When I was younger my dad used to tell the joke that politics meant poly, a prefix meaning many; and ticks, blood sucking creatures. Here you’ll read of ticks, something just as sucky as politics, but we’ll give some tips on prevention too.
In this post you’ll learn more about the diseases ticks carry, including Lyme disease, how to know if you’ve been infected, how to remove ticks, and how to prevent ticks in your yard. It is important to eliminate all tick infestation from your yard. Here’s to a tick free summer!
Table of Contents
- Ticks
- Where do ticks lay eggs?
- Diseases ticks carry
- How to know of infection
- How to remove ticks
- How to control ticks
- Conclusion
Ticks
Ixodidae ticks, hard scaled ticks, most common in Minnesota. Their bodies bulge as the feed on host’s blood. Ixodidae ticks can undergo a one-host, two-host, or three-host lifestyle.
There are 4 life cycles for each of the one- two- and three-host lifestyles: eggs, larvae, nymphs, adults. One female tick can lay anywhere of hundreds to thousands of eggs. Larval ticks hatch with 6 legs, after a blood meal and molting into the nymph stage, do ticks grow the 4th pair of legs. Adult ticks last for about another year, depending on the lifestyle.
One-host ticks only feed on one host, molting on the host and only leaving to lay eggs and die. Winter ticks and cattle ticks are one-host ticks. These ticks only live for about 1 year.
Two-host ticks live for about 2 years. The larvae attach to its first host and drop off after that blood meal to molt from nymphs to adults. Then they attach again to another host prior to laying eggs.
Most ticks are three-host ticks, and their life cycle also spans about 3 years. Females in this family can lay thousands of eggs. The eggs are laid in the ground. As they hatch, the larvae seek out a host for a blood meal.
The fed larvae drop off their host to molt into nymphs. They hibernate over winter, and the next year as nymphs they seek out another host.
Once fed, the nymphs drop off to molt into adults. They hibernate over winter, and again the following year they seek out a final host as adults.
With some ticks living for 3 years, it makes it hard to know how to prevent ticks in your yard. It is also important to know the warning signs of a tick infestation in your yard, and to treat effectively.
Did you know ticks drink about 600 times their body weight in blood in their lifetime? That’s disgusting!
Female ticks consume more blood meal in order to lay eggs. Females will mate with males on their host and then drop off to lay their eggs in the ground.
Male ticks do not consume much blood, but remain on their host to mate with female ticks. But not all ticks need to mate in order to lay eggs. The Asian Longhorned Tick can reproduce asexually.
Ticks are actually members of the arachnid family, as they have 8 legs.
Like mosquitoes, since ticks ingest blood, they act as vectors: vehicles transporting diseases. See more in the section “Diseases Ticks Carry.”
Did you know ticks have a sense, similar to mosquitoes, that detects carbon dioxide (what we exhale) so they know when a potential host is near? It’s true and they can see their prey in infrared! And they have a minute organ called Haller’s organ to house these sense cavities.
Ticks can also sense their hosts by their body odor, breath, body heat, moisture, or vibrations.
While many believe that ticks jump onto their hosts or fall onto their hosts from above, ticks are actually incapable of jumping. They do “quest” which is holding the piece of grass or branch with their back 4 legs and out stretching their front 2-4 legs to grasp their potential host.
If you’re worried, wondering, can ticks infest a house, the answer is now. While I wouldn’t put it past these incorrigible blood suckers, ticks lay their nests in the ground.
Where Do Ticks Lay Eggs?
Ticks typically lay their eggs right on top of the soil or in the grass, near a trail or where wildlife frequents. The mother tick just leaves them, and once the ticks hatch, they fend for themselves.
Ticks are very small, so their eggs are even smaller. Each egg is basically a speck, probably about the size of a 12- or 14-point period. They are very little, but laid together in a clump the size of a quarter. Depending on the tick species the eggs usually have a red tint or black tint to them.
Rest assured if you’re wondering, can ticks infest a house. The answer is no. Ticks lay their eggs in the ground, right on top of the soil.
Diseases Ticks Carry
Ticks can carry more than one disease at a time, which can make diagnosis difficult. Not only do ticks carry diseases from person to person, infected ticks also spread the diseases to their eggs.
Some examples of diseases ticks carry are typhus, rickettsialpox, tularemia, several types of fevers and typhus, a type of meningitis (attack on the central nervous system), and many other viruses and diseases. The CDC lists 16 tick-borne diseases.
Perhaps the most commonly aware tick-borne disease is Lyme disease. It is most important to understand the warning signs of a tick infestation in your yard and treat them accordingly, before someone contracts a disease spread by ticks.
Did you know ticks can also spread the mammalian meat allergy? Which causes the infected host to become allergic to red meat once bitten by the tick.
Further reading: “Ticks & Disease.”
Lyme Disease
The most commonly known disease that ticks spread is Lyme disease, perhaps because it is on the rise in the United States. In 2004, there were 27,388 confirmed cases of Lyme, and in 2016 there were 96,075 cases.
What’s worse is that 75% of the CDC reported cases of Lyme disease were contracted in residential backyards. As you can see, it is very important to know how to prevent ticks in your yard.
Blacklegged ticks are the most common ticks to transmit Lyme disease.
How to Know of Infection
Before going outside into a potentially tick-infested area, make a plan and apply repellent. The CDC has some great tips to prevent ticks here.
It is important to prevent ticks from finding a host on you or a loved one. Part of that comes from learning how to prevent ticks in your yard, but we aren’t in our yards all summer. We go on walks and to parks, hiking and fishing. We go places where ticks live and they take advantage.
After having been outside and been bitten by a tick, if you have any fever, rash, itching, swelling or other symptom around the site of the tick bite, immediately consult a doctor. Tick-borne illnesses are more easily treatable the sooner they are caught.
If you start to see a ring of read spread outward from the infected site, it could very well be Lyme: consult a doctor immediately. But this type of rash (erythema migrans) only occurs in 70-80% of infected people, so this can’t be the only symptom you look for.
Joint aches, muscle aches, fever, chills, and swollen lymph nodes may occur in place of the rash.
Months after the bite, you may experience swollen joints or facial palsy, severe headaches, neck aches, shooting pains, severe fatigue, and more. The CDC gives a full list of symptoms.
With such severe symptoms, it is important to know how to prevent ticks.
With the COVID-19 pandemic in mind, some have discovered that some of the long-term effects of Coronavirus are similar to those of Lyme disease.
Please note that bullseye rash, and swollen lymph nodes are not symptoms of Coronavirus, but of Lyme. Keep in mind that coughing and difficulty breathing are not symptoms of Lyme but Coronavirus.
How to remove ticks
That face you make when you find a tick on you
Ticks don’t always transmit the diseases they may carry, especially if they are removed within the first 36 hours of the bite. At this point their heads are not deep enough in the host to transmit the disease and therefore it isn’t as likely to transmit.
Ticks can be removed with a fine point tweezers. And then should be disposed of immediately. While some folks strive to remove the head which should kill the tick, the tick’s head can survive without the body for a few hours, and if 2 legs are left with its head it can last longer.
Never twist or turn a tick to get them out of the skin. Remove them as gently and as calmly as possible.
While some flush ticks down the toilet, others simply stick them to tape (folded over) and throw them away. My grandpa would hold them with a tweezers and light them on fire until they are burned and “good and dead,” he would say.
If you can squeeze the entire tick head and pull it out, it won’t spit any of it’s saliva back into the bite site.
The reason for this last tip is because there is a type of paralysis-causing toxin in tick saliva. It can affect a person for 24 hours after injection, but if the tick exits the bite site on its own, it won’t inject its saliva into the host.
Did you know that ticks can secrete glue from their saliva glands? This helps keep them in place while feeding. Now you know why they can be such a pest to remove!
It is important to know the warning signs of a tick infestation in your yard or home, and call the pros at Done Right Pest Solutions for safe and effective tick control treatments.
How to Control Ticks
It is good to use one or multiple effective strategies to keep ticks from infecting a host, but only use more than one strategy if they don’t counter each other. The best pest control is preventative pest control. Here are some important ways how to prevent ticks.
Some of these methods include treating yards with chemical or using repellent measures. For tick control, we recommend using a chemical approach to eliminate breeding and shorten life spans of ticks in your yards.
Done Right Pest Solutions employs a quick-drying product on all areas of the yards where ticks and mosquitoes breed and harbor.
The product is a knock-down product, directly killing any mosquitoes and ticks on contact. This product is applied to the perimeter of the yard to create a barrier; on any trees, shrubs, or tall grasses; any place water can accumulate; and another barrier around active areas of your yard like patios, decks, trampolines, fire pits, etc.
This product, when dry, will last about a month. Liquid product is vital for how to prevent ticks.
Ticks can climb up, so we treat the bases of trees up several feet to make sure the ticks come into contact with the residual chemical. Once coming into contact with the product it focuses on sterilization and then kills them in a short time.
Read more about our Mosquito and Tick Plan.
Please know that tick control is more of a suppression technique rather than extermination. Because of their durability and lifestyle, ticks are very difficult to treat. That’s why, when it comes down to how to prevent ticks, it is important to at least consult a pest control professional, if not hire one.
We recommend clean-up of extra debris and leaf litter, as ticks lay their eggs in the ground and these can be prime opportunity spots for egg-laying.
Finally, always consult your veterinarian about having any domestic pets and animals treated for ticks. Pets can always pick up fleas and ticks on walks, in parks, and from other animals, so you can’t just rely on treating your yard as the only preventative approach against these pests.
One thing I never thought about before was how deer can spread ticks to your yard. If you’ve ever had deer in your yard, you could very well have deer ticks or blacklegged ticks, which carry Lyme disease. Yet another reason for tick prevention.
Most folks are actually more concerned about their pets getting tick diseases than they are about themselves. The science shows that humans are actually more susceptible to tick-borne diseases than dogs or cats are. And having a dog or a cat doubles your chance of finding ticks on you or another person in your house.
Pro Tips: How to Prevent Ticks in Your Yard
If you have wooded area next to your property, consider having any patio, furniture, or active area of your yard at least 3 feet away.
Add in some wood chips or gravel to close the distance between the woods and your yard.
Walk your property with your pest control expert to learn of key areas where ticks can breed in your yard.
Limit your activity in those areas and have the pest control expert treat those areas well.
Conclusion
It is OK to enjoy life and spend time outdoors, but it is also wise to be aware of your surroundings and prepare for the worst. Ticks are some of the worst insect pests. But hopefully you’ve learned how to make them suck less!
In this post you learned about where ticks lay their eggs, the answer to the question can ticks infest a house, the diseases ticks carry, including Lyme disease, how to know if you’ve been infected, how to remove ticks, and how to prevent ticks in your yard. You also learned what to do at the point of a tick infestation: Call Done Right Pest Solutions at 651-342-9489.
If you are interested in learning more about our Mosquito and Tick Plan, view our flyer or give us a call. We can answer the questions you may have.
Just be aware and make a plan, wear a repellent and check yourself when you come in from outside. These are simple steps for how to prevent ticks.
What has been your experience been with ticks? Any tips listed in this article or otherwise that you’ve tried that worked well? We’d love to hear about it below!