Tick Identification & Prevention

What you need to know about ticks in Omaha

Use this pest guide to learn about ticks in Nebraska and how Quality Pest Control can help you control their numbers so you can fully enjoy your property's outdoor spaces.

What are ticks?

Ticks are tiny, blood-feeding pests. These pests are not insects; they are a type of arachnid related to other unpleasant critters like spiders and mites. We identify adult ticks by their oval shape, two body parts (head and thorax), eight legs, and lack of wings and antennae.

Ticks are external parasites, meaning they feed on the blood of their human and animal hosts from outside their bodies. Ticks use their specialized mouthparts to bite through the skin of their hosts, attach themselves, and then feed on their blood over several days.

Are ticks dangerous?

Ticks are vectors of several diseases that can make people and animals sick. Large populations can spread disease quality and pose a health risk.

Some of the many illnesses spread by the different types of ticks in Omaha include:

• Lyme disease
• Rocky Mountain spotted fever
• Tularemia
• Ehrlichiosis
• Red meat allergy (Alpha-gal allergy)
• Southern tick-associated rash illness (STARI)

It is essential to understand that not every tick carries and spreads diseases, but the potential is there. The possibility of acquiring a tick-borne sickness is why you should do your best to keep these pests out of your yard and take the steps necessary to avoid tick bites.

Some easy ways to avoid becoming a tick's next meal include wearing long pants when spending time or wooded areas, using an appropriate tick repellent, and staying in the center of the path when on a walking or hiking trail. After spending time outside, it is also important to carefully check yourself over for ticks.

Why do I have a tick problem?

In Omaha, ticks can be active throughout the entire year but tend to be most problematic from May through August. Unfortunately, those months are also the time of year when people are most active outside, putting us in regular contact with these biting pests. Walking and hiking trails, campgrounds, and athletic fields are places people frequently come into contact with ticks.

Ticks travel from place to place with the help of their animal hosts. After becoming full, they will drop the ground to continue through their life cycle or breed. The more wild animals you have moving across your property, the more problems you will experience with ticks.

Where will I find ticks?

When ticks are digesting a meal or completing their next life stage, they hang out in shady, damp areas. Wooded areas and areas with tall grass, like fields and meadows, commonly house large populations of ticks. Other places these pests gather include under fallen trees, decks, leaf piles, and overgrown landscaping and shrubbery.

Ticks prefer to live in areas with a lot of vegetation because they passively find their hosts. When ready to feed, ticks will climb to the top of a piece of vegetation and wait for a person or animal to brush past them that they can climb on, attach themselves to, and use as a food source.

Most ticks cannot thrive inside our homes; if you find a tick in your house, it likely fell off you or a pet and can be discarded without worrying about a large infestation. If you regularly spot ticks in your home, there is likely a large infestation in your yard, and you will need to quickly contact a professional for help with pest control services in Omaha.

How do I get rid of ticks?

Ticks are very frustrating pests to try to control on your own. They are constantly reintroduced onto our properties by wildlife and neighborhood pets. Trust the professionals at Quality Pest Control to help you control tick populations in your Omaha yard. We will solve your current problem with ticks and work with you to avoid future issues with ticks and other pests.

Our local pest control company is dedicated to our customers and offers the targeted services necessary to eliminate pest infestations and offer you peace of mind. For the best tick control in Omaha, contact one of our friendly and helpful service specialists today.

How can I prevent ticks in the future?

The question of "how to avoid ticks" is tricky since they inhabit many outdoor spaces. The best way to avoid problems with ticks in your yard is to make it as uninhabitable to them as possible. Use the following tips to help keep ticks away from your Omaha home and yard:

• Keep the grass cut short.
• Remove brush piles and construction debris from your yard.
• Maintain shrubs and bushes; keep them pruned away from the outside perimeter of your home.
• Eliminate grass and leaf piles from your yard.
• Keep wooded areas or tall grass cut back from your yard.
• Remove wildlife attractants like open trash cans and bird feeders.

Along with the above tips, implementing regular tick control services is the best solution to stopping these biting pests from taking over your Omaha yard. For information about tick control in Omaha, please reach out to Quality Pest Control today.