks; make sure you completely remove the tick from your dog and that you’re not leaving the tick’s head or part of its body behind. You can also purchase flea and tick repellent sprays to protect your dog.

Do Ticks Lay Eggs on Dogs?

If not found and removed right away, ticks that breed on your dog will sometimes lay eggs on them as well. The larvae that hatch from those eggs have a very convenient feeding source: your dog’s blood. This can affect your dog’s health, and that of your family, in a variety of ways. The easiest way to reduce the risks that come with ticks is to prevent your dog from getting ticks in the first place. While this isn’t easy, it is possible with the help of your neighborhood Mosquito Joe.

Related Topic: How to Remove a Tick from a Dog

Protect Your Dog and Family from Ticks

As ticks continue to extend their habitat across the U.S., the potential for tick and mosquito-borne diseases has also grown. One of the best ways to deal with this potential threat is to take preventative steps to protect your family and your pets. Your local pest control pros at Mosquito Joe can help. We offer traditional and natural barrier sprays that effectively help keep pests, like ticks and mosquitoes away, for up to thirty days. To learn more or to get started, call us at 1-855-275-2563 or schedule an appointment online today.

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