I live in Central Florida and am battling ticks indoors and out. We have a large Shephard and a 2 year old daughter. We have professionally sprayed a number of times. I have had my dog shaved and dipped. He has a flea collar and we use Frontline. I am going crazy!
Try using Borax on your carpets and baseboards with vacuuming. Make sure to leave it on there for at least 20-30 minutes to penetrate the fibers. You can easily find directions online or on the box.
Borax is great for cleaning fleas, ticks, bugs, etc. When I make my carpet cleaner/deoderizer I always add Borax to it to help with the insect/bug problem in my area of Florida.
Hope this helps! (01/11/2008)
I feel your pain Emily! My home is infested with ticks right now too. We have a 10 year old daughter and a 90lb. German Shepard. The feeling of seeing these ticks crawling up my walls and out from under baseboards is VERY disturbing. We have spent over $400 in the past 4 weeks on pest control to rid us of this and still we are getting up to 20 ticks a day that we pick up and flush.
By Melissa
Get some bug killing "granules" from Wal-mart or other garden center. The granules last longer. Everytime they are wetted down they release more. Just spread around the yard with spreader and wet down with hose or sprinkler. Make sure they are labeled for ticks. Be sure you get around under any trees and shrubs well. There is a tick collar called "Preventic". It lasts for about 3 months for your adult dogs. It does nothing for fleas and you have to get it from your veterinarian, but it does work. (01/19/2008)
By Candy
I have done an experiment and found the 20 mule borax does not kill ticks. I placed 2 live ticks in a small container of borax and the next morning they where still walking around, so that does not appear to work. (03/10/2008)
I too live in Florida and I too am having problems with Ticks this year. I have the dogs on k9-advantix and on the preventics colar, which works pretty good except for their feet. The ticks are hiding in their toes, are there any treatments or things that can be done to stop them from going there?
Also what are the granuals that where mentioned for the ticks in the yard, as I believe the ticks are in the hedges around the house, should the leaves be treated or just the base? Any product work better then any other? I was given something by the vets but that does not seem to be slowing the ticks down. (03/12/2008)
I sympathies with all of you suffering tick infestations. I live in the Tampa area and spent $1,600 and probably 200 hours of my time getting rid of ticks over the last year. The good news is that it worked and my 2 dogs were totally tick free for 8 weeks. The bad news is they're back now, but not out of control yet.
Don't spend money on professional pest services. I did, and it did not work. Once the ticks are out of control, it's extremely difficult to get rid of them. Have your dogs shaved. Hair grows back. Bathe the dogs once a week with tick shampoo from Petsmart. Use a tick collar. Advantix did nothing for me. Remove ticks from the dog daily. Siphotrol is a spray you can buy from your vet to use inside the house. Spray once a week until they stop crawling the walls.
Keep the carpets cleaned and vacuumed. Pick up all clutter so there is no where for ticks to hide. Wash pet bedding weekly. Rake leaves and all ground cover from the yard. I finally removed every bush from the back yard so there was no place that couldn't be easily treated. Unfortunately ticks like shade and I have alot of trees. Bayer granules can be purchased from Lowes to spread in the yard. Use weekly for a month, then monthly. I'm switching to Bayer spray now because the ticks have become immune to the granules. If your neighbors don't treat their yards, the ticks will come back.
All I can say is if I see a single tick now, I don't waste any time going all out to get rid of them. There is no fast, easy solution. Good luck to you all! (06/19/2008)
By Tired of Ticks
We live in Naples as well. Tonight we pulled 3 ticks off of our dog a yorkie/ weener dog mix. Tonight we found another 9 in our bedroom on the carpet and one on the sheet in our bed (wife's side) when we pulled back the covers to look. My wife is now sleeping in another room. Our thoughts are to call Truly Nolen tomorrow - should be interesting. I've heard that eucalyptus works perhaps a spray is available. (06/22/2008)
By Phil
Do a search on Diatomaceous Earth. It is 100% natural and effective against ticks, while still being safe for humans and pets. Buy only Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth - there is a "filter grade" that is not safe for pets and people.
(06/25/2008)
By Mammajenni
Add your voice! Click below to comment. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
