You can expect to spend between $40 and $450 on tick control based on your home’s square footage. Tick control costs depend on the square footage of the area being treated and whether they are in your home or yard. Costs range from $0.08 to $0.15 per sq.ft. Treatment is priced this way because the larger the area, the more chemicals will be needed, requiring more labor to complete the job. There may also be discounts for larger jobs, as well as minimum prices for smaller jobs. Based on this average, expect to pay the prices below for the following square foot sizes, with indoor treatments costing more than outdoor treatments.
| Size | Average Cost (One-Time Visit) |
|---|
| 500 sq.ft. | $40 - $75 |
| 1,000 sq.ft. | $80 - $150 |
| 1,500 sq.ft. | $120 - $225 |
| 2,000 sq.ft. | $160 - $300 |
| 3,000 sq.ft. | $240 - $450 |
| 5,000 sq.ft. | $400 - $450 |
Tick Treatment Cost by Acreage
Tick treatment costs $100 to $300 per acre. You can expect to pay higher prices for tick control for larger areas. If you have a significant amount of property that needs to be treated for ticks, you may be looking for tick treatment costs based on acreage instead of square footage. We have listed some of the more common price ranges for property sizes below.
| Size | Average Cost (One-Time Visit) |
|---|
| ⅙ Acre | $50 - $100 |
| ¼ Acre | $60 - $120 |
| ½ Acre | $70 - $150 |
| 1 Acre | $100 - $300 |
| 2 Acres | $200 - $400 |
Tick Removal Cost by Frequency
When it comes to keeping ticks out of your home, services range from a one-time ordeal to a repeating annual treatment with prices between $50 and $2,000, depending on the frequency. As you may have suspected, how often you need services impacts the overall cost. Depending on where you live, the state of your yard, and if you have pets, you may need more frequent services. If you bring ticks back home after a camping trip or something else out of the ordinary, you might just need to see a professional one time. Let’s dive into the prices for different extermination plans.
| Frequency | Cost per Year |
|---|
| One-Time Visit | $50 - $150 |
| Quarterly Contract | $250 - $600 |
| Yearly Contract | $550 - $700 |
| Monthly Contract | $800 - $2,000 |
Tick Treatment Cost by Severity of Infestation
The average cost per treatment for tick extermination is between $50 and $150 for a one-time treatment, which may include more than one visit. In some cases, your property will require multiple treatments, which will be more expensive in the long run because it includes more visits than a single treatment. If you are dealing with a larger or more persistent tick infestation, you may need to have multiple treatments done in quick succession, costing between $200 and $600 for three to four treatments. Even more stubborn cases cost between $400 and $1,200 for seven to eight treatments.
Finding even one tick in your home can be stressful because it can mean there are many more either already there or hatching. A severe tick infestation starts from just a couple of ticks going unnoticed in or around your home. Ticks move from host to host very quickly to feed. They seek shelter in dark spaces to lay their eggs. That means if you don’t find a tick while it’s feeding, it can be very hard to spot them at all.
| Severity of Infestation | Cost per Treatment |
|---|
| Small | $50 - $150 |
| Large | $200 - $600 |
| Severe | $400 - $1,200 |
Tick Extermination Cost by Company
You can expect to spend $80 to $500 for tick extermination based on the company providing the service. The leading extermination companies that provide tick removal include Orkin, Terminix, Aptive, and TruGreen. In addition to the location and size of the infestation, the company affects cost. The table below shows a breakdown of prices, including the Orkin tick treatment cost, TruGreen tick treatment cost, and others.
| Company | Cost per Treatment |
|---|
| TruGreen | $80 - $200 |
| Terminix | $80 - $250 |
| Orkin | $100 - $500 |
| Aptive | $150 - $500 |
Average Cost to Spray for Ticks by Location
You can expect to spend between $75 and $600 to exterminate ticks based on whether they are indoors or outdoors. The size of the area that needs treatment impacts costs and whether you need pet-safe or child-safe treatment options. If you are treating a severe and difficult to access infestation indoors, it could cost substantially more than a simple yard spraying for ticks. In the sections below, you will see a breakdown of each treatment location and its related considerations.
| Location | Cost per Treatment |
|---|
| Indoor | $75 - $150 |
| Outdoor | $150 - $600 |
Cost to Treat House for Ticks
Expect to spend between $75 and $150 to treat a 2,000 sq.ft. home when you have an indoor infestation. While most varieties of ticks prefer the outdoors, once brought in, you may find a tick nest in the house where they lay their eggs and begin the reproduction process. If you have pets, you may find ticks in the areas they frequent, such as their bedding, eating areas, and kennels. If the infestation is more severe or spans more square footage, you may pay more for tick removal and control.
Once ticks have taken up residence in your home, you will often find them in areas where they can stay well hidden or where they might have fallen off once they finished feeding. Ticks may be found in your bed because they feed on humans and fall off after eating. You may find ticks in bathrooms. Here, clothes are taken off to which ticks have attached. Hampers are a common hiding place. When it comes to more common areas, the carpet is a likely spot for hiding and laying eggs. Carpet makes a great staging point for grabbing a host as they go past.
Tick Treatment for Yard Cost
Spraying for ticks in the yard costs between $150 and $600, depending on the landscape, the severity of the infestation, and the size of your yard. Getting rid of ticks in the yard requires a combination of extermination and landscape care to prevent the problem from recurring. Tick control for the yard involves removing dead leaves or brush, keeping the grass cut short, maintaining a separation between wooded areas and the lawn, and performing visual inspections, especially when ticks are at the height of their season.
Couple these practices with tick lawn treatment, including a combination of pesticide sprays and barrier repellents. To achieve full tick extermination in the yard, you need regular pest control treatment throughout the year. Certain tick varieties live on trees. They drop down on their host when they pass. You may find ticks on the grass where they can attach themselves to their prey by grabbing on with their front legs. The good news is whether you find ticks in the garden or your yard, they can be easily eliminated by the exterminator who focuses on the areas they are most known to frequent.
Tick Inspection Cost
If the inspection is not included with your tick removal quote, you can expect to spend between $145 and $300, depending on where the infestation is and how much space needs to be inspected. The first step in the tick extermination process is a comprehensive inspection. This allows a professional team to pinpoint the problem areas throughout your home to get rid of them. Most packages include the price of the pre-extermination and post-extermination inspections within the total cost of the tick removal.
Even if you don’t suspect you have any pest issues, it’s generally a good idea to perform an annual inspection to ensure it stays that way. During an inspection, tick removal specialists check common spaces like closets, beds, and your pet’s sleeping areas. They look in less traversed nooks throughout your home to see if any eggs are present. If your tick problem is confined to your yard, the inspection team follows a similar protocol, except this time, they check any cluttered areas, deep brush, wooded areas, and exposed topsoil.
This initial inspection is crucial in figuring out what treatment you need going forward. After the treatment is done, it’s important to have another inspection done to ensure the problem is solved.
Tick Infestation by Type
To understand how to get rid of ticks that have taken up residence in your backyard, you must know the type of ticks you have. The most common tick species found throughout the United States include American dog ticks, deer ticks, brown dog ticks, lone star ticks, soft ticks, Rocky Mountain wood ticks, and Gulf Coast ticks.
Different ticks can be identified by their size and coloring, but the differences don’t stop there. Since they are found in various areas and feed on different sources, each tick species carries different diseases. This is why it is crucial to properly identify the type of tick before moving into the removal process.
American Dog Tick Control
The American Dog Tick is also referred to as a wood tick and is called a dog tick because they prefer to feed on domestic dogs. It is from the hard tick family, which means a hard exterior shell covers them. They are oval-shaped and relatively flat with whitish/gray makings. They range in size from 5 mm to 15 mm and can be easy to spot on a dog's coat. However, these ticks may also be difficult to get rid of and require multiple visits because of their resilience and their hardshell exterior. Liquid insecticide or a fogging treatment is the best option.
Deer Tick Control
Deer ticks, also often referred to as black-legged ticks, are most well-known for their dark legs. Females are easy to identify when they are engorged after eating. They will be roughly ⅛” in size, which is double the size of their male counterparts. All deer ticks can be identified by their flat oval bodies and lack of a hard shell. Females are orangish-brown until they feed when they become reddish-brown. Males are reddish-brown all over. Their bodies are longer than they are wide. They have visible toothed mouthparts. Deer ticks are also removed with fogging treatments or liquid insecticide applications.
Brown Dog Tick Control
Brown dog ticks get their names from their body color, which is reddish-brown. They are most often spotted traveling on their favorite hosts domestic dogs. When they have not been feeding, they are about ⅛” long but get up to a ½” when fully engorged. Overall, their bodies are flat. When they feed, they leave pitted marks on their prey. As is the case with most ticks, a liquid insecticide will provide the best treatment, although smaller infestations could do well with fogging treatments.
Lone Star Tick
While the Lone Star Tick does frequent the southeastern and eastern states, it does not get its name from the state of Texas. Instead, the name is derived from a silver-white spot located on the females’ backs. When they bite, they not only transfer bacteria that can lead to disease, but they also leave a visible rash. The females are the largest at ⅛”, and the males are only slightly smaller, making the spot on their back the easiest way to identify females. Their bodies are reddish-brown when they are waiting to feed, but they turn a slate gray once they have become engorged. They are not able to survive indoors. If they are found inside, they have likely been carried in by the host and have fallen off after their feeding was completed. Indoors, fogging is recommended, while outdoors, liquid insecticide applications do best at eradicating this species.
Soft Tick
Soft ticks are a decent size, measuring about ¼” in length. They are either sandy-brown, reddish-brown, or dark brown. As their name suggests, they have a soft body with their head and mouthparts tucked underneath. They are oval-shaped like other ticks but do not have the same flattened, hard appearance. Their bodies look more like flesh and they are often easier to get rid of since they are less protected than other species with a hard exterior. Chemical fogging or insecticide treatment will be the ideal solution.
Rocky Mountain Wood Tick
The Rocky Mountain Wood Tick primarily gets its name from the area where it primarily inhabits. It prefers to live in lawns, forests, and meadows, especially close to heavily-wooded areas. You can identify this variety by their brown color, which becomes grayish after they have fed. Their body is oval-shaped and flat from top to bottom. Females will be ⅛” before feeding, and almost ½” when engorged. Males will be about half the size. In addition to preventive treatments, insecticides will be ideal for outdoor treatments, while chemical foggers will eradicate ticks indoors.
Gulf Coast Tick
Mostly found in grasslands and prairies edged by wooded areas, the Gulf Coast Tick inhabits coastal areas. You find them along the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic Coast. They grow to about ¼” and appear shiny with a dark bluish or dull white color. Females have silver-white ornamentation on their heads with three stripes. Males have interconnected silvery white lines. These ticks can be killed with most chemical foggers and insecticides, and you can prevent them by keeping grasses and large weeds under control.
All About Ticks
Ticks are a pest that latches onto their desired host and feeds on their blood until they become engorged. While most ticks attach themselves to both humans and animals, some varieties prefer one over the other.
Ticks can wait days or weeks until they find the proper host and drop onto or grab onto their host. They can detect their potential prey using multiple senses to detect vibrations, breath, smell, and heat.
Ticks are often considered dangerous because of their potential to carry and transmit many potentially serious illnesses, such as Lyme Disease. While they are most prevalent in the spring and fall season, some varieties survive the colder winter temperatures in many states.
Where Do Ticks Live?
While ticks can live both indoors and outdoors, they often aren't found in your home unless you have an infestation, or they have traveled inside with a host. Typically ticks live in wooded areas and can be frequently found on trees and tall grasses. When found in your backyard, you may also find them in mulch beds, around large piles of dead leaves or near the edges of your yard, especially if they are backed up to a wooded area.
What Color Are Ticks?
Ticks come in a wide range of colors, which can often help you differentiate between the varieties. You may find white ticks, gray ticks, or ticks that are a blend of gray and white. Ticks, like the Lone Star Tick, have silvery-white spots located on the backs of females. While female deer ticks are red ticks that are identifiable by the reddish-brown appearance in the lower part of their body. You will find ticks that are completely brown, black, or ones that have a yellowish tint to the coloring. With so many tick varieties, you are likely to find one with a combination of these colors.
What Attracts Ticks?
Tick infestations start with just a single tick making its way into homes. They are generally found in warm, humid areas because they are attracted to carbon dioxide and sweat. Your blood type impacts how attractive you appear to ticks. They are most attracted to type A blood types, followed by type O, type AB, and in last place, type B. Since you cannot exactly help this, it is best to wear more protective clothing and darker colors and use repellents when outside for long periods. Ticks prefer wooded areas and those with overgrown vegetation but can make their way into homes on people and pets.
Are Ticks Dangerous?
After a tick finds its desired host, it grasps onto the skin and inserts its feeding tube. Some may even attach themselves with barbs or a secreted substance to hold them to the host during the feeding process. Ticks are small and secrete saliva, which can numb the area where they are feeding, making them almost completely undetectable by the host. The dangers of tick bites come in the form of the pathogens they carry and transmit to the host. Some of the most dangerous diseases that ticks transmit include: Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness, Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever, and Tularemia.
Treatment for these conditions varies, and the outcome of each is different. Usually, antibiotics are involved. Some conditions can become life-threatening if they are not treated. In other cases, rashes and simple issues occur but do not present any real danger. Ongoing research is looking for better treatment for tick infections and diseases. Most dangers show themselves in symptoms like fever, aches, headaches, and similar side effects.
Where Do Ticks Lay Eggs in a House?
Tick eggs typically have a reddish-black or translucent appearance. While eggs are often found on trails or nestled in the grass, they can also be found around the home. You will not typically find tick eggs in your home unless you have an infestation due to ticks being brought into your home on clothes or by your pets. Female ticks lay their eggs out of normal traffic areas to protect them. You are most likely to find them around your baseboards, windows, doors, curtains, in furniture, or on the edges of rugs. Once you find tick eggs in your home, you probably have an infestation, and many ticks are lurking around your home. The good news is, effective extermination methods eradicate all stages of ticks, including eggs. With proper treatment, you can eradicate both the ticks themselves and their eggs from your home.
Signs of Tick Infestation
Ticks attach themselves to people or pets in your home since they need a blood source to survive. While they can be found anywhere on the body, they prefer moist areas. You will most likely find them in your armpits, scalp, or groin area. Their bites are painless. They can be fairly easy to spot on your body since they imbed their heads inside your skin. The best way to spot a tick is when they are feeding on you, another person, or a pet inside your home. Some species of ticks prefer laying their eggs outdoors on the surface of the soil. Others, such as the brown dog tick, lay them inside your home, in dark, secluded spaces that aren’t often cleaned inside your house.
Another clear sign of a tick infestation is the development of diseases amongst the people in your home. You should keep an eye out for symptoms, including fever, chills, headaches, fatigue, rashes, and other flu-like symptoms.
With that being said, it is possible to find ticks in your home, too. To look for them, be sure to have a flashlight on hand. The best places to look first are pet crates, upholstered furniture, and around entry points into your home. If you suspect you have ticks in your yard, it's best to look around retaining walls 1, dense brush, yard debris, tall grass, and areas where your pets lounge outdoors.
Pet-Friendly Tick Spray for Yard
To protect them from flea and tick bites and the diseases they transmit, you also may be concerned about pet-safe treatments for your outdoor areas. When it comes to fleas, treating your pet with veterinarian-approved topical flea treatment products is best. Make your yard inhospitable to fleas by keeping away vermin and keeping the grass cut short.
Yet, if you find that your yard still has ticks and you wish to eradicate them, contact a professional to schedule a tick spray treatment.
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council Green Paws Product Guide, hundreds of pest spray products claim to be pet safe but contain chemicals that can be harmful if your pet comes in contact with them. When contacting an exterminator for treatment, inquire about the pet-safe products they offer. You may request that they spray the edge of the yard to reduce the amount of contact your pet will have with the chemical. Your pest control specialist will be able to tell you if this method can adequately control your specific tick problem. No matter what product or method your exterminator uses, always follow their instructions to keep your pets safe.
How to Prevent Ticks?
According to the CDC, you can reduce the risk of ticks inhabiting your yard by making the area more inhospitable for them. Ticks like to hide, so you should reduce the places they can hide in your yard. Make sure that you keep leaves picked up, mow your grass short, and remove any brush. Keep any outside wood neatly stacked and dry. Keep playground equipment away from trees and more centrally located in your yard. Discourage any likely carriers of ticks into your yard, such as deer, stray dogs, and raccoons. Consider putting up a fence if you have frequent wildlife visitors. Another way to keep ticks at bay is by creating a mulch moat. The average cost to have a mulch 2 moat created is $35 per cubic yard. Use wood chips or gravel to form a three-foot-wide barrier between your yard and any wooded areas. Depending on your yard’s features and what modifications you need to make, the cost to landscape your yard could run between $3,000 and $30,000.
Tick vs Fleas Treatment Cost
It costs between $50 and $150 to remove ticks from the average-sized lawn. It costs between $200 and $350 to remove fleas from a home. There are some key differences between the tick removal and flea removal processes. Fleas are insects that prefer mild climates. Conversely, ticks do not mind colder temperatures, allowing them to populate indoors and outdoors anytime throughout the year. While fleas jump very high, they tend to stay on one host throughout their lifespan. Conversely, ticks jump from host to host to feed. Like the tick removal process, flea extermination requires everyone to evacuate the house before a professional uses a control product that breaks their rapid reproductive cycles. In the table below, you will see what each type of treatment costs based on a single visit with a mild to moderate infestation.
| Pest Type | Cost per Treatment |
|---|
| Ticks | $50 - $150 |
| Fleas | $200 - $350 |
Additional Considerations and Costs
- Certification. Pest control requires the use of potentially hazardous chemicals, such as fipronil, permethrin, and pyrethrins. All pest control specialists need to be certified. Check to make sure that your exterminator has the proper certification.
- DIY. Tick control does require some DIY even if you use a professional exterminator for part of the process if you want the treatment to work. This means making sure that pets that go indoors and outdoors are treated. This is the best way to create a landscape environment that is less hospitable to ticks. You can purchase the chemicals and sprays yourself for the tick fumigation process. However, considering they are hazardous, a professional should be hired for this part.
- Price shopping. If you are looking to save some money, don’t be afraid to shop the price, especially if you have a large area to be treated. Some exterminators may offer discounts if you schedule regular treatments.
- Due diligence. Before hiring an exterminator, make sure to do your due diligence. Inquire about references, their treatment plans, and the chemicals they use before you decide.
- Season. Be knowledgeable about the types of ticks in your area and what seasons they are most active so you can ensure the most effective treatment. If you have multiple active species during different times of the year in your area, you may need to consider year-round treatment.
FAQs
Ticks have a flat and oval-like appearance when seen before feeding. After they have eaten from a host and become engorged, they will look significantly rounded and larger. Some varieties are smaller and harder to detect, while others are larger, such as dog ticks. All ticks have eight legs when they are adults or in the nymph stage but will only have six when they are tick larvae.
- Do all ticks carry Lyme Disease?
No, the only types of ticks that can carry Lyme Disease are Ixodes ticks, also known as deer ticks typically found in the Northeast and northern parts of the Midwest.
Ticks do not jump or fly and wait with their first pair of legs outstretched for a host to pass so they can hitch a ride.
- How long does it take for tick eggs to hatch?
Tick eggs hatch from as soon as nine days to as long as several months, depending on the type.
- Can an exterminator get rid of ticks?
Exterminators can get rid of ticks in your home and yard. However, they are likely to come back if you don’t tick-proof your yard or continue to have animals coming and going from wooded areas.
- Does spraying for ticks really work?
Spraying for ticks does reduce the number of ticks in your yard or home. Extermination doesn’t eliminate your risk of them being carried back into the yard or home by family members, pets, or wildlife.
- What can kill ticks instantly?
Ticks can be killed instantly with rubbing alcohol or mouthwash that contains alcohol. You can destroy them by squishing or removing its head. These methods can be quite messy, especially if they are engorged. In any case, these options should only be done once a tick is safely removed and not while attached to the body.
- What does a tick bite look like?
A tick bite appears as an oval-shaped red mark on the body. If the bite has become infected, It may have a bullseye-type appearance or appear more like a rash with splotchy areas that are darker than the rest.
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