The TickZone field guide

Tick guides

Everything TickZone has written about ticks, in one place: identify the tick that bit you, get it off safely, keep the yard and the dog clear, and understand the diseases that follow a bite.

Identification

Know your ticks

Eight species bite people across the U.S., and they are genuinely different: where they live, when they bite, and what they carry.

Female deer tick (blacklegged tick) on a green leaf, with a reddish-orange body, dark shield, and black legs, no white markings

Female American dog tick with an ornate off-white and brown mottled shield behind the head

Female lone star tick on a green blade of grass, reddish-brown with a single bright white dot in the center of its back

Female brown dog tick, uniform reddish-brown with no distinct markings

Female Gulf Coast tick with an ornate silvery patterned shield

Female Asian longhorned tick, small and uniform reddish-brown with no markings

Rocky Mountain wood tick, brown-bodied with an ornate off-white and gray marbled shield behind the head, resembling the American dog tick

Pacific Coast tick, brown with a marbled silvery and gray ornate shield and long mouthparts

Tick identification chart

All eight, side by side: photos, size, markings, and the diseases each one carries.

Open the chart →

Female deer tick (blacklegged tick) on a green leaf, with a reddish-orange body, dark shield, and black legs, no white markings

Deer tick

Blacklegged tick

The Lyme tick: where it lives, when it bites, and what it carries.

Female American dog tick with an ornate off-white and brown mottled shield behind the head

American dog tick

The big spring tick on dogs and pant legs. No Lyme, but not harmless.

Female lone star tick on a green blade of grass, reddish-brown with a single bright white dot in the center of its back

Lone star tick

The one white dot

Aggressive, spreading north, and the tick behind the red-meat allergy.

Female brown dog tick, uniform reddish-brown with no distinct markings

Brown dog tick

The one tick that can infest a house, and how it gets there.

Female Gulf Coast tick with an ornate silvery patterned shield

Gulf Coast tick

Lone star lookalike

Moving inland from the coast, with its own spotted fever.

Female Asian longhorned tick, small and uniform reddish-brown with no markings

Asian longhorned tick

The tick that clones itself. Where it has reached so far.

Rocky Mountain wood tick, brown-bodied with an ornate off-white and gray marbled shield behind the head, resembling the American dog tick

Rocky Mountain wood tick

The West's spring tick

The interior West's main biter. Spotted fever and Colorado tick fever, no Lyme.

Pacific Coast tick, brown with a marbled silvery and gray ornate shield and long mouthparts

Pacific Coast tick

California's common tick

The tick you meet in California brush, and the Pacific Coast tick fever it carries.

Female deer tick (blacklegged tick) with a reddish-orange body, dark shield, and black legs, no white markings

Female American dog tick with an ornate off-white and brown mottled shield behind the head

Deer tick vs. dog tick

Which one carries Lyme, and which bit you.

Lone star tick life stages side by side: adult female, adult male, nymph, and the tiny larval tick (the seed tick), with the larva enlarged to show detail

Seed ticks

The tiny ones that show up in clusters.

Male deer tick (blacklegged tick), uniformly dark brown-black with the shield covering its whole back and no red body or white markings

Ticks of the U.S.

The full species overview, with photos.

Photo credits are listed in each guide and on the photo credits page.

After a bite

Found a tick?

Safe removal for skin, dogs, and cats, and what to watch afterward.

Tick head stuck in skin

Leftover mouthparts, the lump after a bite, and when to worry.

Remove a tick from a dog

The safe step-by-step, plus the tools that actually work.

Remove a tick from a cat

The same method, with the cat-specific cautions that matter.

Stay ahead of them

Prevention & control

Keep ticks off you, your pets, your yard, and out of the house.

Tick repellents that work

What actually works for people, dogs, and your yard.

Get rid of ticks in your yard

Habitat fixes and treatment that knock down yard ticks.

Get rid of ticks in your house

Hitchhiker or infestation, and how to clear them indoors.

Professional tick control

Get quotes from local pros when you want the yard treated for you.

Timing

Season & timing

When ticks are active, and how TickZone turns weather and habitat into a daily score.

When are ticks active?

Season, time of day, and the temperature that wakes ticks up, plus a live check for your town.

How the TickZone score works

The weather, habitat, and disease data behind the daily 0 to 100 score.

After the lone star tick

Alpha-gal syndrome

The red-meat allergy that can follow a lone star tick bite.

The mammal foods that contain alpha-gal, on a linen table: a beef steak, a bone-in pork chop, a glass of milk, a wedge of aged cheese, and a few gummy candies made with gelatin

Alpha-gal syndrome, explained

How one tick bite rewires what you can eat, and where it is spreading.

Read the full guide →

Symptoms

The delayed reaction that makes it hard to spot.

Foods to avoid

From the obvious cuts to the hidden ingredients.

How long does it last?

Whether alpha-gal fades, and what makes it stick around.

Can dogs get it?

What we know about alpha-gal in dogs and other animals.

Alpha-gal map

Where suspected cases cluster, county by county.

Near you

Which ticks live in your state

County-level tick establishment for each state.

Your town's tick risk, in one number

A daily 0 to 100 tick-risk score for every town across the U.S., built from local weather, the tick life-stage, habitat, and county disease data.

Check your town →