Answering Commonly Asked Questions About Ticks In Norwalk
November 15, 2022 - Ticks
Tick season might be drawing to a close here in Norwalk, but that doesn't mean you can get complacent about these dangerous and sneaky pests. Tick prevention begins with taking precautions before ticks are prowling about looking for a meal in the spring. So you need to take them into consideration when working on your Norwalk pest control plan.
Can Ticks Spread Disease?
Tick bites can and do spread serious and deadly illnesses. In fact, aside from mosquitoes, ticks are some of the most dangerous external parasites in the United States. Ticks are responsible for spreading diseases that can leave you permanently debilitated. These include:
- Lyme disease
- Rocky Mountain spotted fever
- Anaplasmosis
- Babesiosis
- Ehrlichiosis
- Powassan Virus
There's also a new tick-borne issue called alpha-gal syndrome. If you get bitten by the lone star tick, you could develop a serious, even life-threatening, allergy to red meat. That's not just bad news for steak lovers, as many of the products we use in our daily lives may contain animal byproducts you may not know about until they trigger a reaction.
Can My Pets Get Diseases From Ticks?
You're not the only one who needs tick protection. Your pets can also come down with many of the same tick-borne illnesses you can. This is because the most dangerous illnesses transmitted by ticks are mostly bacterial or parasitic in nature. So your cats and dogs can get many of the same tick-borne illnesses that threaten people.
If you don't protect them, your pets could end up with a serious illness leading to permanent neurological or cardiac damage, paralysis, and even death. The good news is there's now a Lyme disease vaccine for dogs (and one in the works for humans).
Keeping cats and dogs that spend time outdoors on flea and tick prophylactics can also help protect them, as many tick-borne diseases require the tick to be embedded for some time before they successfully transmit disease. Veterinary tick medicines can often kill ticks on your pets before transmission occurs.
How Can I Properly Remove A Tick?
Ticks have to embed themselves into your skin before they can feed. If you find an unfed tick crawling on your body, congratulations! You likely have not yet been bitten. Just grab the tick and flush it down the toilet or tear the head off. Remember, it's exceedingly difficult to crush an unfed tick, so don't bother trying.
If you find an embedded tick, things get a little trickier. When doing your own tick removal, the most important thing to remember is to never crush or tear the tick while it's embedded. This pushes whatever bacteria or parasites the tick is infested with into your bloodstream and can speed up disease transmission.
To extract a tick, grasp it with a pair of tweezers as close to the head as you can get. Gently pull straight out in order to extract the entire tick without harming it. Once it's out, you can crush, tear, or otherwise dispose of it.
How Can I Remove A Tick Infestation Permanently?
If you find yourself getting ticks while on your property on a regular basis, you probably have a tick infestation. Unfortunately, doing your own tick control is not usually possible. There are not many effective methods out there for amateurs to successfully get rid of ticks.
That means you'll need professional help from the experts here at Insecta X Total Pest Solutions. Our trained and knowledgeable techs can ensure you have a tick-free property to protect you and your pets from disease. So give us a call or visit our contact page to get started today.