How to Build a Dry Ice Tick Trap and Reduce the Risk of Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

Ticks top my personal list of life’s major annoyances but in my life on a rocky Ozark ridge, ticks are ever present. These blood sucking parasites hover in wait outside the door for fresh meat to wander within reach. Since moving to the country twelve years ago, we’ve always had ticks but the past few dry years and mild winters seem to have increased their numbers.   Ticks can carry serious diseases including Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever so I want them away from where we relax and where the kids play.

Since I like to live green as much as possible, I hate pesticides almost as much as I do the ticks. Guineas and other fowl will cut down the numbers but if too many varmints live in the adjacent woods, the ticks can outlive the chickens. Using products that include DEET works for trips into the deep woods but since the ticks were thick in the front yard where we like to relax and the kids play; I wanted something to help with the daily trips inside and out. 

In desperation I looked for some method that might cut down the tick population around my house and found something simple, something that doesn’t harm the environment, the pets, or my kids, that works! 

It’s a dry ice tick trap and while it may not eradicate every tick from the surrounding forest, it will make a major difference in the door yard. The dry ice tick trap uses the tick’s senses to draw them in for a sudden end. Ticks live on the blood of vertebrates which can and does include humans, dogs, cats, deer, most fur bearing animals, and such. Because their life depends on being able to suck blood, ticks will wait on the ground or climb to a vantage point to wait for a potential host. Tall grass, weeds, fences, trees, and porch posts are just a few of the places where ticks will wait. In heavy tick infestations, it’s possible to see ticks lined up on a single tall blade of grass or on the stem of a weed.