How Can You Prevent Tick Bites?

Tick bites are something that no human or animal wants to experience, especially when it is a deer tick. The two most common ticks are deer ticks and dog ticks, but only deer ticks can carry Lyme disease. Ticks are attracted to body heat, which means a person who is hot and sweaty is likely to have a tick latch onto them. Ticks like tall grass, which is why there are a few things that doctors recommend people wear and put on before venturing into areas with tall grass. Here are a few ways that you can avoid the need for tick treatments for you and your family.

Use Tick Repellent: There are a few different tick treatments that can help prevent you and your family from getting bitten by a tick. For adults, there are tick repellents with DEET and picaridin. The same repellent can be used on kids, but there are also more natural types of tick treatments for kids and adults to use. The more natural tick treatment to prevent tick bites contains cedarwood oil, lemongrass oil, thyme oil, clove oil, geranium oil, spearmint oil, and rosemary oil.

Dress Appropriately: When you go on a walk or hike around tall grass you should wear high socks, but for a hike through the woods, hiking pants would be a good idea. You can buy breathable hiking pants and high socks that are pretreated with tick repellent as well. 

Stay on Trails: Going off the trail while walking or hiking through the woods will dramatically increase the likelihood of you being bitten by a tick. The reason for this is that going off-trail typically means the grass will be higher than on the trail.

Do Tick Checks: After taking a walk near tall grass, in an area that has a high deer population, or a hike, you should do tick checks on everyone. Tick checks are important because if someone was bitten by a tick, the tick should be removed as quickly as possible to reduce the chances of contracting Lyme disease.