The second greatest fear people have about tick bites, after contracting Lyme disease, is leaving the tick’s mouth or head in their skin. The 2 most common “breaking points” during tick removal are at the base of the hypostome and the head capsule. Not to worry though. Once either “break” happens, there’s no greater risk […]

All ticks come in small, medium, and large sizes, and all tick stages have seasons of activity, too. Late July through September is when the youngest and smallest stage of ticks–the larval stage–are most active. Having hatched from eggs laid in clumps of up to 3,000 or more earlier in the springtime, it’s quite common […]

Humans learn how to walk on their own when they’re about 14 months old but it takes a public health entomologist to offer guidance on how best to walk on a trail to avoid ticks. One way to think about trails is as a pathway–from the safety of the parking lot or open space–heading deeper […]

Kids and dogs seem to just LOVE jumping into freshly raked leaves in the Fall. It’s an adventure full of joy, and you can make it a bit more carefree by piling freshly fallen leaves for jumping into out in the middle of yards. The type of tick most (>80%) people and pets encounter in Fall are adult […]

Did you know…nymph and adult stage ticks tend to hang out at different heights in the landscape? Nymphs stay close to the ground while adults adventure up just a bit onto vegetation. Because of that, adult ticks typically latch on about knee level as hosts pass by, while nymphs commonly latch on at shoe level. […]

If you don’t have one, it’s important to be prepared by having a good pointy tweezers for safe tick removal in your home and car. You might want to try TickEase or ProTickMe. Both are very reasonably priced. Keep the tweezer in a ziplock bag so that you always have something on hand to save the tick when […]

To get the larvae off of you and the dog before they bite, we recommend using sticky duct tape as soon as you notice the ticks latched on. If you don’t find them until they’re already biting, they may not come off as easily, and you may need a fine-pointed tweezer to pluck them off. Remember […]

Doing DAILY TICK CHECKS is an effective way to prevent disease transmission. But INSPECTING all those places where tiny ticks might crawl is – DIFFICULT! We’ve got sturdy Tick Check cards and a childrens learning kit for knowing where to look and what to look for. We even have an innovative BEST PRACTICE for making daily tick checks as easy as, well, sitting on […]