Tick Control in Upper Marlboro, MD

Is yard treatment enough to stop ticks?

No. Treatment reduces ticks in the habitat around the home, but the state's advice still depends on daily checks and repellents, because ticks can be carried in from outside the treated area. Treatment is one layer of a plan the homeowner keeps up.

Ticks move with people and animals. A tick that hitches a ride on a walk in the woods can drop off in the yard, and a treated lawn does not change what happens on the trail. The plan should be read as lower risk, not no risk.

The state's health advice is a daily tick check after time outdoors, with attention to the scalp, behind the ears, the armpits and the waist. Those checks catch what treatment cannot reach.

Repellents registered by the EPA are the advice that stands, and the label directions matter more than the strength printed on the bottle. The technician can point to the label rather than recommend a brand.

• Check the body, scalp and clothing after time outdoors
• Use an EPA-registered repellent as the label directs
• Check pets after they come in from the yard

Why do shaded borders and leaf litter matter so much?

Ticks need humidity to survive, and shaded, damp ground under leaves and dense cover keeps it. Those are the places they wait for a host, so the shade and litter are the first features the technician looks at.

Sunny lawns dry out quickly and are a poor place for a tick to wait. The same tick can survive far longer in leaf litter at the base of a fence or under a shrub that never gets direct light.

A woodpile against a fence, or a stack of stone, is another shelter. It gives small animals a place to live close to the house, and it gives ticks a damp, dark place to wait.

Clearing and thinning the shaded borders helps, but it is not a single-day job. Leaves return every autumn, and the plan includes a clean-up schedule so the habitat does not build back unnoticed.

What about ticks and pets?

Pets bring ticks indoors, and a tick found on a dog or cat should be removed and noted. Tell the technician which animals spend time in the yard, because the plan is written around them, and the pet's own tick prevention is a question for a veterinarian.

A pet that roams the edge of the woods is the most common way ticks reach the house. The check is simple: look along the legs, ears and belly after each outing, and remove any tick found with fine-tipped tweezers.

The technician does not choose a pet product on the homeowner's behalf. A veterinarian can advise on prevention for a particular animal, and the yard plan is written to work alongside that advice.

Keep pet bedding and play areas off the lawn edge, and wash bedding in hot water on a regular cycle. The technician can point to the parts of the yard where the pet spends most of its time.