Homemade Tick Tubes: Make Your Own & Save Money

While they are not an issue in the Winter time, it is a good idea to plan and get a head start for Spring and Summer for those pesky ticks if you live in an area where they are prevalent. You do not have to be in a rural area to have Ticks any more as they have migrated to the urban areas and can be found everywhere now. If you have a neighborhood watch, bring this up at one of your meeting and get everyone on board and this will help get rid of them in the entire area. Ticks are more than a nuisance bug. They are a bug that can transmit life-altering diseases. There are plenty of ways to protect yourself from ticks- but at some point, you need to be able to breathe easy in your own yard and it all starts with a little effort on your part. That is where tick tubes come into play. Don't waste your money on ready-made tick tubes online, because you can make your own in minutes for 2/3rd's the cost as it is ridiculously easy to make yourself and you probably have all of the ingredients already. A routine of checking yourself for ticks is the best way to prevent tick bites, but taking the fight to them with tick tubes is easy too. What You Need to Make a Tick Tube Tick tubes are extremely easy to make and you only need a few materials: Toilet paper tube (or paper towel tube) Dryer lint (or cotton balls) Permethrin Gloves Mask If you are looking for a more permanent solution, a section of PVC pipe may be best and you can paint them and camo them too. Toilet paper tubes are cheap and always available, and if your family is anything like mine- you’ll have plenty of them in no time. Tick tubes are meant to be placed temporarily, since ticks are seasonal- but we’ll get more into that later. Dryer lint or cotton balls or anything that a rodent can carry and use in its nest is preferred. The point being that the rodent carries the material back to its home to use in its nest. Next, we’ll need the active ingredient: Permethrin. Permethrin is the good stuff. Permethrin is a strong insect killer and is what the tick tube is all about. It’s main use is for treating clothing and outdoor gear to repel insects. In the Air Force, it was an essential deployment item included in everyone’s rapid deployment bags. Permethrin has many different concentrations that you can buy off-the-shelf. The ready-use spray bottle is the easiest and most convenient. Commercial-grade bottles should be diluted before use. Some states may not let you

purchase the commercial grade.

You can probably get this at your local Farmers Coop, but remember to dilute

it to the proper measurements.