Natural Tick Control in Virginia
Both hard ticks and soft ticks can transmit pathogens, but hard ticks are responsible for most of the tick-borne diseases in the United States. Some ticks can even transmit parasites like the heartworm. Ticks can live for longer than a year and have a wide range of hosts, so it's easy for them to develop large populations if they can readily feed.
Most ticks will quest at each stage of development, which is when they perch themselves at the tips of increasingly higher vegetation with their front legs extended in order to latch onto a larger host passing by.
Tick activity peaks during the warmer months and slows down during the winter, but it takes several days below 10°F to actually kill them. A few warm days is all it takes for them to resume their normal feeding activities.
Tick-Borne Diseases
Acquired Red Meat Allergy
Anaplasmosis
Babesiosis
Borrelia miyamotoi Disease
Ehrlichiosis
Heartland Virus
Lyme Disease
Powassan Virus
Rickettsia parkeri Disease
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
Southern Tick Associated Rash Illness
Tularemia
Tips to Reduce Ticks &
Tick Bites
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Maintain lawn areas and keep foliage trimmed back to allow for more sunlight.
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Avoid walking through thick or overgrown vegetation, especially near the edge of a wooded area.
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Check yourself for ticks periodically and when finishing outdoor activities. Pay special attention to areas near an elastic band such as at the waist and socks.
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Wear long socks and pants if weather permits.
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Tuck your shirt into your waistband, and your pants into your socks when performing outdoor activities.
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Keep pets in a confined area or on a leash when outdoors.
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Keep pets on a treatment program from a veterinarian.
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Consider wildlife management to reduce ticks hosts, which can include mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians.
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Hire Essential Pest for natural tick control services.
Did You Know?
Ticks have an exceptional ability to stick around, even if they are in immediate danger. They're appropriately named Ixodes scapularis, which means "stickiness" in Greek. Ticks have an elastic protein in the surface of the pads on their feet, claws, and the ends of their legs, which increases surface tension, helping them keep a firm grip. Ticks also secrete a fluid through pores on the surface of the pads, further increasing their stickiness.
Within 30 minutes after ticks begin to feed, they secrete a quick-hardening cement produced by their salivary glands to anchor the mouthparts to their host. After about a day, ticks will secrete a second cement that hardens more slowly in order to further seal the mouthparts to prevent leakage and make it almost impossible for the host to remove it. Remarkably, ticks can remove their mouthparts from the cement bond in less than 2 minutes after feeding. Ticks are like true friends, who stick around through thick and thin!