How to Kill Wood Ticks

Outdoor Wood Tick Control

• 1

  Remove brush and leaf litter from your property, and prune bushes and trees away from your lawn. Ralph E. Williams, an entomologist from Purdue University, recommends elimination of any unnecessary vegetation around your property.

• 2

  Mow your lawn, and maintain a short length of grass around your home. Tall grass is a favored vegetation site for adult ticks, according to Cornell University's Medical Entomology Extension.

• 3

  Spray your mowed lawn with an acaricide, which is a pesticide that kills ticks. Begin at the edge of your home and work your way out toward the edge of the property. Contact a professional exterminator for this service if needed.

Individual Wood Tick Removal

• 4

  Check your body, hair, clothes and pets when you have spent time outdoors or in a wooded area. Immediate removal reduces of the chance of contracting RMSF from an infected wood tick.

• 5

  Pull its head from your skin with a pair of tweezers. Do not twist or squeeze an attached tick or handle it with bare hands, as this may contribute to the spread of harmful bacteria.

• 6

  Drop the tick into rubbing alcohol or flush it down a toilet.