Prevent Tick Bites

New Jersey is home to many outdoor recreation sites, hiking trails, and beautiful scenery to explore. Many homes and city parks are located close to or within forested areas and meadows where ticks can abound.

Always check yourself, your children, and your pets for ticks after spending time outdoors. If you find a tick, you can safely remove it with the instructions we provide, and we encourage you to submit your tick! We also list common and emerging tick-borne pathogens in New Jersey.

Practice safe tick prevention strategies for your family and pets to avoid contracting a tick-borne illness.

preparing clothing with tick spray
This person is carefully reading instructions before applying repellent, permethrin (photo credit CDC Tick Image Gallery).
Prepare before you go out:
  • Use a repellent that contains DEET, picaridin, Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus, or IR3535 on exposed skin, regularly applying every 5 hours.
  • Use 0.5% permethrin to treat clothing and gear. You can also buy clothing pre-treated with permethrin that will last for many washes.
  • Be sure to read the labels and follow the directions.

Ways to wear everyday clothing to prevent tick bites:

  • Consider wearing light colored long-sleeved shirts, pants, closed-toed shoes, and tuck pants into socks. Ticks grab onto you when you brush against vegetation (grass and bushes) so preventing direct contact with your skin will give you more time to find them and avoid attachment. Light colored clothing lets you spot ticks more easily.
Don't forget about your pets!

Treat dogs, outdoor cats, and even indoor cats for ticks. Veterinarians can assist you in deciding on the best preventatives to use. You can also perform tick checks on your pets after spending time outdoors.

Preven-tionary

What is DEET?DEET is a synthetic chemical that blocks the ability of biting bugs to smell us.
For more information, visit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's website about DEET.
What is picaridin?Picaridin is a synthetic compound that resembles that of the natural compound piperine or black pepper.
For more information, visit the fact sheet provided by the National Pesticide Information Center on picaridin.
What is IR3535?IR3535 is a biopesticide that can be applied to people and pets.
For more information, visit the technical document provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on IR3535.
What is Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus?Oil of lemon eucalyptus is a refined extract from the leaves of lemon eucalyptus trees. Effective products contain more than 60% P-menthane-3,8-diol (PMD).
For more information, visit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's website about oil of lemon eucalyptus.
What is permethrin?Permethrin is an insecticide that also acts as a repellent. Permethrin is safe when applied to clothing but not directly on skin and is toxic to cats. This product should only be treated on clothes and can be toxic to cats.
For more information, visit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's website about permethrin.