How To Build a Dry Ice Tick Trap
Ticks are drawn primarily not by body heat as are fleas, but by the carbon dioxide exhaled by a host animal. Consequently, ticks are also attracted to the carbon dioxide put off by the melting of dry ice.
To build a dry ice tick trap, punch four, ¾ inch holes on the sides toward the bottom of a covered Styrofoam container. Place a block of dry ice (remember never to touch dry ice!) in the container and re-cover. Set the container on the floor in an area of the house where you have seen a tick, or in any area where your pet spends time. Fairly close to the wall and in the dark are the most effective. Take a roll of duct tape, masking tape, or packing tape and lay strips of tape with the sticky side up all around the container. The ticks will be drawn to the smell of the carbon dioxide as the dry ice melts and become stuck to the tape while trying to reach it. It takes about 3 hours for a block of dry ice to melt completely, and provides quite a bit of tick trapping time. If you have an infestation, place tick traps all over the house at the same time, or get several blocks of ice and move the trap from room to room.
To set the trap outside, put down a board or piece of cardboard to set the container on and lay the tape sticky side up on it.
Set your traps daily for at least two to three weeks, or until you are finding no more ticks on your pet in order to cover the developmental time required by the tick. You may want to reset traps once a month as a precautionary measure.
Other Natural Options
Another excellent outdoor technique to repel ticks is to take “Black Cow Fertilizer”; put it under all bushes and trees and along wooden fences, and sprinkle Borax on top of it. Ticks seem to be especially attracted to Azalea and Hibiscus bushes, so be sure to do these. The methane emitted by the fertilizer will repel ticks right out of their hiding place and the Borax will help kill them.
When you use Critter Oil, if you can ad two or three drops of pure Cinnamon Essential Oil to your shampoo, spray, carpet powder and lawn and garden mixes, your effectiveness with ticks will increase.
Use these methods early, when you are only seeing a few ticks and you may save yourself the misery and expense of professional pest control, as well as saving the environment from the use of pesticides.