There may be no critter creepier than a tick. These blood-sucking parasites crawl up our bodies, embed their mouthparts in our skin, and then casually drink their fill of our blood, until their bodies expand like tiny water balloons.
While some ticks are relatively harmless, like the wood tick, some ticks, like the black-legged tick, carry and transmit a variety of diseases to people and pets.
Ticks hang out in high vegetation, waiting for a passing host. When your leg brushes through the vegetation the ticks literally jumps at this opportunity to hitch a free ride and get a free meal at your expense.
There are a few ways to minimize being an unsollicited tick host without using strong insect repellent like DEET:
- Wear light-colored clothing. You'll have a better chance of seeing a dark tick crawling on you before it makes its way to your skin.
- Wear long pants with sneakers or hiking boots. Tuck your pant legs into your socks, and keep your shirt tucked into your waistband. In areas where ticks are abundant, you might even want to wrap some duct tape around your ankles, over the top of your socks. You'll look ridiculous, but it works.
- Stay on the trail. Walk on designated trails, and avoid blazing your own through meadows or other high vegetation areas.
- Avoid tick-infested places. In some places, ticks may be too abundant to avoid, even with the best repellents and long pants. If you venture a few feet into a wooded area or field and find your legs covered with ticks, turn around.
- Be vigilant – do a daily tick check. Strip down and search all those places that ticks love to hide: in your hair, under your arms, between your legs, behind the knees, and even in your belly button.
- Put your clothes in the dryer, and tumble them on high heat. Research shows many ticks can make it through the washing machine, even when you wash in hot water. Most ticks will die during a cycle in the hot, dry air of your clothes dryer, though.
- Check your pets and your kids before letting them loose in the house. Ticks can easily drop off on carpets or furniture, where they will wait for a bloodmeal to come along. Give Fido's fur a check, and make Junior remove clothing and do a tick check.