I don’t remember ever getting a tick growing up. But at our house, we get ticks on us almost every single time we go outside in the spring or fall. Literally. No ticks is a rare occasion. After knowing several people with Lyme disease, the commonness of deer ticks in our yard gives me the heebie jeebies.
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The typical advice for avoiding tick bites & diseases? Don’t walk in high grass, spray yourself with DEET insect repellent, wear clothing treated with permethrin, and then check yourself after coming in. If you have a tick bite, get on antibiotics pronto.
However, our property has ticks everywhere- not just in high grass. And while I think it’s unlikely that the occasional use of bug spray and insecticides will kill you, it’s certainly not something I want to rub on my kids or wear on a daily basis. (See here and here for some reasons why.) Same with antibiotics- I am all for using them judiciously as needed- but can we be on them almost constantly without health repercussions? Certainly not.
Thankfully, we have found some alternative tick prevention methods over the past year or so that have proved to be fairly effective- without the theoretical risks and worries that come with regular chemical application. Here are some of the methods we use:
1) Homemade anti-tick spray: I don’t know where this recipe originally came from, but thank you to whoever published it! You will need:
- 2 C white vinegar.
- 1 C water.
- 10 drops of eucalyptus, peppermint, OR citrus essential oil. All of these serve as a tick repellent. (I like orange, personally.)
- 10 drops tea tree essential oil (another tick repellent- plus it’s antibacterial).
Mix all ingredients in a spray bottle and apply to clothing and skin before going outside- particularly to the socks and pants. It’s a little stinky, but no worse than bug spray- and it doesn’t have the same toxicity concerns.
2) Look dorky. Wear sneakers instead of flip-flops. Tuck your pants into your socks. You might look silly, but it will keep ticks from crawling up your legs. Just a thought.
3) Get chickens. If you have a tick problem in your yard, consider getting a few chickens. Besides all the other awesome reasons to have them around, they are also great at reducing the tick population. Last spring, without chickens, we were overrun with deer ticks. This spring, with a small flock, I have only found one so far. Obviously, it’s too soon to tell whether it was the chickens or just a different year, but I’ll take anything that helps.
UPDATE: We do still get ticks, even with chickens, so maybe it was just the year. However, I know that chickens like to eat ticks, and anything helps– so I’m keeping ’em.
4) Do a tick check. Every night during tick season, we do a full check of ourselves and our kids. Even if you do have a tick bite, catching it quickly is key to avoiding tick-transmitted diseases. So scan everywhere on your body- particularly in armpits, behind the ears, in your hair, and other hard to see places. Showering soon after coming inside can help rinse off any non-attached ticks. These guys can be really tiny, so do be thorough.
If you DO get a tick bite:
1) Remove it quickly. You can find instructions for removing ticks with tweezers, but I have always been nervous about accidentally leaving the head in. I personally like using the Ticked Off tool
, because it’s simple and I’ve never had a problem with severing the tick. It’s cheap too.
UPDATE: We have had a few ticks break when using the Ticked Off tool. We’ve since switched back to tweezers, but will still occasionally get a head stuck in the skin. We just purchased these fine-pointed tweezers for hopes of a better success rate. I will update again after we’ve tried them to let you know how they perform.
2) Disinfect the area. My husband always does this with a bit of alcohol. Ask your healthcare professional for recommendations.
3) Consider whether or not you need treatment. We have spoken to five different doctors on the topic of routine preventative antibiotics for tick bites. Two were for it, two were against it. The fifth prescribed it to my husband because of a questionable rash and illness after the removal of a tick we didn’t catch very early. We use antibiotics when we feel they are the safest choice, but not as a matter of course- simply because of the frequency of tick bites in our area.
UPDATE: My daughter got Lyme’s this past fall, complete with an atypical rash. We did a course of antibiotics for her. It reminded me of the need for due diligence in preventative measures– because even as the author of this post, it’s easy to get lax and neglect taking simple precautions.
What should you do? Please inform yourself on Lyme’s Disease and talk to your doctor to decide what course of treatment is best for you. If you are concerned (especially if the tick has been in your skin longer than 24-48 hours), save the tick if possible to be taken in for testing.
This post is mostly about tick & Lyme’s prevention. I cannot begin to cover all the details of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses, nor can I recommend a medical course of action. Here are some other helpful articles for your further research:
Remember, ALWAYS check for ticks after time outdoors in tick seasons. (I’m preaching this to myself as much as to you.) EVERY TIME. That’s the best preventative measure you can take.
It’s worth it.
I am not a healthcare professional. This post should be used for informational purposes only.
It MIGHT be just a different year and not the chickens. One of our daughters seems to attract every tick around. Last year she had six of them during the summer. Plus we were finding them on the dog and the cats. And that was when we had 36 chickens free ranging the property.
I’ll have to try out that anti-tick spray this year.
It might be! It’s still too early to tell. So far, we’ve continued to have better luck, but I suppose we’ll know after a few more years go by. Thanks for stopping by!
Hi where do you live? We’re moving from CA to DE and I’m terrified of ticks!
We live in PA. Just make sure you check yourself after spending time outside each day!
Do you know if it would be safe to use the home made anti tick spray on dogs?
I wasn’t sure so I did a quick search- it looks like tea tree oil can cause some toxicity for dogs and cats unless it’s diluted properly. Check this article for more details: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2014/07/26/pets-tea-tree-oil.aspx As far as the other oils you put in, I would just do a quick check with either Dr. Google or- better yet- an unbiased essential oils supplier who keeps safety as a top priority. Here’s a general article on EO safety for animals: https://www.youngliving.com/blog/essential-oils-and-pets-a-quick-how-to/ Hope that helps!
If you light a match, let it burn for a couple of seconds, blow it out and instantly touch the back end of the tick, the tick will pull it’s head out of your skin and then put it in a bottle/glass jar with a small amount of gas to kill the tick.
Hi Judy! Thank you so much for stopping by. I’ve heard this tip before, but unfortunately there are mixed reviews on how well it works. The concern is that the heat could cause the tick to regurgitate, actually putting more potential bacteria into the skin. The best and most highly recommended method for removing a tick is grabbing it with tweezers as close to the skin as possible, and gently pulling straight up. I appreciate your comment and I just want to share what I’ve found! 🙂
Thank you for your information. I have chronic Lyme’s disease from a tick and I’m a bit terrified of them right now. We have 214 acres and love to be outdoors. I have five kids and I don’t want them to get Lyme, it has changed (I try not to say ruined) my life. I also don’t want to live in fear. Thanks!
Thanks Heather! I’m sorry about your Lymes. It can be such a challenging thing to live with. I know these ideas aren’t full proof, but I hope that they are helpful! Stay safe and enjoy the outside!
Easy tick removals apply essential oil to fingertip , gently press on tickets and spin it in circles, it will get agitated and let go. I keep a small jar on the kitchen windowsill with rubbing alcohol in it and drop them in. Then discard when full.
My only concern with this method is that bothering the tick can cause it to regurgitate more bacteria, which would then increase the risk of tick-borne diseases. I’m not sure if this type of action would do that or not. Have you looked into it?
As a kid growing up in east Texas, I was always out in the woods, working cows with horses, chickens and hogs. (before 4 wheeler and cell phone lol) ticks were bad. The worst was seed ticks, very small, and chiggers. Our family used home made lye soap. It worked great on chiggers and seed ticks, still had to check for them dang ticks though. Horses got a daily dose of iron in their feed it helped keep ticks off them.
I used lye soap while on active duty in the Marines before going in the field. I still make and use lye soap today, still have horses chickens and hogs, and my place is surrounded by cows. I’ll still find a tick or two but mostly crawling.
Lye soap works for me and my family hope it works for you and yours.
P.S. Wash work clothes with grated lye soap in washer and soap legs and arms heavy. Avoid tender areas until you get use to it.
While living in Arkansas ticks were a constant problem. An old-timer told us to get guinea hens & let them run loose. Our tick population was greatly reduced, the guineas roosted in trees at night so no coop needed, and they are an excellent alarm system, especially against snakes.
Yes! I’ve heard Guinea hens are fantastic for that purpose! We got some last year, but unfortunately, they were lost to a predator.
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I’ve had a lot of success with a new method of tick removal. It is simple and painless and doesn’t seem to leave the head. Moisten a Q-tip and use it to turn the tick in circular motions while keeping it flat against the skin. The twisting of the mandibles seems to result in them releasing the skin and the tick eventually comes off. May take quite a few turns before it happens.
Good topic. With warmer winters come more ticks, and we’ve had two warm winters in a row, but then this winter finished with some good hard freezes. I did some research and found that the cold doesn’t really kill the ticks; for the most part, it just delays the start of their breeding cycle. So when we had a warm spring last year, they bred in February, had babies, and then those babies had babies–even one more generation of ticks born in a year makes for a big problem. When they don’t start breeding until March or April, you get fewer ticks overall.
I wear long pants into the woods all the time, and one or two designated mosquito shirts and a home-made mosquito hat. I do use the permethrin on those pants–just my woods pants–and then don’t apply anything else for many weeks at a time. Haven’t had an issue with ticks until I found two of them last year, both still wandering around on me considering where to settle in and bite. Barrier protection is sweaty, but not having to put chemicals on my body makes it worth it. It’s the only way to go, with as much as I go out (and as much as mosquitoes love me).
Good luck avoiding Lyme disease, Abi! Apparently, one of its evil stealth tricks is that it tricks the immune system into not remembering it. Any other disease of this type, you’d get it once and build up an immunity to it. Lyme, nope; you can catch it again and again.