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Last Updated: May 03, 2023
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Natural Tick Repellents

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Dr. Swathi TnAyurvedic Doctor • 14 Years Exp.BAMS , MS ( Clinical psychotherapy)
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There are no obvious symptoms or signs due to the bites of ticks as they are usually harmless. In some rare cases the bite of ticks can transfer various serious diseases like Rocky mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease, etc to humans. Generally the symptom for the bite of ticks is said to be a red spot or rash on the part of the skin where the tick had bitten, rash covering the body fully, or you began to have fever. Whenever you suffer a tick bite you are advised to visit a doctor immediately for medical assistance even when you are not noticing or experiencing any kind of symptoms of the bite.

If you want to protect yourself from tick bite and the infection which they impart, then your first priority should be that you prevent yourself from tick bites. In the case of people who love to go outside and enjoy the outdoors , you might use a tick repellent to keep yourself away from ticks.

Generally these tick repellent are made up of different types of pesticides and they are available in the market for purchase but there are certain repellents which are of synthetic origination from natural sources and some are all natural in origination which means they are completely natural without the involvement of any kind of artificial methods or processes.

There are a lot of tick repellents present in the market for example permethrin, DEET and picaridin. But, if you are willing to replace this commonly used tick repellent then you can opt for certain all natural options which are very effective and less harmful as compared to that of the commonly used pesticides sourced tick repellents. These all natural tick repellents can be used directly on the clothes, or you can spray them in your lawn and get rid of the ticks naturally. Here is a list of all natural tick repellents that is very effective and helpful and they are listed below: 

A mixture formed up of essential oils

For the commercial use of an all natural tick repellent some people use a mixture of certain essential oils and the commonly used essential oils are geraniol, lemongrass, thyme, cedar and peppermint. When these tick repellents were applied directly on the clothing it was found to very effective against all the ticks except for two which are the lone star tick and the deed tick and it was proved to inefficient even after seven days of continuous use and in case like this permethrin has proved to be effective.

Garlic oil

In this case, the repellent is made up of or formed from the essential oils which are taken up from the garlic plant and when you want to use this repellent in your ground you should be very certain of the fact that this repellent has to be sprayed multiple times if you want to have a noticeable result.

Metarhizium brunneum or Metarhizium anisopliae fungus

This is a category of the fungi which can repel or help in the killing of ticks and they are known to grow in the soil. For the commercial use these fungi are sold under the name of Met52 which you can spray in the lawns to get rid of the ticks. This tick repellent is found to be non harming for those kinds or population of ticks which are a non-targeted bug species and it is suggested that you should opt for other approaches or alternatives like insecticides in order to control the growth and population of the ticks significantly. 

Nootkatone

The essential oil for this kind of tick repellent is to be found in various kinds of spices of the cedar tree, certain fruits and herbs. This tick repellent is not available commercially as of now but the effectiveness of this tick repellent is found to be way more than that of some pesticide sourced tick repellent when it is applied directly on to the clothes of the person. The optimized formulation to get rid of the ticks in the lawns is still to be found which has a long lasting effect and which is not at all harmful to the plants near which it is sprayed.

You can also practice some habits that will help you to stay away from ticks and those habits are given below: 

  • You should not be going in to those areas where ticks have been before
  • You should be wearing clothes which are helpful for you and protect you against the action of ticks
  • You should make the environment of your yard or lawn discouraging or hostile for the likes of ticks
  • You should pay special attention to the protection of your pets

Conclusion

Ticks being unharmful in general cases are taken very lightly but when it starts to disturb the humans. These humans try to kill the complete premises of the yard where the ticks have been found. But usage of pesticidal tick repellents will deplete the quality of the yard and in case of all natural tick repellents there is a side of adverse effect on the ground or the plants nearby. So you should try to buy tick repellent which is all natural but not the pesticidal tick repellent and this can be bought online. Buying all natural tick repellents is very useful over the pesticidal tick as they do not harm the vegetation at all and there are no after effects of this at all.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult a specialist & get answers to your questions!
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