How To Control Ticks

Cattle tick - engorged female — Engorged female cattle tick

Most people don’t pay much attention to tick control. That tends to change when they find a tick on themselves after a bush walk or on their pet. 100% tick control cannot be guaranteed, but with some good tick prevention tips and use of suitable tick control products, the chances of picking up a tick on your property can be significantly reduced.

Tick Identification

Female paralysis tick before feeding — Female tick (before feeding)

What do they look like?

Ticks are not insects and are actually members of the arachnids – so are more closely related to spiders than insects. As such, the adults have eight legs, although interestingly the larval stage has 6 legs.

Eggs: The female lays up to several thousand eggs in leaf litter or attached to the bark or foliage of various plants. They are laid in batches of up to 200 per day.
Larvae: When the nymph hatches from the egg, it only has 6 legs. It develops the extra pair of legs after a blood meal, when it moults into the nymphal stage. The larvae are about 0.5mm in size and also called “grass ticks”.
Nymphs: Ticks pass through 2 nymphal stages, getting progressively bigger. They require a blood meal before each time they moult to the next stage. Nymphs are about 1.2 mm in size.
Adults: Adult female ticks can be up to 4 mm long before feeding (males a little smaller). Female ticks seek out a blood meal, which is required before egg laying can commence. After feeding the female is significantly engorged and can be up to 1 cm long.

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Key Tick Facts

Tick questing to find a host — A tick, “questing” to find a host

There are a number of different tick species in New Zealand – the native species are very host specific, infesting mainly birds and do not present a problem to humans. However, there is a introduced species of tick in New Zealand, the brown cattle tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis). This species does infest mammals such as cattle and humans and can transmit a variety of diseases. However, these diseases are not present in New Zealand.
All life-stages require a blood meal, although it does not have to be human. Ticks will latch onto any large animal walking by.
Ticks find suitable hosts be “questing”. They hold onto grass or small shrubs with the rear legs and wave the front pair of legs in the air. These legs have special organs which can detect odours, breathing, moisture and vibrations. When a suitable host brushes by they grab on with their front legs. (Ticks don’t jump or fall out of trees!).
Adult females require a blood meal to lay eggs. After laying eggs the female will die.
Adult males don’t often bite their host. They jump on the host primarily to find a female to mate with. If the male wants a feed, he will often bite the female to take some of her blood meal!

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Signs Of A Tick Infestation

Tick biting dog — Spotting ticks on pets is the first sign of a potential infestation

The only sign of an infestation is the presence of ticks on you or your pets or livestock. Perhaps the early sign you may have a problem developing on your property, is if you are noticing “grass ticks” in Autumn and Winter, as this will mean you are likely to have a large number of adult ticks come Spring.

Main Pest Season

Tick season has various peaks corresponding to the life-cycle, but generally numbers are higher during the warmer months and they tend to “over-winter” in New Zealand, when they are less active. Ticks generally thrive in warmer, moist environments, but struggle to survive if it is too hot and dry. All life stages need a blood meal, so it does mean you need to be on alert for ticks, year round.

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Tick Prevention Tips

Tick removal from dog — Pet tick treatments provide long lasting protection from ticks

Keep grass short and cut back vegetation in areas used by humans and pets.

If you are walking in long grass in “the bush” wear long trousers tucked in and use insect repellents.

Keep your pet tick treatments up to date.

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Tick Control Tips

Mowing lawn to make it less attractive to ticks

Around the backyard, vegetation management can be very helpful in keeping the tick numbers down. Cutting back vegetation and keeping grass short will make the environment less attractive for ticks – more sun and less humidity).

Target insecticide applications are an option as well, with the best control strategy being to apply insecticides in late summer / autumn when the larvae and nymphs are present, as these are easier to kill. They also reside in the leaf litter so it means you need to get the insecticide down to soil level.

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PestXpert Products For Ticks

PestXpert don’t currently have a product labelled for use on ticks. But we might have one coming in the future… watch this space!

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FAQs About Ticks

How to get rid of ticks on cats?

How to get rid of ticks on dogs?

How to remove a tick?

Do not try and pull the tick out with your fingers or use tweezers! This will likely squeeze more toxins and the tick’s gut content into the bite area.

The medical guidance is to kill the tick in place (generally by freezing) and then let it drop off. Manual removal should only be carried out by a medical professional.

“Freeze it, don’t squeeze”.

More information on tick removal, including a video on managing tick bites.

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