Tick Extermination
What Are Ticks and What Do They Look Like?
Ticks are a type of arachnid related to spiders. Like spiders, they have eight legs and small oval bodies. Ticks usually live in overgrown, woody areas, and you may find them in leaf piles, bushes or long grass in your yard.
Ticks have adapted mouthparts that allow them to attach to the skin of animals or humans and feed on their blood. Although an unfed adult tick is usually around the size of an apple seed, it can become significantly larger when engorged with blood. Typically, a tick remains attached to its host for 3 to 5 days.
Are Ticks Dangerous?
Ticks can pose a risk to humans when they carry blood-borne infections. Outdoor workers have a greater chance of developing health problems caused by tick bites because of their working environment, but they affect anyone who spends time in their yard or other outdoor areas. Diseases commonly carried by ticks in the United States include
- Lyme disease
- Babesiosis
- Ehrlichiosis
- Anaplasmosis
- Colorado tick fever
- Rocky Mountain spotted fever
The longer the tick remains attached to your skin, the greater the risk of contracting a disease. For that reason, it's essential to remove the tick as quickly as possible.
Avoid bursting the removed tick. Instead, dispose of it by flushing it down the toilet or in a sealed bag with your household waste. Seek immediate medical attention if you experience a rash or fever in the weeks following a tick bite.
How Do You Know You Have a Tick Problem in Your Yard?
Unless you or your pet gets bitten, inspecting your yard is the only reliable way to identify a tick problem. You can look for ticks using a flashlight or by dragging a light-colored sheet over grass and other surfaces to see if ticks cling on. Pay particular attention to the following areas:
- Along walls
- Leaf piles
- Piles of firewood or debris
- Trees
- Bushes
- Long grass
- Places where pets or wild animals tend to spend time
How Much Does Tick Extermination Cost?
The average cost of a single tick extermination treatment is $125, and most people pay between $50 and $100. You could pay as little as $40 to treat a minor infestation in a small yard. However, treating a larger or inaccessible area could cost up to $1,250.
Can You Prevent Ticks From Infesting Your Yard?
You can reduce the risk of a tick infestation in your yard by making the area as unfriendly to ticks as possible. Ticks prefer to inhabit covered areas, so removing brush and mowing your grass can give them fewer places to hide. Pick up leaf litter as quickly as possible, and store firewood instead of leaving it in stacks outside your home.
Wildlife can sometimes introduce ticks to your yard. Therefore, it's wise to deter animals, such as deer and raccoons, from entering by erecting fences.
Can Ticks Infest Your Home?
An indoor tick infestation is relatively unlikely because modern HVAC systems create inhospitable conditions, causing the ticks to dry out and perish. Therefore, ticks can rarely survive inside your home long enough to lay eggs.
