Minneapolis Tick Tubes: How Does this Cardboard Tube Eliminate so Many Ticks?

May is Lyme disease awareness month, which has everyone at Mosquito Squad of the Twin Cities thinking about ticks. While deer ticks are the nasty little buggers responsible for spreading Borrelia Burdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme, we are more than happy to eliminate all ticks. While they are dangerous spreaders of disease, they are also just plain gross. Our disgust for ticks and our wanting to limit your exposure to dangerous disease makes us happy to offer tick tubes to the greater Minneapolis area.

What Are Tick Tubes?

Tick tubes are almost exactly what they sound like. They consist of a cardboard tube filled with treated cotton. The cotton is treated with insecticide that eliminates ticks on contact. This cotton is used as a nesting material in the dens of mice and other rodents. When larval and nymph ticks embed themselves on these rodents, they are eliminated upon entering the rodent den. By eliminating larval and nymph ticks, we effectively interrupt the tick life-cycle.

Tick Tubes Are Great for Lowering Tick-Borne Disease Risks At Home

Tick tubes are an exceptionally effective way to slow down the spread of tick-borne diseases such as Lyme. Ticks have a 4 stage life cycle, egg, larval, nymph & adult. They take a blood meal at each phase to transition to the next face, and female adults to produce eggs.

Larval ticks are not infected with bacteria or other disease-causing pathogens. When they have their first blood meal, they become infected with whatever their first host (usually a rodent) was carrying. Only nymph and adult ticks can transmit tick-borne diseases to humans. With tick tubes, we effectively interrupt the tick life cycle by eliminating larval and newly emerged nymph ticks in the rodent dens, before they have an opportunity to come out and spread their pathogens to humans and other animals.

Each Female Tick Lays 3,000-6,000 Eggs

Tick tubes combined with season long tick barrier treatment can result in a higher than 90% of reduction of ticks on your property. The longer you partake in Minneapolis tick control measures, the greater reduction of ticks you’ll see due to the interruption of so many ticks ever becoming adults who can lay eggs. With each female tick laying 3,000-6,000 eggs at one time; eliminating ticks before maturity can drastically lower your property’s tick population. If you’re interested in combatting the growth of ticks on your property call Mosquito Squad of the Twin Cities today.