Preventing Ticks in Your House

How long can ticks live in your house?

The length of time ticks can live in your house varies by species. Some ticks will die in as little as 8 hours, while others can live for days and even lay eggs. According to Orkin, the Brown Dog tick can lay eggs indoors and their eggs can hatch, to then attack small house pets. For reference, Brown Dog ticks are ticks without any white markings on them.

Stages of the Brown Dog Tick by TickEncounter

Other species of ticks, like the American Dog tick and the Lone star tick, do not reproduce indoors, but can still live for several hours or days. These two ticks are identifiable by their white markings on their backs. The American Dog tick has irregular patterns of white, whereas the Lone Star tick will have a prominent white spot in the middle of its back.

Getting Rid of Ticks in the House

Ticks are very unlikely to just crawl into your house on their own. More than likely, they caught a ride on your pets or family members.

Quick Prevention Tips

1. Check your pets for ticks before letting them inside by using products like our LCS Tick comb. Just run the comb down through the pet's fur and it will pick up any ticks hiding on your pets.
2. Leave your shoes and boots by the door. Ticks will often catch a ride on footwear; therefore, leaving them by the door will limit their ability to get further into your homes.
3. Check yourself for ticks before entering the house. There is nothing worse than having ticks on your clothing and sitting down on the couch, then finding a tick crawling on yourself or other family members hours later. If you think you had ticks on your clothing, change out of your clothes and toss them in the dryer on high heat before sitting down.
4. Do not throw tick-carrying clothing in dirty clothes. Ticks like moisture and your dirty clothes basket is often more humid than other parts of your house. This allows the ticks to live longer and even escape and travel through your bedroom!

Treat Your Pets and Yourself

1. Make sure that your pets are treated with tick prevention. These come in the form of sprays, dips, topical treatments, shampoos, and pills. We carry a wide variety of treat prevention treatments from all of the major manufacturers.
2. Treat your clothing. If you wear, the same "outside" clothes every time you trek out into areas that could be housing ticks, you should treat your clothes with products like Sawyers Tick Repellent. These treatments will keep ticks off your clothing for up to 2-3 washes.
3. Use repellents on your skin and clothes. These can be found at any supermarket or hardware store. Simply spray yourself down before heading outside. Just remember that these products are not always 100 percent effective. It is important to still check yourself and your clothing after coming back inside.

Clean and Treat Your House

1. Do a deep cleaning of your house. Vacuuming will suck up ticks and their eggs. While vacuuming your house, make sure to get areas along the walls and underneath furniture.
2. Wash everything. If you can wash your pillowcases, do so along with your bed sheets and only other blankets around the house. Be sure to dry using high heat.
3. Use safe pesticides around areas that are most likely to have ticks. The rugs by the front doors, places you keep your shoes, and dirty clothes baskets. Make sure to read all safety and warning labels before using pesticides, especially with pets and children in the home.

Keeping yourself, family, and pets safe from ticks is a hard war to fight. By following the tips in this article and posts that are linked in this article, you should be able to get a one up on ticks.

Thank you for reading, stay safe!

~ Michael