I live in West Texas and my yard and the inside of my house are infested with ticks. I just had to take a litter of gsp to the shelter because I thought they would have a better chance. I've treated my yard with Orthomax, Sevendust, and Orkin. I have dipped my dogs, powdered them up, cow tags, you name it. The only thing I could treat the puppies with was K9 Advantix and that didn't even work. Help please.
I live in Houston, Texas, and have a tick problem I've never had before! Hate the little buggers. I've used Cedar Oil spray purchased from CedarCide. It keeps the ticks off the dogs, but they come back if you are not diligent with spraying. There are two formulas, one for furniture, dog bedding, humans and animals, and the other more concentrated for the yard. I'm going to try boric acid for the house too.
You can sprinkle it underneath couch cushions and in carpet and it will not hurt you, the dogs or infants. I used it before for roaches and it worked wonders. I seems it would work on ticks too and someone said they had luck with it on ticks. I don't see them crawling on my walls, my fingers are crossed on that! I've started using Frontline Plus on the dogs b/c everything I've read says only that one has the ingredient that works on ticks. Too soon to tell it it is keeping the ticks off the dogs, but the Cedar Oil spray definitely keeps them off.
I spray ME, the doorways, dog bedding and the dogs twice a day. Also, penny royal oil which works wonders on fleas may work for ticks. Mix 1oz oil with 16oz alcohol to kill fleas, but can't spray or dip dog in that. Add 1gal water to dilute mixture enough to rinse dogs. Good luck everyone. We need it!
I have had this problem for about 5 years with my pets. I feel sorry for them. I have tried every product the vet has recommended and have had the bug guy come out numerous times. It seems to let up for a little while but then comes right back. Neither house on each side have dogs but one neighbor does have chickens.
I thought maybe the chickens are promoting the ticks in our yard but I am unsure of that. I have recently purchased an organic garlic substance that claims to rid ticks and mosquitoes. Yes, at this point I am willing to try anything. I had used a whole garlic, vinegar and water in a spray bottle and sprayed my dog with it and the next morning there were no visible ticks.
However I forgot to spray him down for two days and there they were. I wash and deticked my dog and now I am trying to keep up with the daily spraying. He smells awful but at least he is not infested like he was. I will post another message if this new spray I received works. If anyone has any other suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.
Please whatever you do dont spend money on tick killers and foggers. I have a very clean house and two dogs that stay outside and one cat inside. I boarded my dogs while on vacation and they came home with ticks. This I did not discover for a few days. Before I knew it my yard, dogs, and house were infested with ticks. When I say infested I mean like a Stephen Spielberg movie..I was disgusted. I did everything wrong. I read blog after blog about ticks. Any sprays or powders or foggers will only send ticks into hiding for awhile.
When they come back out in search for food..they are twice as bad. In your house they hide in cracks and crevices within your floors and baseboards. If you have carpet you might as well rip it up and check the perimeter. I had to do major spring cleaning. I would go from room to room moving everything away from baseboards and windows, then I would spray some clorox mixture on walls and baseboards and wait a few minutes. Ticks would crawl out of hiding spots that I didn't know existed. Then I would wipe them up and out with a hot cloth. I did this several times for a month before I was able to solve the problem. They also like cracks and crevices of furniture. If you can wash or steam your furniture.
Outside I know it sounds crazy but I did I small controlled burn in many parts of my yard with lighter fluid. Especially under trees and leaf piles. I saw ticks coming out of the ground trying to escape. In the other part of my lawn I cut my grass super short and watered twice a day everyday and added dish soap before I turned on the sprinklers. Maybe my lawn looked crazy with bubbles but it drown some ticks. Ticks are extremely hard to get rid of. I wish anyone who has them the best of luck.
I have a chihuahua & 2 cats & I don't see any ticks on them. My dog was on revolution but is over due & still doesn't have any. I have my cats on frontline plus. I have never never ever had ticks, but I found one on my back attached but not embedded. (not near any bra line or waist band line like people assume, just in the middle of my back). I cleaned the whole house, didn't find anything. Then I was laying on the couch & saw one crawling towards my face.
I need to get rid of them, I don't know where they are coming from. I am kind of getting the feeling like they live here & I'm the intruder & when I find one kill it. Just deal with them. I hate to think that way, or i should just move but I'm afraid now they are in my furniture due to reading some of the previous messages. any one have any words of advice or tips? Thank you guys :)
I have not had much luck getting rid of ticks. We have tried Truly Nolen a professional company, but they come back in a few days. Seems like they come at least three time a month. We tried bombs, carpet treatments, sprays, and so far we have only reduced the number of ticks we find. Finally decided to put our dog down today, as she is 15 and had other issues. The ticks remain. I did notice the corners I put boric acid in did have quite a few dead ticks. In cleaning today, I found a pile of tick eggs with at least 1,000 eggs. Seems like I am fighting a losing battle. Please let me know if anyone finds a product the works well.
Just discovered ticks 2 days ago and freaked. I'm a researh junkie and have come up with the following info. From the dog groomer: not much will kill the ticks that are already on the dog/cat. Ticks don't die easily. The best you can do is get the pet cut (we went as close to the skin as possible) so you can better see the ticks and remove them. For the home: Sevin (Home Depot carries it). You can spray it on furniture.
Make sure you get the baseboards as that's where they lay their eggs. I had Terminex come in and they even looked between the matress and box spring and found one. They can get everywhere.
I also live in the Tampa area, and have ticks for the first time ever. I found them on my dog, took him to the vet and got Frontline Plus AND a tick collar. He was already on Sentinel, which is supposed to also be tick/flea prevention. These products (Frontline and the collar) seem to have worked for keeping the ticks from latching on to him.
I have found some in my bed though (my dog sleeps in my bed, even though I''ve been trying to get him not to since the ticks). I fogged my apartment with a product specifically for fleas/ticks (front PetSmart), but am still finding them. I'm going crazy! I bought carpet powder, and am going to try that. I don't find very many around on my walls or anything at the moment, but the few that I do find are frustrating!! Right now I'm just trying to continue to wash my sheets after I pick them off my bed.
Any other ideas are more than welcome and will be appreciated! Since I'm in an apartment I can't do anything about the yard, but killing and preventing them in my house would be good!
Depending on where you live you may not be able to do this. My former neighbor had chickens that occasionally "escaped" to my yard and we never had a tick problem. I didn't think anything about it until he and his chickens moved and we were over run with ticks. We did the 4-wheeler/spray thing to the point that dead ants clogged our gas meter so badly that it had to be replaced. The ticks came back. I went to the flea market and bought a grown hen so the cats left it alone. No ticks! Took a couple of weeks, but I now have 3 hens, a rooster, fresh eggs and no ticks.
Dust your yard with sulpher. You can usually find it at home improvement stores in the garden section in 50# bags. You can also use this along with Diatomaceous Earth or just by itself. Sulpher s a cheap way out and it does work. I've used it and it never hurt pets.
I live in town and don't have a tick problem so I have never tried this, but a long time ago, an exterminator told me that the best way to rid a yard of ticks was this: Get one of those things that you attach to a garden hose to put fertilizer or spray in, and fill it with bleach, then spray the entire yard. Make sure you have old clothes on because it wil ruin them. Then don't walk or allow pets in the yard until the bleach-water has dried. You can repeat as often as needed. It supposively works and is a cheap solution, but I'm not sure if it's ecologically sound.
I've used the diatomacious earth and it works really well for fleas, but is not an immediate fix.
You must also use Revolution or something on your pets all year long. This is really important, since when the ticks bite the dog, it not only kills them, but their eggs too.
The simple solution to getting rid of ticks (and fleas) on your pets is FRONTLINE PLUS. You can also buy it in spray bottles for the house. I would get my money back from Orkin if I paid them to get rid of ticks and they didn't do it. You paid for a service you didn't get. Get a different pest control service for your yard who guarantees his work or money back in writing. Ask your vet.
I've read all your emails and feel so sorry for you because I know what you're going through. I live in western AZ and one year we were just about carried off with ticks. Our 3 dogs were scratching until they bled and the dang things were climbing up my walls in the kitchen.
My daughter and grand daughter got on out 4 wheeler motorcycle and one drove while the other used a sprayer with HOME DEFENSE in it, mixed extra strong.they sprayed twice and we bathed the dogs, placed the ticks in rubbing alcohol to kill them and poured the alcohol down between their toes to kill and eggs left there.we didn't have any more ticks and that's been almost 10 years ago.
The ranchers here have open range and cows carry the ticks dropping them wherever they go. We kept our dogs in for almost all day because of the smell but it sure worked.
I had a tick infestation once. They were very hard to get rid of. One thing I learned was to do everything at the same time...shave and dip the dog, spray the yard and house. Also check with your neighbors. If they have ticks, they need to treat everything the same day you do. Good luck.
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Request: Getting Rid of Ticks in My House
Archived on 07/06/2008
I live in Central Florida and am battling ticks indoors and out. We have a large Shephard and a 2 year old daughter. We have professionally sprayed a number of times. I have had my dog shaved and dipped. He has a flea collar and we use Frontline. I am going crazy!
Emily from Central, Florida
Answers:
RE: Getting Rid of Ticks in My House
Try using Borax on your carpets and baseboards with vacuuming. Make sure to leave it on there for at least 20-30 minutes to penetrate the fibers. You can easily find directions online or on the box.
Borax is great for cleaning fleas, ticks, bugs, etc. When I make my carpet cleaner/deoderizer I always add Borax to it to help with the insect/bug problem in my area of Florida.
I feel your pain Emily! My home is infested with ticks right now too. We have a 10 year old daughter and a 90lb. German Shepard. The feeling of seeing these ticks crawling up my walls and out from under baseboards is VERY disturbing. We have spent over $400 in the past 4 weeks on pest control to rid us of this and still we are getting up to 20 ticks a day that we pick up and flush.
I was wondering if you tried the Borax thing yet? Did it work. I am desperate! My dog is treated with Advantix and a collar so he is getting bites but they are not sticking to him. Thank God.
Just wondering if since you posted this a week ago if you've tried anything thats worked?
(01/18/2008)
By Melissa
RE: Getting Rid of Ticks in My House
Get some bug killing "granules" from Wal-mart or other garden center. The granules last longer. Everytime they are wetted down they release more. Just spread around the yard with spreader and wet down with hose or sprinkler. Make sure they are labeled for ticks. Be sure you get around under any trees and shrubs well. There is a tick collar called "Preventic". It lasts for about 3 months for your adult dogs. It does nothing for fleas and you have to get it from your veterinarian, but it does work. (01/19/2008)
I have done an experiment and found the 20 mule borax does not kill ticks. I placed 2 live ticks in a small container of borax and the next morning they where still walking around, so that does not appear to work. (03/10/2008)
I too live in Florida and I too am having problems with Ticks this year. I have the dogs on k9-advantix and on the preventics colar, which works pretty good except for their feet. The ticks are hiding in their toes, are there any treatments or things that can be done to stop them from going there?
Also what are the granuals that where mentioned for the ticks in the yard, as I believe the ticks are in the hedges around the house, should the leaves be treated or just the base? Any product work better then any other? I was given something by the vets but that does not seem to be slowing the ticks down. (03/12/2008)
I sympathies with all of you suffering tick infestations. I live in the Tampa area and spent $1,600 and probably 200 hours of my time getting rid of ticks over the last year. The good news is that it worked and my 2 dogs were totally tick free for 8 weeks. The bad news is they're back now, but not out of control yet.
Don't spend money on professional pest services. I did, and it did not work. Once the ticks are out of control, it's extremely difficult to get rid of them. Have your dogs shaved. Hair grows back. Bathe the dogs once a week with tick shampoo from Petsmart. Use a tick collar. Advantix did nothing for me. Remove ticks from the dog daily. Siphotrol is a spray you can buy from your vet to use inside the house. Spray once a week until they stop crawling the walls.
Keep the carpets cleaned and vacuumed. Pick up all clutter so there is no where for ticks to hide. Wash pet bedding weekly. Rake leaves and all ground cover from the yard. I finally removed every bush from the back yard so there was no place that couldn't be easily treated. Unfortunately ticks like shade and I have alot of trees. Bayer granules can be purchased from Lowes to spread in the yard. Use weekly for a month, then monthly. I'm switching to Bayer spray now because the ticks have become immune to the granules. If your neighbors don't treat their yards, the ticks will come back.
All I can say is if I see a single tick now, I don't waste any time going all out to get rid of them. There is no fast, easy solution. Good luck to you all! (06/19/2008)
By Tired of Ticks
RE: Getting Rid of Ticks in My House
We live in Naples as well. Tonight we pulled 3 ticks off of our dog a yorkie/ weener dog mix. Tonight we found another 9 in our bedroom on the carpet and one on the sheet in our bed (wife's side) when we pulled back the covers to look. My wife is now sleeping in another room. Our thoughts are to call Truly Nolen tomorrow - should be interesting. I've heard that eucalyptus works perhaps a spray is available. (06/22/2008)
By Phil
RE: Getting Rid of Ticks in My House
Do a search on Diatomaceous Earth. It is 100% natural and effective against ticks, while still being safe for humans and pets. Buy only Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth - there is a "filter grade" that is not safe for pets and people.
(06/25/2008)
