Ixodes scapularis, the blacklegged tick, is often called the deer tick. While it looks similar to the dog tick, it is smaller and more rounded and lacks white markings. Adult males are very dark brown, almost black. Adult females are dark chestnut brown on head, legs, and scutum, and orange-red on the rear half of the body. Larvae are about the size of a newsprint period, nymphs are about the size of a pinhead, and adults are just over 1/16" long.

The tick on the left is a black legged tick (deer tick). The tick on the right is a dog tick - note its white markings. The dog tick does not transmit Lyme disease.

Photo courtesy of the University of Wisconsin.

For excellent pictures of ticks found throughout the United States go to the URI Tick Encounter Tick Identification Chart.

The life cycle takes two years. Adults are most active from mid-September to mid-November, but activity continues in mild weather. Some adults are found in the spring. Adults most commonly attach to large animals, such as white-tailed deer. Eggs are laid in the spring and hatch in late summer into tiny six-legged larvae. After feeding, usually on small rodents or birds, the larvae transform into nymphs.

Nymphs remain inactive until the following spring (May through July) when they seek hosts. Small mammals and birds are preferred, but they readily feed on humans and their pets. After a blood meal, nymphs molt into adults, which will seek larger hosts in the fall.

Ticks acquire the Lyme disease by feeding on infected hosts. Larvae can acquire the bacterium from infected white-footed mice, but because larvae generally feed only once, they are not likely to transmit the disease to other hosts. Because nymphs are about the size of a poppy seed, they often go unnoticed until fully engorged, and are therefore responsible for the majority of human Lyme disease cases. The American Lyme Disease Foundation reports that in highly endemic areas of the northeast, up to 25% of nymphs harbor the Lyme disease spirochete.

Control Deer Ticks with Damminix Tick Tubes®

Don't let ticks and Lyme disease hold you hostage inside this Spring and Summer… Damminix Tick Tubes® are here to let you Take Back The Outdoors!

Lyme Disease is spread by hard to reach deer ticks. You realize the key to protecting against Lyme is controlling your exposure to these ticks, but how? You need an intelligent tick control solution that lets you, your children and your pets safely enjoy the outdoors. Your solution is Damminix Tick Tubes®.

It is well known that deer spread ticks infected with Lyme disease. However, did you know that these same ticks get Lyme disease from mice, not deer? Damminix Ticks Tubes® rely on the natural nesting instincts of mice to take the battle to source and deliver tick controlling permethrin directly to this host animal and the ticks it infects.

Damminix Tick Tubes® are biodegradable, cardboard tubes filled with permethrin treated cotton balls. Mice collect the cotton to build their nests. Deer ticks that feed on mice in the Spring and the Fall are exposed to permethrin and killed. All the while, the mice, other mammals and your lands are unharmed and undisturbed.

* Information provided by UMass Extension at UMass Amherst.

How Tick Tubes® Work?

Damminix Tick Tubes® reduce the risk of Lyme Disease by using mice as "couriers" to kill disease carrying deer ticks.

This remarkable solution consists of small tubes filled with cotton balls. The cotton is treated the mild insecticide Permethrin. To use it, simply place Damminix Tick Tubes® in areas around your yard where mice frolic. That's it. Mice will do the rest for you by gathering the cotton to build nests in their burrows. Young ticks feeding on the mice are killed by the insecticide before they can spread Lyme Disease to you, your family and your pets.

Each mouse nesting with Damminix Tick Tubes® can kill hundreds of ticks each season. Studies have shown that Damminix Tick Tubes® actually reduces the risk of exposure to an infected tick by up to 97% on a treated property.