Why You Need a Tick Tube Protection Service on the North Shore

As you know, Lyme Disease is a serious health risk in the Northeast and Essex County is no stranger to Lyme Disease. In 2012, there were 311 confirmed cases of Lyme Disease as reported on Mass.gov Dept of Health and Human Services website.

Mosquito Squad’s barrier or perimeter mist eliminates adults ticks on your property. Tick tubes provide even more protection by working to protect against larval and nymph stage ticks. A barrier treatment protection program along with tick tubes is the most effective tick protection for your North Shore MA property.

Ticks go through 3 key stages in their life cycle and they require a blood meal at each stage in order to complete their life cycle which lasts about 2 years. A different type of treatment is required to effectively combat ticks at each stage.

Despite what we may think, ticks’ life cycle is about 2 years maturing, feeding multiple times, and eventually laying eggs to start another cycle.

When first hatched, ticks are in the larval stage. They eggs and typically laid in leaf beds and other low lying cool and moist areas. In order to move to the next stage, the ticks need a blood meal. Small rodents such as white footed mice are the perfect host. Well, not exactly perfect. They may be plentiful and may hang out in the same places but they also carry Lyme Disease. This is often when Lyme Disease is passed on to the tick. The tick is not born infected. After a successful blood meal, the larval tick progresses to the nymph stage of its life cycle.

Nymph ticks infect more people with Lyme Disease than any other stage in the tick’s development. Nymph ticks are incredibly small and often not seen on our clothes or skin. By this stage, they have likely already fed on a white footed mouse and can now be carriers of Lyme Disease. This stage occurs in the spring here on the North Shore.

This is where tick tubes come in. A tick tube contains cotton treated with Permethrin. Mice will take the cotton to their dens for bedding. The ticks will be eliminated by the Permethrin but the mice will not.

When customers sign up for our tick tube program, we place our tick tubes around the property where mice and other rodents may live. At the same time, we treat their property with our barrier treatment. Since we mist at the time we place tick tubes, this may an additional mist for our customers.

The larval and nymph stages of a tick’s life cycle are where tick tubes are most effective. By specifically eliminating ticks during these stages, you will see fewer adult ticks on your property in the next 1-2 years.

The twice a year treatment is a very effective 1-2 punch eliminating most of the ticks on a property.

To learn more about our highly effective tick tube program and barrier sprays, contact Mosquito Squad of the North Shore today for a free quote.