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.
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.
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
For more information, visit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's website about DEET.
For more information, visit the fact sheet provided by the National Pesticide Information Center on picaridin.
For more information, visit the technical document provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on IR3535.
For more information, visit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's website about oil of lemon eucalyptus.
For more information, visit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's website about permethrin.