My Outdoor Essentials to Fight Ticks and Mosquitos
A friend asked me today about which insect repellent I like to use which led me to sending her lots of links and thoughts and wanting to put a post together and share the things we love and use during the summer months. Summer is a time for all the outdoor activities with hopefully few or zero mosquito and tick bites.
Ugh Ticks
I never grew up with a thought about ticks in Ohio, but living in Virginia things are different. Lyme disease seems so prevalent here so naturally everyone talks about deer ticks, preventative measures and all the tick-borne diseases as soon as it’s warm out. I always hope the colder winters will help with less ticks, but that hasn’t been the case.
This year alone I’ve already had a tick bite, sent it off for testing, and have my favorite things for the whole family to hopefully prevent any future tick bite! I’ll share what I like here naturally, with the note that we do use deet if we’re in deep wooded areas. If we’re camping or hiking, or have kids who will likely go out into the tall grass, I’m not as concerned about deet as I am about tick bites. To each his own!
What do we Use?
Note, none of this is medical advice, simply what I’ve used and liked and seem to think works well for us!
Backyard Use
Nantucket Spider or Murphy’s Mosquito and Tick Spray. I really like Nantucket Spider as it seems to contain all the essential oils I was told to use if I was going to want to prevent tick bites. It smells pretty nice and the bottle has lasted us a long time! I’ve made my own diy sprays in the past but that was costly after buying all the ingredients so I like having Nantucket Spider on hand at little extra cost.
Murphy’s is one I recently just got. Amazon sells it or there’s a big pack at Costco as well! Murphy’s uses plant-based ingredients boasting of oil of lemon eucalyptus. The smell is very pleasant and mild and I have on problem putting this on the whole family. My toddler is in the yard constantly so something safe for him and with repetitive use is important to me.
For the Dog
I do think that our dog is the biggest culprit of bringing ticks inside so for that reason I don’t let him upstairs during these months. I don’t want him near beds or sheets where he’ll snuggle, the tick comes off him and onto a kid. We do a tick check on the kids and him, but I think it lessens the threat if we keep him outside.
When we did find more ticks around at the beginning of the season I got him one of the Wondercide tick collars. I need to get some of their shampoo on hand to potentially help in these warmer months as well!
For the Yard
Last summer and this we’ve become a bit more aware of the ticks in the yard and where they’re coming from. We have a fence and our dog is often on the fence line, which means so are the kids. I love this spray from Wondercide, but this year I’m stepping things up with getting some Cedarcide to put along the fence as well. I’m hoping this will act as a natural barrier and help reduce the amount of ticks we’re exposed to.
I love that both of these options are natural and won’t hurt the lawn, our pet, or most importantly the kids. Wondercide makes it far easier for me than putting together a diy spray in this season and I appreciate that they’re a small business.
We live in an area of dense populations of ticks. For me I find we use natural & deet options when it comes to protecting the kids and our family. The best ways I’ve found to stay on top of things is by using the natural remedies and sprays, and turning to deet if absolutely necessary. In our case we took a hike several weeks ago and a friend pulled probably 5 ticks off her dog, and another 5 off herself.
What to Wear
Many will say that when heading out for your next hike to wear long-sleeved shirts and other protective clothing. A friend of mine puts cedarwood oil and other natural essential oils on her wool balls in her dryer, hoping that will put a protective barrier on the clothing. I’m not sure how the heat of the oils will actually transfer to the clothes, but it’s not a bad idea!
I do think if you’re hiking or outside, especially near tall grasses try to wear socks and always do tick checks. Unfortunately our kids know now to run around in tall grasses as ticks are more often found there. This advice is hard on very small children who don’t understand boundaries as well, let alone tick and insect problems! Your little explorer definitely needs to be protected!
What if you are bitten?
In this case there are a lot of things out there. First, talk to your doctor and in our case, we always keep the tick. I love our tick remover kit and then we place it in a small bag in the freezer. A pair of fine-tipped tweezers is a must here too or having one of these tick remover tags on your keychain..
If you have adverse reactions and want to get it tested, I used this site. I also took this supplement and this tincture to help my immune system. If the tick is on you for awhile or you experience symptoms, many doctors will prescribe a round of antibiotics. Tick borne illnesses aren’t something anything would want so in my opinion, protect yourself as much as you can!
Pick your bug repellent of choice and still try to enjoy the great outdoors!
After bites, or boo boos, we love this Active Skin Repair spray. I got it probably a month ago and my whole family has sworn by it. It’s worked on my toddler’s scraped knees, my sons mosquito bites, and my husbands poison ivy. Yes, it’s still May and he’s already gotten poison ivy!
What about Mosquitos?
After all that tick talk mosquitos seem the least of our concerns. However they can be super annoying, carry west nile virus and result in irritating mosquito bites! To keep these at bay I try to stop things before they even start!
Mosquito dunks are a new thing that I’ve used the past couple years. They are small disks you can place in the saucer of a plant where water collects. The dunks will kill the mosquito eggs before they hatch, resulting in less mosquitos near you!
If you don’t have the dunks yet always dump out any standing water and empty out water tables as they are breading ground for mosquitos!
If we’re outside, which I hope to be often this summer I’ll light a few citronella candles. I found these and the Murphy’s mosquito spray to work well for me already and I’m someone who often gets eaten! I recently got a large two pack of candles from costco and the citronella oil in them seems very strong!
No flames, no problem?
Some flameless ideas would be get this mosquito lantern. I’ve used it camping when we can’t light a candle and if the campfire itself wasn’t deterrent enough. I like this option as well if you have little kids and the idea of lighting a candle isn’t going to work. They sell refills and for us it’s been a good investment.
Many stand by plants that can help deter ticks and mosquitos. Some of those are lavender, lemon balm, rosemary, and the actual citronella plant. Apparently ticks don’t like geraniums which is why geranium oil is a good one to find if you’re going to look for a natural repellent.
It’s interesting that ticks, mosquitos and deer often don’t like the smelly plants, but often we enjoy them more so may those ideas inspire your garden landscape!
As always, I hope this has been helpful in keeping you and your family enjoying the outdoors this summer worry free!
