How to prevent tick bites

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• Prevent tick bites
• Reduce ticks around your home

Prevent tick bites

The best way to protect yourself from tick-borne diseases is to prevent tick bites.

Check with your provincial and territorial public health authority to find out where ticks can be found.

Before you go in areas where ticks can be found:

• wear closed-toe shoes
• tuck your shirt into your pants, and your pants into your socks
• wear permethrin-treated clothing (always follow label directions)
• wear light coloured, long-sleeved shirts and pants to spot ticks easily
• apply insect repellent containing DEET or Icaridin to clothing and exposed skin (always follow label directions)

Learn more:

• Insect repellent
• Permethrin-treated clothing

While you're outdoors:

• walk on cleared paths or trails
• keep children and pets from wandering off paths
• avoid using trails created by animals (such as deer and moose), as ticks are often found on the grass and plants along these trails

Activities where you are more likely to be in a tick habitat and at a higher risk of getting a tick bite include:

• working in occupations such as:
  • farming
  • forestry
  • veterinary
  • agriculture
  • landscaping
  • construction
  • ground keepers
  • utility services
  • park or wildlife management
• participating in activities such as:
  • biking (mountain or trail biking)
  • hiking
  • golfing
  • hunting
  • camping
  • gardening
  • birdwatching
  • fishing (from land)

Before you return indoors:

• check yourself and your clothing
• check your outdoor gear, such as backpacks
• inspect your pets as they can bring ticks into your home

Poster: Top 10 tick hiding spots on your body

When you're indoors:

• do a full-body tick check on yourself, children, and persons in your care
• shower as soon as possible, as it can help wash off unattached ticks
• if you find an attached tick, remove it as soon as possible
• you may not notice ticks on your clothes, so either:
  • put dry clothes in a dryer on high heat for at least 10 minutes
    • If your clothes are damp, you will need to dry them for longer.
  • wash your clothes in hot water and dry on high heat
    • Ticks can survive a cold-warm wash cycle.

Learn more:

• How to properly remove a tick
• Top 10 tick hiding spots on your body

Reduce ticks around your home

Ticks are often found in and near areas with:

• trees
• shrubs
• grass
• wood piles
• piles of leaves

Ticks can also be found around your home. They can't survive for long in dry, sunny areas. To reduce ticks around your home, create an environment where ticks can't survive:

• Mow the lawn often to keep the grass short.
• Remove piles of leaves, tree brush, long grass, and weeds:
  • at the edge of the lawn
  • around stone walls and wood piles
• Prune shrubs and trees to allow sunlight to filter through.
• Create a wood chip, mulch or gravel border that is at least 1 metre wide between your lawn and:
  • shrubs
  • stone walls
  • forested area
• Seal stone walls and other openings to help prevent animals such as deer, mice and other rodents from bringing ticks into your yard.
• Place patios, decks and children's playground sets in sunny areas of the yard and away from yard edges.
  • Place playground sets on a wood chip or mulch surface.

Pets can bring ticks into your yard or home. Talk to your veterinarian about tick prevention for your pets.

Learn more:

• Canadian Veterinary Medical Association
• Video: How to reduce ticks around your home

Related links

• Lyme disease
• Powassan virus disease