How to protect yourself from ticks

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I spend a lot of time outside, sometimes face-down in the weeds trying to get a photograph of something small. So I have some opinions about tick prevention and thought I’d share.

blacklegged (deer) tick on sock
Ixodes scapularis
  1. Spray or soak shoes, socks, pants, shirts, hairband, hat, etc., with permethrin (buy online or at outdoor stores), then let dry before you using. Chemical only slowly washes out so you only need to reapply every 5th laundering or so (or after 5 months if you don’t wash your clothes). Spray your backpack with permethrin, too, because you likely set that on the ground during breaks. Do not spray permethrin on your skin. You can also buy clothing that comes pretreated with permethrin.
  2. Spray your clothes and skin with DEET, picaridin, para-menthane-3,8-diol, IR3535, or 2-undecanone. DEET really is the best. Note that “pure” oil of lemon eucalyptus (extracted from Corymbia citriodora) is not currently recommended by the CDC; the oil has small, variable levels of para-menthane-3,8-diol but apparently not enough. All of these repellents do not last like permethrin so reapply every few hours. Do not spray DEET on anything plastic (it will melt).
  3. Be suspicious of “natural” or “organic” concoctions that claim to effectively deter ticks. If one of these recipes actually works the CDC would recommend it. I’ll update this page when that happens. Similarly, avoid apps, crystals, and dietary supplements. If you need help convincing a friend to just use DEET (it’s super safe), mention that DDT is a different chemical that just happens to start with the same letter. DEET is also gluten and GMO free.
  4. Wear light-colored clothing so you can better see ticks. Like this person. Note that this strategy fails with tick larvae because they just too small to see unless you are wearing something pure white and have really good vision.
  5. Tuck your pants into your socks. Like Kanye West. You can even buy tick socks that are treated with permethrin and have a tight weave that prevents larvae from burrowing through the fabric.
  6. Wear tall, light-colored, glossy boots that ticks can’t easily climb. I suspect that larvae and nymphs can still climb glossy surfaces, though. I own a pair of Muck Boots and they have a neoprene surface that I suspect ticks can easily scale. I’m considering switching to something like a Gumleaf boot.
  7. Buy some gaiters and treat them with permethrin. Some gaiters are even designed to keep out ticks. Some even come in lime green. (NB: Lyme disease is named after Lyme, CT.)
  8. Buy some arm sleeves. Like gaiters, you can even buy ones that are already infused with permethrin.
  9. Shave your legs.
  10. Keep checking for ticks as you hike. If you are hiking with others, scan them for ticks, too.
  11. Keep a roll of duct tape handy so that you can easily remove ticks. Travel-sized lint rollers are good, too, and easily attach with a carabiner to a backpack.
  12. Put your field clothes into quarantine when you come home. Ideally, launder them immediately. Ticks can wander off of clothing and backpacks and show up later.
  13. Get naked and check for ticks. Everywhere. This is a really good reason to get a girlfriend or boyfriend even if you’re not really into them. Don’t tell them that.
  14. If you have limited neck mobility, invest in a nice automotive inspection mirror so you can see all the various parts of your body you never look at. You can even buy lighted ones. You can also use a selfie stick and a smart phone, but that’s risky if you accidentally forget to delete the photographs and video.
  15. You probably don’t want to know this but ticks are fond of lodging in ears. Get yourself an otoscope if you feel something in there. You can even buy phone attachments to get pics.
  16. If you find a tick that is attached, take a photograph (like this) then remove the tick. Carefully. I have a Tick Key (see one in action) but there are lots of types. Then take photographs of the bite location and of the tick. If you live in Pennsylvania, send the tick out for free testing. If you live elsewhere, put the tick in vodka or in the freezer in case you need to get it tested later.
  17. Take a long hot bath with a lot of soap. Ticks are hardy but you might dislodge an unattached nymph that somehow got past your first-line defenses.
  18. Once you are de-ticked and clean and have the laundry running, post photograph of tick on iNaturalist so you can get an identification. Here are the ticks of North America on iNaturalist. You can also send pics of ticks to TickEncounter for ID.
  19. Monitor the attachment spot closely. If a red spot appears, take daily photographs with ruler in frame so that doctor can assess progress of redness. Here are pics of Lyme rashes. You can even mark the progress with a Sharpie. There are plenty of other diseases transmitted by ticks, though, so don’t rely on rashes.

Guide to building and managing a mason bee hotel

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In nature, tunnel-nesting bees are perfectly happy to use logs riddled by boring beetles or piles of dead plants that have hollow stems. That habitat is often in short supply in many yards, however, so it’s necessary to provide hotels if you want to attract them. These hotels can be as simple as a large coffee can filled with hollow reeds … or as elaborate as the three-level one I built. The bees really don’t care.

Types of nesting material

DIY bee hotels can be filled with routered nesting trays (you can buy these or make your own, if you’re handy), wood blocks with paper inserts (these inserts can be purchased), wood blocks or logs with drilled holes (unlined), or just sections of hollow stems (by far the easiest). Or, like house in the photo below, a mix. A hotel should have a roof to keep the tunnel entrances relatively dry, should be situated to get morning sun, and be approximately 5 feet off the ground (so you can enjoy watching them).

Below is a photograph of my other hotel. It’s smaller and is set up in my front yard to entertain people who walk by. Tunnels are all unlined drilled holes, plus milkweed stems. Holes in the blocks are varied because I want to attract a variety of solitary bees.

Swap nesting materials regularly

The ideal bee hotel is one that allows all the nesting material to be removed each year (or so). By installing fresh nesting material, new tenants each spring will get to move into tunnels free of kleptoparasitic pollen mites and pathogenic fungi. Another benefit of removable nests is that you can remove sections as they get filled, allowing you to replace the spot with the same type of tunnels or with tunnels that have different diameter to cater to a different bee species (there are hundreds). Below are examples of my hotel with different configurations (my 2020 version, on right, is a bit boring).

  • Solitary bee hotel

Emergence boxes

What do you do with the nesting material after you remove it from the hotel? I put mine into a large cardboard box that has holes in the sides and at the top, then store in my unheated garage for the winter. In mid March (before bees in my area start to wake up) I put the box outside in a spot that is dry and gets good morning sun. Then when bees emerge from their cocoons they can escape from the box but are disinclined to re-inhabit the nesting tunnels they emerged from. Here’s a view of the nesting material inside my emergence box.

After several months outside (e.g., in August, long after the last resident has emerged) I take everything back into my shop and redrill holes and sterilize the wood. Then I can reuse blocks in future years.

Cleaning pupae

Lately, I’ve been thinking that I should move entirely to a system where I can sort through pupae at the end of the season. E.g., as summarized here. The reason for this is that I’d like to remove (kill) the kleptoparasitic mites (pic) and Houdini flies (pic) that are likely destroying many of my solitary bees. To enable this process I am going to start using paper straws to line all the tunnels. These straws can then be removed and unwrapped and the contents examined. Below is a photograph showing how drilled holes can be lined with paper straws — just fold over the back overhang and seal with foil tape.

Several companies sell sturdy (and easy to unwrap) paper straws as well as cardboard tubes that can easily accommodate the straws (i.e., you don’t need to drill holes in wood).

Another way to sort through pupae is to use routered wood trays, which you can buy or make (with a router or a table saw). Although some types of trays are better used with straws (to prevent mites from moving from tunnel to tunnel), others fit snuggly enough to be used without them. On my list of things to do is to make some routered nests that are sealed on one side with Plexiglas so that I can observe the bees within (such hotels can be purchased, and are beautiful).

Design tips

  • To keep everything dry on something this tall you need a generous roof overhang. Mine extends 5 inches beyond the front of the shelf, plus the wood sections and reeds are set back from that by another inch or so. If you have a shorter house you can have a smaller roof.
  • For larger hole sizes you want, ideally, 6 inches of depth. Shorter (4″) tunnels are fine but can result in a male-biased brood sex ratios. If you want to encourage population growth, encouraging the production of females is important. So buy long bits (I really like my 5/16″ auger bit, shown in drill below).
Drilling holes for mason bee inserts
  • Burning the front of the wood allows bees to more easily find their holes, plus the darker surface causes the wood to heat up faster in the morning sun.
  • Avoid treated lumber or fresh cedar. Per rumors on the internet, those types of wood can result in the death of the larvae. Pine is fine but I think harder wood is preferable because the drilled holes tend to be smoother.
  • For cutting reeds to size, I highly recommend using a cutoff disc on a Dremel tool instead of pruners. You can get a really smooth surface with a Dremel.

Examples of nice DIY solitary bee hotels

Additional resources

If you’re lazy and just want to buy a mason bee house, here’s my draft listing of companies that seem to make good ones. Please also see my guide to bee houses you should avoid.