Ticks are parasitic cousins of the spider, who live off the blood of their hosts. While ticks can attach to humans, they prefer dogs, and their bites can spread disease. If you find ticks in your home, you must act quickly to stop the infestation before the pests harm your family members or pets. Homeowners have access to a number of products that will kill ticks with correct application.
Things You'll Need
- Washing machine and detergent
- Tick-killing pesticide
Instructions
Wash all clothes, bedsheets and fabrics that have come in contact with the ticks in a hot water wash with laundry detergent, if it is safe for the fabric. Otherwise, soak the fabric in water and add mild detergent. This will either drown or poison ticks on the fabrics.
Treat your home with an indoor approved tick killer. Manufacturers such as Ortho and Bayer produce pesticides designed for indoor use specifically on ticks. Make sure the product specifies that it will kill ticks.
Spray the pesticide on all furniture, below all furniture, on baseboards and on the seams between walls and floors. Treat any areas such as crawl spaces or those with cracks or crevices because ticks hide in such small places.
Repeat treatment two weeks after the initial treatment, even if you haven't seen any more ticks. Ticks can go for weeks without new food, and will not emerge from their hiding places if they smell the pesticide. You must treat at least twice to effectively eliminate the infestation.