How to Get Rid of Ticks From Clothes

The leading insect carriers of illnesses to humans in the United States are ticks. They are second only to mosquitoes worldwide. Ticks are incapable of jumping or flying. They can be found on small shrubs and tall grasses from which they latch onto animal or human hosts brushing by. Ticks can stay attached to your clothing for numerous hours or days. Eliminating ticks from your clothing is important to prevent them from biting your skin.

Things You'll Need

• Basin
• Tick killing powder
• Tweezers

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Instructions

• 1

  Manually remove the ticks by using tweezers. Carefully and patiently examine every inch of your clothes for ticks. Use a magnifying glass if you have a hard time finding them. Place each tick you find in a small bowl of rubbing alcohol. The alcohol will instantly kill the ticks.

• 2

  Use a bug killing spray or powder made to kill ticks on carpet, upholstery or fabrics. There are many products you can choose from at your local drug or pet store. Place your infected clothes in a large dry basin. Spray or sprinkle the bug killing product to your clothes. Cover the basin with an unfolded newspaper or plastic kitchen wrap. Leave the clothes in the basin for 24 hours.

• 3

  Carefully remove your clothes and place them in clean water. Let your clothes soak for about one hour to wash out the tick killing chemical residue. You can also use running water to quicken the process. This is best done outside the house.

• 4

  Place the rinsed clothes in your washer. Make sure to run your washer under the hottest settings. The hot water will kill any ticks you may have missed. You can add color safe bleach to your clothes which can also kill the ticks.

• 5

  Put your damp washed clothes in the dryer. Use the highest settings on your dryer as a final step to kill the ticks.

• 6

  Make sure to inspect your clothes after you remove them from the dryer. Repeat the aforementioned steps if you still find any ticks.