Tick Tubes
One of the most genuinely clever approaches to yard tick control available. Tick tubes attack the source of the problem rather than trying to kill ticks after they've dispersed across your property.
The logic: deer tick larvae pick up Borrelia by feeding on white-footed mice, as explained on the life cycle page. If you can get permethrin onto the mice, ticks feeding on those mice die before they can mature and become a risk to people. Tick tubes are cardboard tubes stuffed with permethrin-treated cotton that mice collect for nesting material. The mouse carries it home, the permethrin gets on its fur, and any ticks feeding on that mouse die on contact.
One study found that 72% of mice from treated areas were tick-free compared to essentially zero percent at untreated sites. The mouse is unharmed. The result builds over two to three years as the proportion of infected ticks in the area declines.
Making Your Own (About 10 Cents Each)
What you need
- Cardboard tubes (toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls cut in half)
- Cotton balls or dryer lint
- Permethrin concentrate (10% or 13.3%, from farm supply stores or online)
- Spray bottle or shallow tray for soaking
- Rubber gloves and eye protection
How to make them
- Wear gloves and eye protection before handling permethrin.
- Dilute permethrin per label directions. Lightly dampen cotton balls, not soaking wet.
- Spread treated cotton on newspaper and let dry completely. Several hours minimum.
- Stuff 3 to 5 cotton balls loosely per tube. Don't pack tight; mice need to pull them out.
- Place tubes in rodent-active areas along your property perimeter.
Where to place them: Along fence lines and stone walls, around wood piles and brush, at the base of shrubs near the house, along the lawn-to-woods edge, near outbuildings and gaps under decks. One tube every 9 to 10 yards along the perimeter. Not on open lawn where mice don't travel.
When to put them out: Twice a year. Late April or early May is the most important deployment. Again in August or September for late-season coverage. Replace when you see the cotton has been taken. That means mice found them, which is what you want.