It’s no secret that I love the outdoors but there are definitely some things I’d prefer to keep outside. Ticks are one pesky creature that I’d put at the top of that list.
Ticks are nasty little parasites that latch onto skin to feed on blood, and a simple dog tick can actually lay up to 6000 eggs (gross). If you find a tick on your skin, dog, or in your house, you might be looking for something around the house to take care of it quickly.
I’ve seen baking soda suggested as a remedy for fleas due to its dehydrating effect, and you may wonder if it can take care of a tick problem as well.
But does baking soda actually kill ticks and wiill baking soda make a tick back out?
Baking soda does not kill ticks and there is no evidence to suggest it’s an effective solution for dealing with ticks in your home. It’s possible that soaking a tick in a baking soda solution may cause some irritation, and some claim that it can make smaller ticks back out, however there is no evidence or guarantee that this method works.
Instead you should remove ticks with fine tipped tweezers or a tick removal tool and then use some other method. Other solutions to kill ticks include rubbing alcohol and bleach but these are for killing ticks AFTER they have been removed.
For a natural tick killer you can spread around your garden or house Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is a good natural solutions that kills the ticks via dehydration and it's something that ticks cannot gain immunity to.
Kills a variety crawling insects including roaches, ticks, ants, fleas, silverfish, earwigs, bedbugs, and more. DE can be used indoors or outdoors. Apply in cracks and crevices, along baseboards, or create a barrier around entry points.
I can tell you from personal experience that ticks are extremely stubborn crawlers and it will almost always take more than baking soda to get a tick to let go of its host.
On top of that, waiting for a tick to back out is both unsafe (higher chance of infection) and ineffective .
I personally would not recommend grabbing your baking soda to deal with a tick problem, and instead recommend that you read below to learn more about dealing with these nasty parasites.
Will Baking Soda Make A Tick Release on Yourself or Your Dog?
Baking soda and salt are combined to create a dehydrating agent for dealing with fleas. It’s used to dry out their larvae and eggs as well as the fleas themselves, and it’s mildly acidic nature can also be irritating for pests.
However, baking soda alone is far too weak to irritate a tick, and I doubt anyone would find much success using it as a solution to remove or kill these guys. I personally wouldn't bother trying.
I’ve seen suggestions that say a baking soda bath can help make smaller ticks release, and while the irritation might cause a small, weaker tick to let go, I’d say the chance of success there is too low to make it worth the effort.
There are far more effective solutions that are just as likely to be found around your house, including rubbing alcohol, bleach, and possibly even vinegar.
That being said, you should never attempt to make a tick back out in the first place.
Doing so can present a number of risks to your body, as it’s been said that ticks can empty their stomachs into a bite when irritated, which obviously increases the chance of bacteria and disease entering your body.
Before you use any solution to kill a tick, grab a pair of tweezers and remove it using the proper technique.
Kit includes stainless steel tick remover for safely removing larger embedded ticks and a specially shaped super-fine-tip tweezer for removing nymphs and small deer ticks. All kept in a leather pouch with a handy tick identification card.
What to Do When You Find Ticks in Your House
Thankfully ticks aren’t really interested in entering our homes, but if you’re a pet owner or wade your way through the wilderness like me, it’s not unlikely for these pests to find their way inside your house or in your car.
There are a few steps your can take to get some peace of mind after that ick moment of finding a tick:
- Before anything, check yourself, pets, and family members and remove/kill any ticks your find.
- Make sure your yard is taken care of, as ticks like to hang out in long grass/shrubs.
- Repair any cracks or crevices around your house (luckily ticks can only crawl).
- Vacuuming is actually one of the easiest ways to dispose of any ticks in your home or even car.
- Diatomaceous Earth (DE) can be spread around your house and placed in cracks and crevices to kill ticks and stop them from getting in your home.
- Use effective tick repellent and tick treatments for your dog(s).
Any combination of these tricks will go a long way in lowering the likelihood of dealing with these annoying creatures, and luckily there are plenty of ways to tackle a tick infestation if it unfortunately reaches that point.
