What Eats Ticks? Learn What Animals Eat Ticks

Yes! Chickens and guinea fowl are often used on farms and in backyards for natural tick control. Guinea fowl, in particular, are known to consume large numbers of ticks and are sometimes considered more efficient than chickens.

Some types of ants (including fire ants and carpenter ants), beetles, and spiders will eat ticks, especially when they are engorged or in their vulnerable early life stages.

Yes. Frogs and toads will consume the ticks they encounter, though their impact is limited. Lizards, especially species like the Western fence lizard, eat ticks and reduce the risk of transmission of Lyme disease by neutralizing the bacteria in the ticks they host.

Raccoons, squirrels, and chipmunks eat ticks while grooming themselves. While they do not actively hunt ticks, their grooming habits make them “ecological traps” that kill many ticks they pick up.