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Almost time for spring Tick Tubes

chriscoli

Administrator
For those that haven't heard of this product....I think it's the best thing since sliced bread (ok, maybe not really....but it's close).

I've been using them for years. I minimize the use of pesticides in my yard, but IMHO these and mosquito dunks are must-haves since both deal with insects that are vectors of some pretty serious diseases.

http://www.ticktubes.com/works.html

Basically, they consist of a cardboard tube filled with cotton balls coated with permethrin. Mice in your yard take the cotton and line their nest with it....the permethrin rubs off on their fur. Since mice are the spring host of deer ticks, it kills the ticks on them.

I'm not saying they're perfect for every yard, and they're not cheap, but I rarely see deer ticks anymore. And they're cheaper than getting lyme disease.

I get mine on Amazon.
 

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Do you just lay the tubes on the ground? I'd be worried that my dogs would think they are something to chew on...
 

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
The Garden Guy on WTOP a year or two ago said to put out tubes of cotton balls that had drops of the flea/tick and mosquito liquid you would put on your dog. The mice and voles would carry the cotton balls back to their dens and the tick would be killed.
 

chriscoli

Administrator
The Garden Guy on WTOP a year or two ago said to put out tubes of cotton balls that had drops of the flea/tick and mosquito liquid you would put on your dog. The mice and voles would carry the cotton balls back to their dens and the tick would be killed.


He's the one that also mentioned Tick Tubes. the tick medication might be cheaper.
 

JLW

CCA Members
You can buy Permethrin pretty cheaply. And cardboard plus cotton is really easy.
 

Becca

Members
The Garden Guy on WTOP a year or two ago said to put out tubes of cotton balls that had drops of the flea/tick and mosquito liquid you would put on your dog. The mice and voles would carry the cotton balls back to their dens and the tick would be killed.

Most of the stuff for dogs doesn't kill ticks, it just repels them, or sometimes doesn't do anything at all.
 

Becca

Members
I was looking this up and, though there are ways to use it as a yard spray/garden treatment, it's not safe for use around fish. I'd imagine the cotton balls wouldn't make it into rain barrels or fish ponds, though.
 

Leffler817

CCA Members
These are interesting! They need something for all ticks though.

We didn't have ticks in NY the way we do here. I never had to worry when I was out in the yard or woods. Now, I'm fairly paranoid of them. More so than deer ticks, I'm afraid of lone star ticks. They carry a toxin that makes you allergic to meat!!!! If I was bitten and became allergic to meat, I'd kill myself.
 

chriscoli

Administrator
I also found this quote....not that it applies to birds or reptiles (they metabolize permethrin differently), but I found it interesting:

"a toddler would need to consume more than a pound of treated cotton before there would be any chance for toxicity."

I also found some references to permethrin toxicity in general and all basically said that exposure is most severe when inhaled as an aerosol (very bad for snakes).
 

lkelly

Members
I also found this quote....not that it applies to birds or reptiles (they metabolize permethrin differently), but I found it interesting:

"a toddler would need to consume more than a pound of treated cotton before there would be any chance for toxicity."

Both my kids have consumed at least a pound of (insert virtually any non-food item, many of which were difficult to identify) at some point. On top of that it's a very small jump from "cotton" to "cotton candy."
 
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