With its sunny skies and warm weather, summer is a time of year designed to be enjoyed in the great outdoors. Whether it's hiking, playing sports in the yard, or hosting your family and friends for a cookout at your place (which eventually winds up resulting in a heated game of cornhole that is still brought up at every family function to this day), people love heading outside when the weather is this good—and that's when pests decide to strike.
While everyone knows that summertime means battling it out with mosquitoes, there is one tiny pest that likes to make its presence known when it's already too late: ticks. With their propensity to sneak around undetected and leave behind itchy bite marks after feeding, ticks are more than just a nuisance—they can be dangerous. This blog will give you information on how to avoid being bombarded by ticks this summer so that nothing can put a damper on your season of fun under the sun.
Know Where Ticks Hide
The first step in avoiding ticks while outside enjoying the summer season is knowing where they reside so you can keep encounters to a minimum. Ticks live in vegetation of any kind that gives them cover, such as tall grass, bushes, and low-hanging branches on trees. This cover gives them easy access to prey that crosses their path, allowing them to jump and latch onto people and animals that pass by their hiding spot.
While primarily found in and around woods and forested areas, ticks can also take up residence in your lawn and gardens as well. We recommend contacting a pest control company to inspect your home and property to make sure these pests don't have the opportunity to invade your backyard oasis and chase you away.
Wear Proper Attire
Wearing the right clothing items when going outside can be a real game changer when it comes to warding off ticks. These nasty creepy crawlies look for any opportunity to latch onto exposed skin, so wearing long sleeves and pants while hiking is a great way to keep them off of your body and reduce the chances that they find a place to bite you. Wearing a wide-brimmed hat can help keep ticks from falling out of the tree and onto your neck, and tucking your pants legs into your socks cuts down on the chances that they crawl up your leg from the inside of your clothes.
Use Bug Spray With DEET
Bug spray is an effective tool in warding off many insects, including ticks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that outdoor adventurers utilize a bug spray with DEET in it for maximum protection against mosquitoes, ticks, and other parasitic insects, reapplying it every several hours depending on the concentration of DEET in the product. The recommended concentration level of DEET needed to keep ticks away is 20% to 30%, which will need to be reapplied every four to six hours to remain fully effective.
Post-Outdoor Excursion Care
Even after taking all of the precautions listed above, it's still possible that several of those bloodsucking creeps found their way onto you during your adventures in the great outdoors. Because of this, your post-hike activities can make a huge difference in your noble fight against tick-kind.
Make doing a "tick check" a part of your post-outdoor excursion routine, both for yourself and your pets and loved ones. Ticks love to latch on in warm, hidden areas, so make sure you carefully check your head and the areas where the bands of socks and pants touch your skin. Make sure you check your pet thoroughly, especially if they have long fur, as ticks are typically drawn to animals due to the natural camouflage of their fur.
Run Your Clothes Through the Dryer
Bringing ticks into your home after a long day on the trails is the last thing you want to do, as it provides them with more chances to latch onto you, your family, and your pets. As soon as you get home, we recommend going straight to your dryer and putting all of your clothing (especially your socks and undergarments, where ticks commonly go when looking for a place to latch on and feed) into the dryer for around 20 minutes. This kills any ticks that may have grabbed onto your clothing and made the trip home with you.
Get Flea and Tick Pest Control With Greenix
If ticks have been popping up unannounced at your home, don't worry—Greenix has your back. Our certified team of pest control experts has plenty of experience administering flea and tick control treatments to residents across the country, and we'll be happy to provide you with both full-service and preventive pest control whenever you need it to keep you, your family, and your property protected.
Contact us today for a free 20-point inspection to identify areas around your home and property that are vulnerable to hosting these pests.
