Spring in New England- finally! The remains of snow piles are still present, but the first tick bites are already happening, so now is the time to take precautions. This year’s deep snow has offered insulation and protection to ticks from the cold, so we’re starting with greater numbers. Plus, as the mud season is supposed to last well into May this year, and since ticks thrive in moist, cool, shady conditions, we have a recipe for a particularly nasty year for excessive tick populations and higher than usual incidence of tick-transmitted diseases.
You need 2 things on hand right now:
1. Tick Tubes by Damminix. You can select the number of tubes needed depending on the size of your property (smaller bundles available.) They are water-resistant tubes filled with permethrin-soaked cotton balls. Mice and other small rodents, the main vectors for Lyme disease, use these to line their nests as they get ready to breed. Now is the time to start placing the tubes, mid April until June, to coincide with nesting. They turn your local field mice into tick assassins, and are not harmful to the mice. They have been shown to be very effective at eliminating ticks before they have a chance to grow, multiply and bite YOU.
2. “Ticked Off” tick removal device. This tool is hands down one of the best ways to effectively and safely remove an attached tick. I keep one at home, one in a travel bag.
For more detailed information about how to protect yourself from ticks and tick-transmitted infections, please read my 2 prior blogs related to these topics:
Plants Vs Ticks: Lyme-Free Landscaping Don’t let your yard be a paradise for ticks, here’s what you need to know.
When Ticks Attack: You’ve Been Bitten, Now What? Here are the steps to take when a tick bite happens.
by Cora Rivard, N.D./Seasons Natural Healthcare, LLC- Derry, NH
The Mommy Illuminati 
Found a tick on my 4yo this morning. I already own that tick remover and it worked great as always. The tick came out whole.
Did you see any data about using the tick tubes at a single residence? I found a couple spots where they are shown to work great if you do a whole island or resort but only 1 offhand reference to them for individual properties. I used pelletized poison in past years and it seemed to work but obviously id rather not spread a lot of poison around if the tubes are effective.
Would it make sense to spray my boots in permethrin?
You definitely can use them for a single residence, we’ve been doing it for years. We put them out twice per year and to save a lot of money we make our own like this: http://organicdailypost.com/make-tick-tubes/
We use about 24 of them to cover about 1/2 an acre. You put them about every 10 feet apart around the perimeter. We also spray with cedar and garlic oil though because we have a ton of ticks around.