5 Common Tick Myths Debunked: How to Stay Protected from Ticks

One other tip, don't wear dark clothing. Light colored clothing won't scare ticks away, but makes it easier to see them so they can be removed from clothing.

I was sitting under a tree, and had a tick fall out of the tree and landed on my leg? Guess I imagined it

I have worked in the woods, for over 40 years. I have come home with 200 plus ticks 2 days a week, for several months every year. I have 4 kinds of tick borne illness. I have SAT on the ground, and watched ticks fall out of trees, TRYING to land on me. I have WATCHED them. They usually don't climb very high, but out on limbs, and try to launch onto me. So, you are simply wrong about Number one. I have HEARD them falling, and watched them falling. If they fall from 6 feet up, and land on dry leaves, you can actually hear them hit the forest floor. They then begin to WALK toward you. I'm a land surveyor. Tick food Nate

Got a warning in my email. It said "if someone comes to your door and offers to check for ticks if you undress and turn with your arms up, DO NOT DO IT. IT IS A SCAM. They just want to see you naked. I wish I got this email yesterday. I am so embarrassed!"

As a birder, I have worn gaiters for many years. This is very useful for avoiding ticks, chiggers and fire ants. It is an easy and cheap solution for a common problem. Gaiters also keep burrs off of your shoe laces and prevent your shoes from becoming untied.

In 1971 I almost died and was in a coma for 2 weeks due to a tick bite, there was an outbreak of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in the southeast and I was unfortunate enough to get it but fortunate enough to survive.

I have found ticks on my roof while painting eaves and trim. They are definitely in the trees.

I had 2 ticks drop down directly on me from the tree I was sitting under. Ticks do indeed fall from trees on to their perspective hosts. I witnessed it twice just this weekend.

I am 75 and lived in the country for many years. I too, have experienced ticks from trees. They can get in a tree from animals that climb trees. The tick doesn't have to climb the tree itself.

I have to comment about ticks not dropping out of trees. I am a lifelong wide traveling hiker camper and by far the most ticks I've ever had on me in one short walk involved sitting up on a branch 12' above the ground in a Willow tree. Minutes after sitting I noticed a tick drop on my arm. After doing a self check to see if I had more I found 5. The Woman I was with had a similar number. I'm just adding my two cents.✌🏼

I love being outdoors and I have found ticks on me that came from vegetation of all heights. Walking through short and tall grasses (ankle biters), bushes and shrubs, and trees. The most ticks I've experienced on me was camping in a small clearing with tree branches overhead and the little bastards dropped down onto me and my camping party like they were paratroopers invading Normandy. We counted 53 on my dad that had climbed onto his body that evening and we knew there were more but it was dark and we could only see so much with flashlights. I've also found a couple on me when I took a lunch break in the office parking lot and stood under a relatively small ornamental pear tree, so they can and will try to get to a host any way they can.

I have to correct something here...17 years ago I was bitten by a black legged tick I had NO rash and after the tick was gone had a small spot maybe the size of a sesame seed and I never thought more of it...well about 6 months later I got sick and was diagnosed with lyme and damn near died... I was treated for 11 1/2 months with several antibiotics that finally pulled me out of that hell...my point is don't go by any rash if the tick bore into you and it was infected there's a high chance you will get lyme and trust me it ain't no picnic so go to your Dr tell them you were bit and get a week of antibiotic just in case...it's a cheap and safe way of making sure you don't contract lyme had I have done that I would have saved that year of hell and I was lucky because many never totally recover from this dreaded disease.

Thank you for posting this video! Just wanted to add a couple things from my experience with ticks in trees, and new research that came out in 2021 that found deer tick larvae can hatch already infected with babesia. I have personally seen ticks fall from trees like drops of rain. It was in the forest surrounding the Yorktown VA battlefields… a national park overrun with deer due to no hunting permitted. The deer literally ate all vegetation from the ground to the height they could reach, so there wasn’t much left in the forests at ground level for the massive abundance of ticks to climb. It was a sunny day, but sounded like rain drops hitting the dry leaves. We would stop walking and soon the drops would also stop, then take a few more steps and the rain drop sounds would start again… the sky was blue and we were very confused. Then I felt a “drop” hit my head, and simultaneously noticed my friends shirt covered in ticks. We brushed them off and sprinted out of there, but I had 5 ticks already embedded by the time I got back to the room. They were definitely deer ticks, and falling on us from above head level… and they were obviously able to detect our presence from up above, because they would wait for us to walk below them to fall. And it appears their aim was pretty accurate. This was a unique situation, so perhaps they don’t climb trees when there is plenty of ground vegetation, but wanted to share that ticks can and do fall from trees in at least some situations. The second point I wanted to mention… it turns out larva are not always uninflected or “clean” ticks. It was recently discovered that babesia odocoilei (white tail deer strain) is a human pathogen, and the PA Tick Lab is finding it in 20% of deer ticks. When an infected female lays eggs, some of the nearly invisible larva can hatch already infected/infective. There’s no test for odocoilei yet, but it sometimes cross reacts with the babesia duncani antibody test.

Oh baloney, ticks in trees isn’t a myth. Ticks ANYWHERE isn’t a myth. I’ve seen them on clothes line posts high above my head, on the tops of plastic garbage cans, on a hanging bird feeder. Whether their little tick brain said “Imma hang on that bird feeder and drop on that lady’s head when she comes to fill it”…or the bird brought it when it came for the seed DOESN’T MATTER. Ticks can be anywhere.

I had a tick fall on me from above in a tree while I was mowing grass. Landed right on my arm. Only time that ever happened to me.

Many people have said they have direct experience with ticks raining down from a tree. I will add mine that ticks love to perch on the tip of long grass blades or bushes and wait for you to brush past. I think they are pretty opportunistic in their hunting spots.

About ticks in trees, I have walked under oak trees and had a tick land on my arm. Squirrels get ticks and fleas so they do sometimes fall from above they may not live there but they DO fall from trees.

I grew up in Northeast Kansas. Lots of elm, maple, oak, and black walnut trees. I was talking to my nephew once under a tree and a wood tick dropped right on his shoulder. They drop from trees for sure. Piggyback off raccoons, possums, squirrels and other tree climbers as well as any birds they can attach to.

Ticks can fall out of trees. Yes, they don’t climb up the trees, but they get up by being on an animal like a squirrel or raccoon. It’s not as common as ticks being in the grass, but it does happen.

Having lived in the middle of the woods in Arkansas, and cutting firewood, I was very familiar with ticks, and worse yet, chiggers. To work all day in the woods, I first put Avon Skin So Soft with a few drops of patchouli oil on my body. Long pants, long-sleeved shirt tucked in, work boots, and pant legs duct taped around the ankles. Then the DEET or permethrin sprayed on shirt and pants. You only stand on a chigger nest one time before you learn to prepare.