If you want to reduce your encounters with ticks, start with some yard maintenance and professional treatment so your property is better protected. Give your pets their vet-prescribed preventatives, use tick repellents for yourself, and do tick checks after you come inside.
You can’t get rid of every tick in your yard, let alone the Great Outdoors. But you can do a number of things that help reduce your encounters with them, and that adds up.
It helps to start with your own yard. Ticks dry out in the hot sun, so they spend their days in shaded, humid vegetation hoping for a host to pass by. That’s why if you spend time around leaf litter, brush, tall grass, and woodlands, you have a good chance of finding them on your legs. You can thwart their plans to a large degree just by mowing grass and keeping landscaping in check.
When it comes to yard maintenance, the place you need to pay attention to most is the boundary between lawn and woods (or thick vegetation). That’s where wildlife, people, pets, and ticks all tend to meet up with one another. Your yard need not be barren, it just helps to keep these places from getting overgrown.
You can’t treat off your property, and for that, repellents with DEET or picaridin and vet-prescribed preventatives for your pets help a lot. If you’re extra outdoorsy, you might even want to invest in some permethrin-treated clothing.
Even with repellents and yard treatment, check yourself for ticks before going inside. Do the same for your pets and kids. If you remove ticks quickly, they’re less likely to make you sick.
If ticks are a recurring problem around your property, Mosquito Squad of Worcester can help identify the parts of the yard where professional tick control can add another layer of protection. Call (508) 388-5640 or request a free quote online.
