Tick Prevention 101
Want a list of my favorite products to use in tick bite prevention? Here are my go-to items while living on a tick heavy homestead.
- Cystus Incanus Tea: this tea is made from the rock rose and when drank frequently has been claimed to keep ticks from wanting to bite you. They may still crawl on you, but are said to be less drawn to bite. I have a kiddo that seems especially prone to ticks so she is one I ask to drink the tea more frequently.
- Clove Tallow: Clove is said to be a scent that is not favorable to ticks. We’ve made an essential oil roller in the past, but we use tallow on a daily basis or at least after every shower, so this most recent batch I whipped up I included clove.
*I make this myself* - If you live locally to me, we do sell our tallow so just reach out.
- Terrain Support – If you’ve read my previous blogs on the importance of your terrain, you know why I included it here. Having a healthy terrain, a strong immune system, and eating nutrient-dense foods all around will give your body a leg up even if you have a tick bite. Someone with a compromised immune system is more likely to have a negative response to a tick bite versus someone who has a strong immune system. Therefore, this is going to be one of your best preventative defenses. Just another reason to eat well and exercise on a regular basis. (Note: even with a strong immune system, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be vigilant about ticks or respond smartly to a bite)
- Swift Smacks: something crawling on me? I don’t even look before I smack it away. Once I’ve done this, then I can examine whether it was a tick or not – not vice versa.
- Nightly Checks: Every night each of us checks our armpits, anywhere there was tight clothing, and especially our hair. I’ve also heard of ticks on backs, in belly buttons, on toes. So a check with a family member or in front of a mirror does the trick.
- Mowing: keeping the areas where we spend most of our time mowed low helps reduce the number of ticks. They are particularly fond of grasses over 1 foot.
- Tall rain boots: any type of shoe that can easily be grabbed by that aforementioned ‘needy toddler’ is not one I’m wearing in tick infested areas. My lovely nearly knee high tan line is testament to the daily muckboots I wear to ensure ticks do not have a readily available surface to hang onto.
- Chickens: When we only had bantam chickens (little ones) I didn’t notice much of a difference in the tick population. We still had a ton. Now that we have 4 full-sized chickens, they explore the property more confidently and have a pretty wide radius of where they’ll go foraging. This has helped immensely this summer.
- Tick Identification: For the sake of my mind, I have made it a point to learn the different markers of ticks that we find and know which disease they’re said to carry. Can you see this when they’re engorged? No. But if you find one creepin’ and crawling along, you can largely tell what they are if they’re full-grown. The nymphs are a bit harder to tell at times.
Action Items for Ticks Crawling on You or When You've Been Bitten
- Tape: Whether you have packing tape, masking tape, or even scotch tape, this is a great way to grab a tick you see freely crawling that hasn’t attached yet. We just stick the tape to the tick whether its on your skin, clothing, or crawling nearby to get ahold of it without squeezing it. Then we enclose it fully inside before throwing it away. I’ve also seen people use cat hair rollers for this purpose after they’ve been out in a tick infested location.
- Tick Key: This thing has been a life saver. For pets. For ourselves. Wherever we are, we like to have these on hand. One thing about tick removal is that you want to be sure you also pull the head out. It can detach if you’re pulling the tick out by it’s body. Tick keys are such a simple way to place over the tick’s body and slide it back to pull the whole thing out, head and all. We each keep one on our keys and one in the garage for animals.
- Tweezers: Tweezers are another great alternative to the tick key. Before I had heard of it, I had a little tick response kit when we’d go camping, which also contained a pair of tweezers for removal.
- Lighter: For the ticks we’ve removed with the key, we prefer to burn them. There’s no way we want them to continue to crawl around and reproduce or latch on to another person or animal. I believe ticks can lay up to 200 eggs at a time. Gross.
Would you like to read my full thoughts on ticks and scripture for when I've dealt with fear around the little pests in the past? Find the full blog and more faith and wellness content on Substack
