Prevent Mosquito and Tick Bites

Spending time together outdoors is good for the whole family. Don’t let bug bites ruin your fun. Take these steps to avoid bites from mosquitoes and ticks:

• Keep mosquitoes and ticks away from your home by getting rid of standing (still) water and brush, tall grasses, and fallen leaves.
• Wear long–sleeved shirts, long pants, and socks – especially in the morning and evening.
• Use insect repellent (bug spray).
• Check everyone in the family, including pets, for ticks after a day outside.

Most bug bites are harmless, but some mosquitoes and ticks carry diseases. Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever are diseases you can get from ticks. You can get West Nile virus and other serious diseases from mosquitoes.

Take these steps to avoid bites from mosquitoes and ticks.

Keep mosquitoes away from your home.
Mosquitoes need standing (still) water to lay their eggs. To keep mosquitoes away:

• Empty water from unused containers (flower pots, buckets, toys) in your yard, and turn them upside down.
• Change the water in your children’s wading pool at least once a week.

Keep ticks away from your home.
Ticks get on you when you walk through wooded or grassy areas (even in your yard). Animals, including dogs and deer, may carry ticks. To keep ticks away:

• Clear brush, tall grasses, and fallen leaves from around your home. Mow the lawn often.
• Use wood chips or gravel to separate your yard from wooded areas.
• Remove plants that attract deer, and put up a fence to keep deer out of your yard.
• Ask a vet for tick control medicine or tick collars for your pets.

Use bug repellent.
Bug repellent (also called insect or tick repellent) makes it harder for mosquitoes and ticks to find you. Spray it on your clothes or skin.

• Don’t spray repellent directly on your face. Instead, use your hands to carefully rub it on your face.
• Don’t use repellent on babies under 2 months old.
• Use a bug spray with 10 to 30% DEET. Check the label.
• You can also look for repellents with picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus.
• Use a spray with permethrin on your clothes, shoes, and camping gear.

Learn more about using insect repellents safely on children.

Wear long pants, shirts with long sleeves, and socks.
Wear light–colored clothes; it makes it easier to check for ticks and to see mosquitoes.

Check for ticks after spending time outside (even in your yard).
Check everybody in the family, including pets. Check the entire body:

• Under the arms
• In and around the ears
• Back of the knees and between the legs
• Around the waist and inside the belly button
• In and around hair

Use tweezers to remove a tick as soon as you see it.

• Get the tick near its head or mouth.
• Pull gently to remove the whole tick without crushing it.
• Wash your hands and the site of the bite with soap and water.
• Put rubbing alcohol on the bite.

Don’t use a hot match to kill and remove a tick. Print out this fact sheet on what to do for tick bites.

Learn how to protect your skin from the sun.

What do you want to do today?

Turn your children’s wading pool upside down before it rains.

Read the label on the insect repellent you use.

Check if you have tweezers in your first aid kit.

Walk in the middle of the trail in the woods to avoid ticks.

Get tick medicine or a tick collar for your pet from your vet.