[kbaker]

We have (had?) some ticks in our backyard and I came across these which I thought was a clever attack angle: tick tubes.

Permethrin-soaked cotton balls in a tube, mice find them and build nests out of the freely available cotton, ticks that the mice have gathered while walking around die when they come back to the nest.

[felix-the-cat]

It does work a little, but it's even more effective to just get some chickens. I did find permethrin works great on clothing - when I used to go hunting a lot I'd get ticks on me every time, and the thing is they climb off of your boots in the car and go under the seats or wherever so you don't get bitten until three days later when you're driving back from grocery shopping or whatever. After I started using permethrin and sprayed the floor of my car with it I never saw another tick again.

[mrWiz]

Chickens are very effective at removing ticks, but “just” getting some chickens is a little bit more work than tossing tubes outside.

[PunchyHamster]

That's like saying "to stop having to weed the garden just get some goats"

[greenavocado]

Wow this is extremely insightful. I need to spray my car floor since I live in tick country.

[jordanb]

This seems like a good way to encourage ticks to develop a permethrin resistance because the cotton will stay in the rodents nest and gradually be reduced in concentration.

Ive been treating my car, hiking clothing and gear with permethrin and haven't had a tick since doing that. Reapply every time you go to the woods or every two weeks if you're in the woods continuously and keep the concentration up.

If my house was in the woods I would also treat the den/mud room.

If you have a rodent problem then control the rodents: manage habitat, trap/kill them, encourage predators like hawks etc.

[tclancy]

Would want to be careful if you have cats. Also appears to not be readily available in the EU?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permethrin - see other animals, I can never get anchor links to copy on mobile.

[blitzar]

Then I am going to need some snakes to take care of the mice.

[sellmesoap]

No jugement, but I'm seeing an up-tick in pro snake activities on this site!

[abc123abc123]

You should really get a mongoose to take care of the snakes after that. Highly recommended!