Avoid Tick Bites

If you live anywhere in the northeastern part of the United States, then chances are you are well aware of the unforgiving deer tick that is found in cornucopias amounts in every plant inhabited area. Unfortunately these black-legged critters can carry fatal diseases such as Lyme disease which has really nasty effects on us humans. For this very reason, it is very important to know some simple steps that you can take to avoid deer ticks and avoid obtaining Lyme disease. These steps may save your life one day!

Deer ticks are mostly found in tall grassy or heavily wooded areas. Anywhere where there is an abundance of shrubbery or vegetation of some sort, you can expect to find these ticks. They can even be found in bird's nests and old flower pots. Be sure to keep the areas that you frequently spend time in well cut and tidy. Some steps you can take are to frequently mow the area of overgrown gras, cut down extraneous shrubbery and kill weeds.

If for some reason you end up having to work in a possibly tick infested area, be sure to cover up well. Wear long sleeve shirts and pants and tuck everything in if you can. Keep your pants tucked into your socks and try to wear hiking shoes to avoid ticks sliding in. If you can, wear light colored clothing so you can easily spot out the dark colored ticks on your clothing and kill them. Despite popular belief, it is relatively easy to kill a tick and you can in fact just crush them with any regular household item. Just double check to see if it's dead!

The final step you can take to avoid these nasty little monsters is to where insect repellent when going outside. Any big brand insect repellent is surely to help reduce bites. If you do end up finding a tick on your body, you can pull it off with a pair of tweezers or just pull it off with your fingers. It is often believed that you want to avoid leaving the tick's head in but it is impossible for the tick to survive once you have removed the body and considering that the tick's salvia is contained in the body - the head is totally harmless and will eventually fall out.

Chances are you did not obtain Lyme disease, but it is worth getting it checked out. Try and watch for any flu-like symptoms and if the area is infected, definitely contact your doctor. Stay safe!