How to get rid of ticks once and for all

Just one tick bite has the potential to expose you to up to six different pathogens at once, and can even transmit up to two or three diseases at a time.

Ticks are blood-sucking parasites that can transmit dangerous viruses and bacteria, including Lyme disease. While they don't directly enter your home like many other pests, they can reside in or around your yard and hitchhike inside on humans and pets.

Understanding how to get rid of ticks and what attracts them in the first place is the first step to maintaining a safe yard. Here's what USA TODAY and entomologists want you to know about removing ticks from your yard.

Why ticks come into your yard

Unlike most other pests that may come to your property for shelter or food, ticks more often show up in your yard after they feed on and fall off of an animal or human.

"Ticks are carried to a person's property by wildlife or pets, as ticks travel very little on their own," says Bob Gilbert, a staff entomologist with Blue Sky Pest Control in Gilbert, Arizona. "Once they take a blood meal, they will fall off the host animal, and their survival then depends on what they fall into."

Once in your yard, ticks may become a bigger issue if your property provides ongoing food sources and is conducive to sheltering and reproducing.

"Ticks thrive where it's humid, shaded, and overgrown," said Tom Dobrinska, a technical training manager at Terminix, a nationwide pest control company. "They're drawn to tall grass, leaf litter, wooded edges and dense landscaping where moisture and shelter are abundant." They'll also stick around if wildlife or pets provide them a source of food.

How to remove ticks from your yard safely

"Effective, professional tick removal focuses on habitat reduction and targeted treatment," says Dobrinska. "This includes maintaining lawns by mowing regularly, removing leaf litter and trimming back overgrown vegetation to reduce shaded, humid areas where ticks thrive."

It's also a good idea to try to limit wildlife in your yard, as deer and other animals most often bring ticks to residential properties.

"Fences and harborage modification can help exclude the wildlife that carries [ticks] to the yard," adds Gilbert. "If there are wooded, brushy or desert-edge areas near the home, create some separation between those areas and the places where people and pets spend time."

However, these methods alone are not a guarantee that you'll fix your tick problem. Since ticks present serious health concerns, you should couple these more holistic approaches with professional tick treatments.

According to Dobrinska, EPA-registered repellents containing DEET, picaridin, or permethrin are common treatments and preventative measures for ticks.

Where do dogs pick up ticks?

Dogs and cats can pick up ticks anywhere, but outdoors is the most common. "Ticks like to climb up onto taller grasses and small bushes and wait for pets (or people) to brush up against them so that the tick can latch on and start feeding," says Thomas Dock, a director of communications and public information officer at Noah's Animal Hospitals in Indiana.

If you do find a tick on your pet, you should remove it immediately.

"Finding a tick on your pet (or you) elicits a big YUCK reaction from most people!" Dock says. "If you do find one, get a pair of fine tipped tweezers and grab the tick as close to pet's skin surface as possible. Gently pull upward with steady even pressure so that the tick's connection is broken, and the tick is forced to release."

Tick prevention for dogs and cats

Oral and topical tick treatments are available over-the-counter and by prescription from your veterinarian.

"Treatment choices are really about what works best for the pet as well as the pet's family," says Dock. "Oral products work well for the majority of pets, but for pets with specific food allergies or cats in general, topicals may be a better option."

Natural ways to get rid of ticks

There are also some natural methods for getting rid of and repelling ticks that you can employ to help keep your yard safe.

• Dethatch your lawn: "[Ticks] burrow into the grass or other plant thatch where humidity remains high," says Gilbert. "Dethatching lawns so they are less humid and minimizing watering can help control ticks."
• Maintain tick treatments for pets: "Dogs and cats should be treated for fleas and ticks by their vet on a regular basis," says Gilbert. "These animals are often discounted in a tick control program, but they will often carry new ticks into the yard."
• Consider essential oils: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), some studies report that certain essential oils, like peppermint oil and rosemary oil, have some efficacy for tick control. However, results are mixed, and this should not be a standalone solution.
• Habitat control: As mentioned above, making your home less habitable to ticks and tick-carrying wildlife is a good natural way to get rid of ticks. "Reduce tall grass, remove leaf litter, clean up brush and make the yard less inviting to rodents and other wildlife that can carry ticks," says Gilbert.
• Ongoing monitoring: Make sure you know what ticks look like, especially the species you've dealt with in the past. Monitor yourself, your family members and pets for bites going forward, especially after time outside.

Professional tick treatments and prevention

Most professional tick treatments involve integrated pest management, like the approach used by Orkin, a nationwide pest control company. The best approach combines chemical pesticide application, including picaridin or permethrin, with many of the natural methods of tick control mentioned above.

"[A pro will begin] with an inspection to identify high-risk areas where ticks are likely to live or travel," says Dobrinska. "Technicians then apply targeted barrier treatments designed to reduce tick populations in these habitats."

Permethrin around the perimeter of your property can kill off ticks that attempt to enter your yard, and picaridin can repel them from common areas.

After the initial treatment, professionals will usually advise homeowners where to focus efforts related to landscape maintenance, and they may make recommendations for ongoing pesticide applications, depending on risk.

How to prevent ticks from coming back to your yard

Even after professional treatment, "if the yard conditions stay the same, ticks can return," says Gilbert. "Long-term prevention usually means habitat changes, monitoring, coordinated pet protection and targeted treatment when needed."

Your pest management professional may recommend any or all of the following to help prevent ticks from coming back:

• Keeping tall grass trimmed
• Regularly removing leaf litter in the fall
• Continuing bush and shrub maintenance
• Focusing efforts on trimming around fence lines
• Keeping wood piles elevated and dry
• Opting for infrequent, deep watering

Many pest control companies also offer ongoing yard treatments for ticks, and these can double as perimeter defenses against other pests in your area. Speak with a local pest control company about setting up routine pest control treatments that target ticks.

Common mistakes when trying to get rid of ticks

Since ticks transmit dangerous diseases to pets and humans, it's important to make sure the treatments you're carrying out will actually kill off tick populations in your yard and prevent them from returning. There are a few common mistakes to steer clear of when carrying out tick control on your property.

• Using broad applications: Commercial pesticides are highly effective for treating ticks, but proper application is still important. "A common mistake is focusing only on the center of the lawn while ignoring perimeter zones like wooded edges, tall grass and brush-areas where ticks are most active," says Dobrinska.
• Relying on a single treatment: A single professional treatment may kill off the tick population in your yard, but you need to consider ongoing applications for continued protection. "If rodents, pets or wildlife keep bringing ticks through the yard, and the habitat still supports them, the problem can come back," says Gilbert.
• Failing to address underlying issues: Ticks will continue to return to your yard if there's a source of food and shelter. Limiting wildlife on your property and keeping your landscaping well-maintained can go a long way in preventing ongoing tick problems. "Without continued prevention, ticks can re-establish in the same sheltered areas where they originally thrived," says Dobrinska.
• Not identifying tick species: Different tick species may require varying treatment options, so identification is important. For example, common tick treatments are just outdoors, but "the brown dog tick can live and reproduce both inside the home and outside in the yard [and demand] indoor treatments," says Gilbert.
• Relying solely on natural remedies: Finally, while natural remedies can help with tick control, they're not as effective as commercial pesticides and often won't be enough to get rid of ticks for good. Couple holistic approaches with professional treatments for the best results.

Have a tick bite? How to remove a tick

If you notice a bite on yourself, a family member or a pet, you can follow these steps to remove the tick. Tick-borne illnesses are most often transmitted only after 24 hours of the initial tick bite, according to the CDC, so begin treatment as quickly as possible.

1. Remove the tick immediately: "Use fine-tipped tweezers and grab [the tick] as close to the skin as possible without crushing it," says Gilbert. "Pull straight out with steady pressure."
2. Preserve the tick: After removing the tick, "place [it] in a small amount of rubbing alcohol inside a tight-fitting jar to preserve it," says Gilbert. It's a good idea to keep the tick for identification, and to allow a medical professional to test for possible tick-borne diseases.
3. Clean the bite: "After removal, the bite area should be cleaned with soap and water or an antiseptic," says Dobrinska.
4. Consult a medical professional: Since ticks carry a variety of diseases and bacteria, it's always a good idea to seek help from a medical professional after a tick bite, especially if you notice flu-like symptoms. If possible, bring the tick to your appointment for testing.
5. Plan for the future: Finally, you should take steps to keep ticks off of you to prevent future bites. Wear long clothes when outside, use bug spray that contains DEET to repel ticks, stay out of overgrown grass or brush and check for ticks immediately after being out in nature.

When to call a pest control professional

A one-off tick on your pet or a family member usually doesn't suggest a tick infestation, as they could have picked up the tick elsewhere and transported it to your property. However, you should contact a local pest control company for treatment if you notice ongoing issues with ticks, if you live near wooded areas, tall grass or wetlands or if you frequently have deer, rodents or other wildlife on your property.

Ticks are dangerous, so you should avoid trying to remove them or control them yourself. Always defer to a professional for advice on how to make your property less attractive to ticks and for targeted pesticide applications.

Frequently asked questions

What can kill ticks immediately?

Some home remedies like rubbing alcohol, bleach and high heat in a laundry dryer can kill ticks relatively quickly, but the fastest method is using permethrin, which is an EPA-regulated pesticide. Permethrin kills ticks and other pests within minutes by targeting their central nervous system.

What smell do ticks hate most?

There's some evidence that suggests that the smell of peppermint oil, cedarwood oil, citronella oil, rosemary oil and other essential oils can repel ticks. While these aren't reliable ways to control ticks, you can use them in combination with commercial products that contain picaridin or DEET to repel ticks.

How long will ticks live in a yard?

According to the CDC, most tick species live for two to three years, but they can reproduce and maintain tick populations for as long as food sources and shelter are present on your property. Alongside professional treatment, making your yard as unalluring as possible by carrying out landscaping maintenance and reducing wildlife activity can help minimize tick populations.

Where are emergency visits for tick bites highest in the United States?

Tick-related emergency room visits are most prevalent in Rhode Island, Vermont and Maine, but the rest of the Northeast is also a hotspot. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey all top the charts. Residents in Midwestern states are the next most likely to be hospitalized due to tick bites. Reports show that 2026 could be the worst tick season in recent history, so prepare accordingly, especially if you live in a high-risk area.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How to get rid of ticks once and for all

Reporting by Dan Simms, Special to USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect

This story was originally published June 25, 2026 at 4:54 PM.