Animals That Help Control Ticks

Opossums

You may have seen these bizarre, even ugly animals at night while driving your car. They look almost like a rat, and almost like a weasel, they’re about the size of a cat, but they are more closely related to koalas and kangaroos. Opossums are North America’s only marsupial. This means that they are mammals that keep their young in a pouch on their body. Opossums are nocturnal, which is why most of the times they are seen is on the road at night. Opossums are omnivores, they’ll eat both plant and animal life. They’re opportunistic as well. Which means they will eat whatever is easiest to find. . Opossums seek their food on the ground, often eating insects and mice. While searching for food, ticks will attach to opossums, as they do with other animals that cross their path. Opossums, however, are very clean animals. They regularly groom themselves, and in this grooming often find and eat the ticks they find. So while these animals might be ugly, they do aid in keeping those pesky ticks away which should make their presence not only tolerable but welcome. So the next time you’re driving and they run out in front of you saferly try to swerve, they actually help us!

Chickens

Few people own a chicken. The ones that do see them as pets that give the added benefit of providing breakfast in the form of eggs every few days. It can be a rewarding experience to raise a chicken from a chick to a full grown chicken. They are relatively easy to raise once they have a coop built for them as they eat nearly everything, many chicken owners feed them with table scraps. They will also roam around where they are allowed and eat any bugs they can catch, including ticks! Yes, your egg-producing chickens can also keep disease-spreading ticks out of your yard.

Tick Spraying for Residential Properties

While we can’t recommend relying on opossums or pet birds to completely rid your property of ticks, it is nice to know that we can get a little help from the animal kingdom. The best way to keep your property clear of ticks is to make it unfriendly to ticks by keeping the grass short and raking up leaves. This in conjunction with tick spraying from The Mosquito Guy will keep your property free of disease spreading ticks and mosquitoes.

Sign up with The Mosquito Guy today to take your yard back fill out the form on this page today for a free consultation!