Lyme Disease: The Tick-Borne Illness You Need To Be Aware Of

When discussing potentially harmful pests, a common one you’ll often hear about is ticks. These strange creatures latch onto a host through physical contact. You might be out enjoying nature and inadvertently come in contact with them in the grass or by brushing against one on a tree branch. These opportunistic pests can also be transferred onto you by another person or your pet.

Unfortunately, these pests can negatively impact your health. While mosquitoes are known to carry certain diseases like West Nile or Zika, infected ticks can transmit Lyme disease, which can cause serious health issues for many people. The thought of ticks may have you asking the question: Where did Lyme disease originate? To help you better understand Lyme disease and its origin, the pest control experts at Mosquito Joe® have some valuable information to share.

What Is Lyme Disease?

Lyme disease is a product of the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, commonly found in ticks in the United States. While you can get Lyme disease from a tick bite, not all ticks carry the disease. But you should take extra precautions, especially when walking in areas that are heavily wooded or have a lot of tall grass.

Symptoms of Lyme Disease

Symptoms of Lyme disease can vary between individuals who are infected, and symptoms don’t always show up immediately. Lyme disease skin manifestations and other symptoms can begin to appear anywhere from 3 days to a month after the initial bite.

If you have be bitten by a tick or suspect you have Lyme disease, here are some critical signs to look for:

Stage One

  • A standard bug bite: Most people won’t know they’ve received a bite from a tick because they won’t feel the initial bite. Tick saliva has a chemical that acts as a local anesthetic. The chemical numbs the bite area, which often results in a bite going undetected. However, things can change by day three.
  • Rash: Rashes are common Lyme disease skin manifestations. They may not hurt, but they’ll be warm to the touch. It’s best to stay away from scratching it. The tell-tale sign of a tick bite is a bulls-eye rash that appears around the bite area. The rash is red in the center and has additional red rings of red around it, which may increase in size over time.
  • Fever, headache, chills: In addition to a rash, you may also experience a high fever, headache, and/or chills.

If you experience any of these symptoms after a tick bite, it’s important to seek medical attention as soon a s possible.

Stage Two

Failing to treat stage one of Lyme disease can lead to more severe symptoms in stage two, such as:

  • Widespread rashes over your entire body.
  • Extreme muscle soreness and weakness.
  • Facial weakness on one or both sides of the face.
  • Pain in lower limbs.

Once again, if any of these symptoms appear, you should seek help from a medical professional.

Stage Three

Stage three of Lyme disease includes many of the symptoms in stage two. However, a person may experience more pain and swelling in localized areas, such as the knees and other joints. You may also experience arthritis in certain joints.

FAQs About Lyme Disease

How Is Lyme Disease Diagnosed?

Lyme disease is tricky to diagnose because it shares similar symptoms with many other medical conditions. However, if you have been bitten by a tick or suspect that you may have Lyme disease, a blood test should be taken to confirm any presence of the disease.

It’s important to note that depending on when the test is administered, blood tests for Lyme disease are not always 100% accurate. During the early stages of the disease, a blood test may come back negative. However, if you receive positive results from your first blood test, you’ll be asked to submit another to determine the severity of your Lyme disease.

How Is Lyme Disease Treated?

Additional research still needs to be done to improve Lyme disease treatments. It is currently treated with antibiotics While this treatment is effective in the early stages, many people report experiencing long-term effects like fatigue and muscle pain.

Can You Get Lyme Disease From Mosquitoes?

When you hear that one pest has a disease, it’s not far-fetched to think others may carry the same disease. While mosquitoes can carry insect-borne illnesses, according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), the answer is no.

There’s currently no evidence that indicates you can get Lyme disease from mosquitoes. Additionally, mosquito bites are typically very brief, whereas ticks must hang onto their host for hours or days to fully transmit Lyme bacteria.

Long-Term Complications of Lyme Disease

As mentioned above, if you don’t address the symptoms of Lyme disease during the initial stages, it can lead to longer-term complications. Even after treatment, some people still experience side effects of the disease, such as:

  • Bodily aches
  • Arthritis in knees and other joints that don’t seem to go away
  • Lethargy

You could also face some neurological effects of Lyme disease that can impact your memory, facial muscles, and the muscles around your neck.

Ways To Protect Yourself From Lyme Disease

Lyme disease can be very debilitating for those infected, but this doesn’t mean you should never venture outside again. There are steps and precautions you can take to mitigate the risks. Follow these simple steps when visiting heavily wooded or sparsely populated areas, especially areas with tall, unkempt grass:

  • Use tick repellants: Spray tick repellant on your clothes and shoes before going to a grassy or wooded area. It’ll keep them away while you’re outdoors.
  • Wear light-colored clothing: Ticks and other pests are attracted to dark colors. Wear lighter colors to reduce the risks and to help someone spot one on you.
  • Dress for protection: Although it might be warm during the summer, you’ll still need to wear the proper clothing when venturing outdoors. Avoid wearing open-toed shoes in areas where ticks may lurk. Also, wear long-sleeved shirts and/or pants for the time you’re outside to avoid a tick latching onto your legs.
  • Hire service professionals: Rather than waiting to find out if you have ticks on your property, be proactive and hire a professional service. A barrier spray treatment provides a protective shield around your property, keeping pests out and away from your family and pets.
  • Check for ticks: Always check for ticks if you’ve been engaging in an outdoor activity. Have someone inspect your clothing or use a mirror to check yourself and areas you cannot easily see.

Protect Yourself From Ticks and Other Annoying Pests

Insects are innovative, adaptable creatures, which explains why they have been in existence for so long. Protecting you, your family, and pets from the dangers of ticks requires a proactive approach. If you enjoy the outdoors, take preventive measures to keep ticks and other pests off your property.

For ultimate peace of mind, call on the professionals at Mosquito Joe®. Our tick control services are developed to protect your property from potentially harmful insects. We offer a range of pest control services. that are all backed by the Neighborly Done Right Promise™, which ensures your satisfaction. You don’t have to spend all your time indoors, because Mosquito Joe is making the outdoor fun again! Request a free quote today!

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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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7 Tips on How to Prevent Ticks in the Yard

 
Ticks and the diseases they carry pose a threat to the health of your family and pets. It’s important to understand how to prevent ticks in your yard and what to do when you find them. As our winters warm, tick season is expanding, and preventing ticks becomes a bigger concern in more parts of the country. Let’s explore some essential information about ticks and the potential harm they represent. Then we’ll dive into our seven tips on how to prevent ticks in your yard.

First, Understanding Different Kind Of Ticks

Out of approximately 850 species of ticks worldwide — over 90 can be found in the United States. However, most tick species don’t bite humans, though they do feed on our pets. The ticks that are most likely to bite people and transmit disease are:

  • American dog tick also called a wood tick
  • Blacklegged tick, also called a deer tick
  • Brown dog tick
  • Gulf Coast tick
  • Lone star tick
  • Rocky Mountain wood tick
  • Western black-legged tick

Fortunately, tick-preventing techniques are equally effective for all varieties.

Why Is It Important to Efficiently Control Ticks?

It’s true that most ticks don’t bite humans, and those that do, don’t always transmit disease. However, don’t skip learning how to prevent ticks because you like your odds! Every tick bite sucks the blood from its warm-blooded host, whether wildlife, pets, or people. While doing so, they cut a hole in the skin to insert a barbed feeding tube.

If not removed, a tick will remain attached to its host, feeding on blood for seven to ten days. Unless the tick is removed properly, tugging stimulates the tick to salivate and regurgitate into the host’s bloodstream. Meanwhile, improper removal may cause the tick’s head and jaws to pop off the body and remain embedded in the host.

Even when they don’t transmit diseases like Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tick bites get infected and can cause anemia for your family members and pets. So, let’s see how to prevent ticks in your yard.

7 Tips for Preventing Ticks in the Yard

The following tips will help you in preventing ticks in the yard and keeping your family and pets safe from these nasty biters:

  1. Cut down on hiding places for ticks by keeping the grass mowed, shrubs and trees trimmed, weeds pulled, and leaf litter picked up and discarded.
  2. Move swing sets and sandboxes away from wooded areas.
  3. Keep fences and other barriers to wildlife in good repair. A tick can ride in on an animal, drop off and be ready to bite your pet.
  4. Create a barrier between the lawn and garden areas and any surrounding woods by laying down gravel or cedar wood chips.
  5. Don’t overwater. Ticks are attracted to moisture.
  6. Keep bird feeders, bird baths, and squirrel feeders well away from pet areas.
  7. Schedule professional tick control services.

Additional Steps to Preventing Ticks from Biting

Most Americans who get bitten by ticks pick them up in their own garden. That’s why it is so important to learn how to prevent ticks in the yard. However, ticks are commonly found at most of our favorite outdoor destinations, including the mountains, the woods, and beaches. Let’s consider additional steps to prevent ticks from ruining your outdoor fun .

Know When to Apply Tick Spray

Consider using a tick-repellant spray with a concentration of 20-30% DEET. Several on the market are effective at preventing tick bites on hiking and camping trips for people and dogs. When it is tick season in the area, a repellant spray is an excellent way to protect your family on vacation.

Know Which Areas to Avoid

Do some basic Google research to learn whether you live, work, or vacation in an area with tick infestations. This knowledge can help you prioritize your tick prevention efforts.

Dress Accordingly

If you go hiking or camping in an area where ticks are a problem, wear light-colored clothing, so tiny ticks are easier to spot. Also, choose clothing that covers your skin, including long sleeves, a high neck, long pants with the legs tucked into your socks, full-coverage shoes, and a hat. Using a DEET tick repellant spray and then dressing carefully is the best approach to preventing tick bites while hiking and camping.

Remain Vigilant for Ticks and Bites

As important as preventing ticks in the yard is, it’s vital to avoid an infestation in your home. Take care to inspect yourself, your kids, and your pets when coming in from exposure to ticks. Shower or bathe to easily dislodge any ticks that have not attached. Then, carefully search for ticks, with particular attention given to the following areas:

  • Neck
  • Under arms
  • Behind ears
  • Behind knees
  • Inside elbow joints
  • Under hair and on the scalp
  • Inside the belly button
  • Around the waist
  • Groin area

When examining pets, run your hands along their skin, feeling for bumps. Check the spots listed above and your pet’s mouth, ears, and between their toes.

Have Routine Tick Control Treatment by a Trusted Specialist

A professional tick control service makes preventing ticks in your lawn and garden much easier. Together with our tips above about denying ticks a habitat in your yard will help to keep ticks from taking over your property.

Contact Mosquito Joe for Tick Control!

Mosquito Joe provides more than effective and efficient mosquito control service and flea control. We have also been providing reliable tick control since 2010. As a proud Neighborly company, we have made it our business to become the local pest control experts in neighborhoods across the county.

When you hire Mosquito Joe, you trust that your service will be done right and on time. Every visit is backed by the Neighborly Done Right Promise and the Mosquito Joe® Satisfaction Guarantee!

At Mosquito Joe, preventing ticks from feeding on your family is our business. Call us today at 1-855-275-2563 or contact us online for a free quote or to schedule professional tick control services. We make your pool, patio, and yard safe for bite-free fun!

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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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