How to Remove a Tick: Myths, Old Wives’ Tales and Central Mass Home Remedies Debunked

Have you ever taken a match to a tick that was biting you? What happened? With tick season upon us, are you prepared to deal with ticks should you have the unfortunate experience of having one latch on to you or your pet? Do you know how to remove a tick properly?

There is a ton of misinformation out there about how to remove a tick. Some people say you should apply alcohol, baby oil, or petroleum jelly to smother it and make it let go. Some think you should burn it with a freshly blown out match forcing it to pull its mouth out of your skin. Search the internet and there is no shortage of bad ideas. Not just bad ideas, but dangerous ideas.

Burning or Smothering a Tick Can Hurt You

A tick’s natural response to fear is to spew out of its mouth, prematurely infecting you with whatever bacteria or parasite it happens to be carrying. Given that it takes at least 24 hours of being attached to you before you can be infected by a tick, it is always advisable that you safely and slowly remove the tick with pointy tweezers or needle nose pliers. Pulling straight out to avoid breaking the tick’s mouth parts. Do not hurt or tear the tick, it could lead to bacteria and viruses infecting your bite. Watch the video below to see exactly how it is done.

Tick Disposal

Once you safely remove a tick it’s a good idea to get a sense of whether that tick had a chance to feed on you and what kind of tick it is. You can identify the tick yourself with the tick identification chart from the Tick Encounter Resource Center. The chart will also help you see if the tick had a chance to feed. If it is discovered you have had an encounter with the deer tick (black-legged tick), then you can make a decision on what to do next.

What to Do with a Safely Removed Tick

You can’t be certain of the tick you removed has had time to transmit any disease. Also not all deer ticks are carriers of Lyme disease. You could send the tick in to have it tested, and even then, you still may not know if you have transmitted the disease until you have symptoms. Know the symptoms of Lyme disease and watch for them.

Instead of disposing of the tick, tape it to an index card with the date and location. You can also place it in a sealed bag or container with a teaspoon of rubbing alcohol. Hang on to the tick for 6 months or so just in case some unusual symptoms appear. If you have identified the tick and are looking to be rid of it, you can simply flush the tick down the toilet. Watch carefully and make sure it goes down, ticks are avid climbers.

Sprays offered by reputable barrier tick control companies are proven to prevent ticks from invading your yard. With the prevalence of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses, barrier tick treatment is your best answer for keeping your family protected.

Dave Macchia Mosquito Squad square 2 — Dave Macchia, Tick Control Enthusiast

Middlesex County: A Babesiosis Hot Spot?

You most definitely know what Lyme disease is if you live in Central Massachusetts. Transmitted by deer ticks, you may not have experienced Lyme directly, but the epidemic proportion to which this disease exists within our area has created broad public awareness.

What you may not be aware of are the other tick-borne diseases that are transmitted in Middlesex County and Worcester County. Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Powassan Virus and Rocky Mountain spotted fever to name a few.

Babesiosis in Middlesex County Mass

Among the plethora of tick-borne diseases spread by deer ticks is Babesiosis. While relatively rare, this disease is mostly found in the Northeastern and the Midwestern United States. So much so, that the CDC reports 95% of Babesiosis cases in the US in 2013 occurred in only seven states; including Massachusetts. While Massachusetts reached an all-time high with 520 confirmed and probable cases of Babesiosis in 2014, we still have had a large number of cases of Babesiosis in 2015 with 445 confirmed and probable. Middlesex County was among the top 5 counties in the state with 65 cases of Babesiosis in 2015.

While there is some growth in awareness of Babesiosis in our area, there is a great deal of important data the public needs to be reminded of to help prevent Babesiosis and recognize it. Disclaimer before reading further: anyone can become sick from Babesiosis during any month of the year.

Seasonality of Babesiosis in Central Massachusetts

Tick-borne diseases have a predictable peak season due to the tick life cycle. For most tick-borne diseases, larval and nymph ticks have to have their first blood meal to become infected. The known exception is Borrelia Miyamotoi which can be passed from a tick mother to her offspring. For Babesiosis, this first blood meal is essential to becoming infected, making June, July, and August more common for the spread of the disease than other months of the year.

2015 Babesiosis by Month 2015 — Massachusetts Department of Public Health

Health Dangers of Babesiosis

Babesiosis is a parasite transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected deer tick. Many people who have Babesiosis feel fine and have no symptoms. Others experience flu-like illness or severe, life-threatening illness if Babesiosis infects the red blood cells. The variety of symptoms felt can also be tricky, Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported the symptoms of 2015 Massachusetts’ cases as:

72% fatigue
68% fever
58% depression
50% muscle aches
49% chills

Babesiosis is Discriminatory

While anyone can become ill from Babesiosis, clinical illness from Babesiosis is more common among a certain portion of the population. Those age 60 or older are at the greatest risk for clinical disease. Also, those without a spleen, weakened immune system, or those with other serious health issues such as liver or kidney disease. Note the chart below; there is a clear age discrimination for the onset of clinical illness from Babesiosis in Massachusetts 2015 cases. If you are within this high-risk category, you should be taking extra precautions to avoid deer ticks, especially during the peak seasons as shown above.

2015 Babesiosis mass — Massachusetts Department of Public Health

I am committed to providing you the best most up-to-date information on the threat of tick-borne diseases in Central Mass. Stay tuned for the latest on ticks in the area. Be sure to follow the 6 C’s tick control to make certain your yard is not inadvertently attracting ticks.

Dave Macchia, tick control enthusiast — Dave Macchia, Tick Control Enthusiast

Why is it so Darn Difficult to Remove a Tick?

Living in Massachusetts, Charlton residents certainly know a thing or two about deer ticks. Tick populations are at epic proportions, making us experts in finding and removing ticks whether we like it or not.

As we all know, deer ticks can’t simply be brushed off; they have to be removed with great and careful effort. Just what is it about ticks that make them hang on so tight?

See: How to remove a tick

Ticks are Built to Hang On – How can we remove a tick?

While it may seem just like any other insect bite, a tick bite is a multi-step process. Telescoping barbed mouth parts are why a tick is so difficult to remove. Reliant on its ability to latch on to a host for a several day’s long blood meal, ticks depend on the proper function of this barbed appendage. If they were easy to remove it would make it impossible for them to get a full meal as a change of clothes would cause them to fall. The anatomy of a tick’s mouthparts is where a great deal of the magic happens that allows them to feed successfully for days on their host. The Scientific American recently published a fantastic story explaining exactly how these very specific mouthparts function.

Charlton Ticks Bite

By studying ticks under a microscope during the process of embedding into a mouse ear, scientists have been able to learn a great deal about their successful feedings. Think about this microscopic process next time you get a tick bite:

Ticks burrow into their host’s skin with “two telescoping, barbed structures called chelicerae.”
Next, they spread their chelicerae apart like two arms doing the breast stroke.
When they spread the chelicerae a “spikey, swordlike appendage” called the hypostome, sinks into the host.
The hypostome forms a tube for the process of withdrawing blood from the host.

With anatomy made specifically for their long-term blood meal habits, a tick bite is an efficient feeding process. While the little blood they take doesn’t seem to do us so much harm, the bacteria and viruses ticks can spread during the process is something to cause concern. With Lyme disease, Anaplasmosis and Rocky Mountain Spotted fever being spread so easily, avoiding ticks and tick bites is the best option for staying healthy.

Charlton tick control is essential.

I am committed to providing you the best most up-to-date information on the threat of tick-borne diseases in Tewksbury. Stay tuned for the latest on ticks in the area. Be sure to follow the 7 C’s of tick control to make certain your yard is not inadvertently attracting ticks.

Also read: Where do ticks live?

Can ticks climb up the toilet?

If you flush a tick down your toilet you can consider it gone. Dead? Not necessarily, but it is for all intents and purposes gone from your home for good.

I have heard and read about people who wondered and/or were worried about ticks holding their breath for days and days as they swim back up your pipes and climb up your slippery porcelain bowl and latch right on for a blood meal. So, I searched and searched and searched and could find no instance of ticks crawling back up the toilet once flushed, or up the toilet on their own accord. Since we could not find reliable evidence of this actually happening we dug a little deeper and here is what we found:

Ticks cannot swim or hold their breath.

According to tick encounter, ticks definitely do not swim. However, they have observed ticks submerged in water for 2-3 days that still lived, but there has been no formal research on whether they can actually hold their breath.

Since they do NOT swim, they can’t swim up your drain and climb out if you have indeed flushed them down. If you decide to flush them, just make sure they actually go in the water and down the hole. It is important to note that when ticks latch on to a host they typically climb up looking for a nice warm hiding spot to latch onto for their blood meal. It is understandable to assume up is the direction they would crawl if they did happen to land on the porcelain and not go down the pipes. That is if the porcelain is not too slippery.

While I don’t want to be accused of defending ticks, it is important to clear up myths and misinformation about our buddy the tick. So I would like to classify the “tick climbing out of the toilet” story as an urban legend.

I would also like to note that putting a tick into a sealed container with a cotton ball soaked in alcohol is a great way to hang on to a tick for further testing should symptoms of a tick-borne illness present themselves.

What CAN climb up the toilet?

During my research I found some things that absolutely can find their way into your pipes and climb right up and out of your toilet. Water loving amphibious creatures like frogs, lizards, and snakes have been known to find their way up toilet pipes. It was also surprising to read headlines of a baby opossum and a squirrel ending up in the porcelain throne, which I am confident fall under the category of rare and “oops I crawled in the wrong hiding spot”. But the big winner is rats. Rats are the most common thing crawling around in the sewer pipes. What is the strangest thing you’ve seen in your Central Massachusetts commode?

Reduce the likelihood of an up-close and personal tick encounter with Merrimack tick control.

It doesn’t take much more than a phone call to your trusted tick control professionals to reduce you chances of seeing a tick around your home. A little tick protection goes a long way in preventing tick-borne illnesses.

Also read: Should I see a doctor about a tick bite?

Westminster Tick Control – Break the 2-Year Life Cycle of Ticks

You might think the fall is the end of tick season and that you will soon be protected from tick bites with the approaching colder weather. If so, you are partially correct.

Ticks in Central Mass will begin to go dormant in weather below 45 degrees F. by hiding in the nests of white-footed mice. No amount of cold will eliminate ticks and there’s one other fact you need to know about the fall and ticks.

A tick’s life cycle is usually 2-years long. Ticks that were eggs last fall are now nymphs. They have taken two blood meals to reach this stage in their life cycle. Because of these two blood meals, often taken from several small animals or birds infected with Lyme Disease, they are now the most infectious to humans. Next spring these nymphs will leave the mouse’s nest. They will be the size of a poppy seed, making them difficult to see on our clothes and skin. After their third blood meal next spring, they will become larger during mid-summer and be adults in the fall of next year. At this last stage of their life cycle, the males will fertilize the females and the females will produce a new generation of ticks in your yard.

Westminster tick control is available now, to protect you next year.

Now is the time of year to interrupt the tick’s life cycle in your yard and reduce your exposure to nymph ticks next spring. By using a tick tube program, you can eliminate ticks around your home even before next spring. The tick tubes are placed out now will provide nesting material, treated with tick insecticide, the white-footed mouse will use to build its nest this winter. This nesting material will eliminate ticks in the nest without harming the mice. The net result is fewer ticks in your yard next spring and a head start at eliminating your family’s exposure to ticks all summer long.

When you sign up for Westminster tick control spray treatments next summer, it will eliminate 85-90% of the ticks in your yard all summer long. Treatments are scheduled at your convenience every 21 days. The spray will eliminate newly hatched ticks, nymph ticks and adult ticks in your yard. Ticks brought into your yard by any animals such as squirrels, raccoons, fox and deer will be eliminated by the spray. Using the tick tube program now and the barrier spray next spring through next fall will reduce your exposure to tick-borne infections.

The town of Westminster has posted an online document explaining the Steps You Can Take in preventing ticks in your yard. The document highlights the importance of using a licensed applicator in treating your yard to prevent ticks. A link to a Tick Management Handbook published by the Centers for Disease Control and prevention is also in this informative document.

A licensed Westminster tick control spray applicator will be fully trained and qualified in providing the tick tube and barrier spray services you need to protect you, your family and pets.

Three Super-Easy Tips For Getting Rid Of Ticks

The University of Rhode Island Tick Encounter Resource Center is a great resource.

I wanted to share their top 3 easiest tips for getting rid of ticks that anyone can do, NO EXCUSES!

getting rid of ticks

In a page titled, TickSmart ™ Tips for TickSafe Living!, 5 tips were given by the Center but 3 are the most simple and easy ones to do.

Tip #1 involves duct tape.

Where would repair people, mechanics and homeowners be without this 11^th Wonder of the Fix-it World? Well, there’s yet another use for it when it comes to ticks. Before ticks become attached to your skin or your dog’s skin, tear off a piece of duct tape and “stick it to them”. Blotting up any ticks on the skin removes the tick and prevents them from becoming lost before you can throw them out. Use a big enough piece of tape to fold it over the tick after removing it and seal them inside. When you’re done, throw the tape in the trash. How easy is that?

The second tip involves your toilet.

It’s OK; this one isn’t as bad as it sounds. Since you have some privacy and your pants and lower garments are off it’s easy to spot any ticks on your skin. Ticks like to hang out for a free meal in grassy and brushy areas. They climb to a height anywhere from our ankles to knees. They dry out quickly in the heat and sun so they try to find shade ASAP. When they find you, that shade is under your clothes and not outside the fabric. Once they get near your skin, they begin looking for places where the skin is thin and where the biggest blood supply can be found. That is usually in the creases and folds of our skin, such as your waist and groin area.

Using the toilet exposes these areas to our view more than any other time of the day, so it’s a good time to check for ticks in areas of our body normally hidden from our view. If you feel a bump on your skin in an area and you can’t see clearly, it’s a good idea to inspect more closely with a mirror and flashlight. Larvae and nymph ticks are very small so you may miss them if you are in a hurry to check. Finding a tick embedded in your skin and removed within the first 24 hours it attaches will greatly improve your chances of not getting a tick-borne infection.

What’s a dryer have to do with Tiverton tick control?

Hard ticks and soft ticks all need moisture, especially hard ticks like deer ticks. Other soft ticks take a bit longer to dry out. So tip #3 is to put the clothes you wore outside in the dryer as soon as you come indoors. Do this before washing them. Ten minutes on high heat will dry out hard ticks and 15+ minutes will dry out the softer ones. Washing won’t destroy ticks, no matter how hot the water. Remember, they need moisture and are active in warm months so warmth and water are their two best friends. Very dry and hot are their worst nightmare. Once your clothes are finished in the dryer, wash them knowing you won’t be releasing any ticks into your closets or clothes hamper.

Don’t forget your Charlestown tick control.

In addition to these tick tips, you can prevent ticks from ever reaching you when at home in your yard. A licensed tick control company can apply a perimeter spray in your yard that serves as a barrier to ticks, as well as mosquitoes, eliminating 85-90% of the ticks in your yard. Preventing ticks from ever reaching you is one of the most effective ways you can prevent tick-borne infections in your family. In addition, you will enjoy your yard more during warmer months knowing everyone is better protected.

Category: Central Mass tick control