Are DIY Tick Tubes Good Enough To Keep Pests Away From Your Yard?

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Deer ticks can carry a particularly nasty bacterial infection called Lyme disease. It starts with a fever or rash and can go on to attack your nervous system, joints, and heart. Treatment is usually successful, but in some people the effects can linger for months. Small mammals, including mice, can carry these ticks, potentially bringing that danger inside your yard and home. Although there are a number of ways to get rid of mice humanely that are effective inside the house, they often don't work so well outdoors. Another approach is to deal with the tick itself, and products like Thermacell Tick Control Tubes are designed to do this. They contain material impregnated with insecticide that the mice like to take for their nests. It then comes into contact with any ticks that have latched onto them and kills them.

If you have a sizable yard, costs can soon add up, so DIY tick tubes are often suggested as an affordable alternative. The question then is whether these are good enough to keep mice and other small, tick-carrying pests away from your yard. Opinions vary, even among scientists. The Ohio State University offers a recipe for making your own tick tubes, whereas Cornell's specialist pest control department says it's a bad idea. Clearly, we need to look at the pros and cons in more detail.

All you need are some cotton balls or dryer lint, toilet paper tubes, and permethrin. A spray, like Sawyer Products Permethrin Insect Repellant, is a convenient, multi-use choice. Lightly spray the cotton or lint and allow it to dry. Push it loosely inside the tubes, allowing space for rodents to sneak in, then place them in the garden where you expect animals to be. Always wear rubber gloves and a mask when handling anything that contains permethrin.

There are a couple of problems. First, commercial tick tubes specifically target ticks on mice and nothing else. The permethrin formulation in sprays and similar repellents is broad-based. It targets all insects, so it may not be effective against ticks when used for DIY tick tubes. Second, permethrin is highly toxic to fish and other aquatic life, bees, and cats (it's okay for the latter when dry).

Unfortunately, there is no single solution. Tackling the little monsters needs to be an ongoing task. DIY tick tubes will probably disintegrate after a few weeks. Even commercial ones need to be replaced twice a year. You might prefer to consider less harmful approaches, like a simple remedy to wipe out ticks naturally. You can reduce their habitat by mowing the lawn regularly, clearing leaf litter, and creating barriers with gravel or wood chips. If you do get bitten, there's one thing you definitely shouldn't do, so it's worth spending a few minutes to learn how to deal with bites safely.