Will Rubbing Alcohol Make a Tick Back Out?
Say you found some ticks on your dog, and you’re going about removing them, but there are lots of tricks to remove bugs. You might be wondering: will rubbing alcohol make a tick back out? To answer the question, the team at Nada Mosquito put together this quick article.
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Rubbing Alcohol and Ticks
Rubbing alcohol is a popular method for dealing with all kinds of bacteria and can also be used to kill insects and other bugs. Rubbing alcohol dehydrates insect cells, causing them to dehydrate and die. Most insects, including ticks, need a moisture-full environment to survive. Rubbing alcohol gets rid of the moisture and will kill them.
While rubbing alcohol will most certainly kill ticks, it doesn’t necessarily do a good job of detaching their mouth parts. In other words, alcohol can kill ticks, but rubbing alcohol will not make a tick back out and ‘unbite’ itself from your skin.
Also, the alcohol can cause the tick to ‘vomit’ up the contents of its stomach, which can increase the risk of infection or disease at the bite site, so you should not try to remove a tick by dousing it in rubbing alcohol. You first need to remove the tick, then use alcohol to kill it.
Other Methods for Removing Ticks
The best way to deal with ticks is to prevent them from latching on in the first place. Tick repellents, yard treatments, and wearing long pants and sleeves outside can prevent tick bites.
However, once a tick bites, you’ll need something to remove its body from your skin. The most common tool is using tweezers. You can simply grab the tick near the base of its head and gently pull it off the skin. Be sure you don’t twist or squeeze too hard, as this can cause the tick’s head to detach.
You can also use a special tick-removal plat or tip. These devices have a small slit that allows you to place the remover close to the skin. By lifting up, the tip pries the tick off the skin for removal. Make sure you do not squeeze too hard, or else you can squeeze the contents of the tick’s stomach into the wound.
After removing a tick, you can drop it in a container of rubbing alcohol to immediately kill it. Ensure you wash your hands with rubbing alcohol and the wound site with soap and water afterward to prevent infection. If the tick was on one of your pets, you might need to shave hair near the wound site so it heals properly.
Tick Removal Services in New Jersey
So, will rubbing alcohol make a tick back out? Yes, but you should use more reliable methods to get rid of ticks. With that in mind, read our blog to learn more about home remedies for tick bites. Contact Nada Mosquito online or call today at (732) 743-7129!
