Normally, seeing a tick in your home isn't a cause for concern. Most ticks lay eggs on soil or leaves, so they aren't capable of causing an infestation in your home. One tick species that's different is the brown dog tick, which can lay eggs in any crevice in your home and take up residence.
These ticks are brown and oval-shaped, and you may find them crawling on your furniture or feeding on your pets. Rarely, they'll also feed on humans, and they can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which is a bacterial infection that can be fatal if it's not treated quickly enough with antibiotics. If you've noticed brown dog ticks in your home, read on to learn more about how they may have gotten there and how you can get rid of them.
How Do Brown Dog Ticks Get Inside Your Home?
Brown dog ticks normally get inside your home when they're carried in from the outside while feeding on one of your pets or hanging onto your clothing. As their name implies, dogs are their favorite animal to feed from. Infestations can occur inside animal shelters or dog boarding kennels, and your dog may pick them up from there. They also live outside the home, so they may have come in from your yard or from the park or the woods.
If a pregnant female brown dog tick is carried inside your home, they'll hop off your pet or your clothes and look for a place to lay their eggs. Their instinct is to climb up walls and lay their eggs in a dark crevice like the edge of a window frame. Once the eggs hatch, you'll have numerous brown dog tick larvae crawling around your home looking for a meal. If you don't quickly deal with the infestation, they'll eventually grow into adults and lay more eggs.
How Do You Get Rid of a Brown Dog Tick Infestation?
Brown dog ticks are very hard to get rid of, so it's best to call a professional pest control service for help. You'll need to have insecticides applied both inside and outside your home in order to get rid of the infestation. If you don't kill any ticks that may be nesting in your yard, you may soon carry a pregnant female tick into your home again. The pest control service will apply insecticide on the upper parts of the walls in your home where the ticks like to climb, and they'll also apply them into the crevices where they hide and lay eggs.
If you notice a tick inside your home and think that it may be a brown dog tick, capture it and place it in a small container filled with rubbing alcohol. Afterward, call a pest control service in your area and have them come to your home. They'll be able to identify the tick to see if it's a brown dog tick, and they'll check your home for signs of an infestation. If they find more ticks, they'll apply pesticides that can quickly kill them and make your home and the yard outside tick-free.
Share