If you spend any amount of time outdoors, chances are you have dealt with ticks. These small parasitic arachnids pose huge problems for people and animals alike and are often found wandering onto properties in our area. To help you better understand these invasive pests, here are the answers to Raleigh’s most crucial tick questions.
What Time of Year Are Tick Problems the Worst?
Right now. When tracking the breeding cycle of these pests, trends show more ticks reaching full maturity during the spring and fall months, whereas tick activity typically slows down during winter and summer. That said, most ticks do not die during the winter months, but they do slow down significantly and enter a sort of dormant state.
How Do Ticks Get into Homes?
Ticks most commonly infiltrate homes by hitchhiking rides from people and animals, often unbeknownst to them. Certain ticks, such as the brown dog tick, can also crawl into homes through cracks, gaps, or other openings.
What Should You Do if You Find a Tick on Your Body?
Most ticks are not dangerous, but some are. One scary danger that ticks pose to humans is the transmission of Lyme disease, a serious sickness that often presents lifelong repercussions for its victims. Something else you might not know is that Lyme disease is nearly impossible to treat without the vector that spreads it.
Doctors will have a harder time treating your symptoms if they can’t identify the tick that infected you. For this reason, we recommend always saving the tick remains you find so they can be later tested for pathogens. To preserve them, store the ticks inside plastic bags in your freezer. If you exhibit no strange symptoms within a few months of being bit, feel free to throw it away.
To remove a tick safely from your skin, start by cleaning the area around it with rubbing alcohol. From there, use a pair of soft-tipped tweezers and firmly grip it as close to your skin as possible. Once you have a good grip, pull slowly until the tick’s head is out. Pulling too fast or using sharp-tipped tweezers might result in the tick’s head staying buried beneath your skin.
What Is the Best Way to Prevent Ticks?
Ticks thrive in tall grass, dense undergrowth, and areas people and animals travel often. To prevent these pests from causing trouble around your property, here are some helpful prevention tips we recommend you use:
- Mow your lawn once a week on a low setting.
- Trim bushes and plant growth around your home’s exterior.
- Remove leaf piles, sticks, and other organic clutter from your yard.
- Install a fence around your yard.
- Use a caulking gun to seal gaps, cracks, and holes in your home’s foundation.
- Make sure all of your exterior doors have door sweeps.
- Repair damage to window and door screens.
- Inspect the weatherstripping around your home and make sure it is properly installed.
When Is the Right Time to Call a Professional for Tick Problems?
Ticks are not the easiest pest to remove from a home. If these pests manage to get past your defenses, your best option is to get a professional involved. At Go-Forth Home Services, we don’t just offer comprehensive treatment strategies to get ticks out of your home quickly, we also provide long-term tick control for your property.
Call us today or reach out through our website to further discuss our service options or schedule your Raleigh home for a thorough pest inspection.