Do You Have Ticks in Your Yard?
We Need your Help!
We Need your Help!
Researchers from Western Connecticut State University (WCSU) need your help with a tick research project. We’re looking for Connecticut residents who would allow us to collect ticks from their property. The goal of this research is to better understand how well the natural cedarwood oil-based retail product, Tick Killz™, works against backyard ticks that spread Lyme disease. We are looking for residential properties to be a part of our study, specifically homeowners willing to have their property treated with a commercially available natural product and also homeowners whose property will not be treated.
The goal of the project is to determine how well tick control is helping reduce the number of ticks in the yard (Project ITCH--Is Tick Control Helping?). Participation in the study involves completing an on-line survey and giving permission for our research team to visit your yard 2-4 times in late May-June this year (2025). During our visits we will collect (and remove) ticks from tick habitat areas around your yard. All ticks will be identified and some of collected ticks will be tested for disease-causing germs. Participation will help inform and improve future tickborne disease prevention efforts in the northeast US.
More information about Tick Killz™ can be found here.
The goal of the project is to determine how well tick control is helping reduce the number of ticks in the yard (Project ITCH--Is Tick Control Helping?). Participation in the study involves completing an on-line survey and giving permission for our research team to visit your yard 2-4 times in late May-June this year (2025). During our visits we will collect (and remove) ticks from tick habitat areas around your yard. All ticks will be identified and some of collected ticks will be tested for disease-causing germs. Participation will help inform and improve future tickborne disease prevention efforts in the northeast US.
More information about Tick Killz™ can be found here.
Requirements of the study:
- Property is between 0.5 acres to 3.0 acres in size, and has an appropriate amount of tick habitat to sample.
- Property contains a free-standing house with a yard.
- Property does not have a deer fence enclosing the entire yard.
- Homeowner gives permission to sample areas of the property 2-4 times in late May-June. Each visit will take about 30 minutes.
If you want to find out if your tick control is helping and if you meet the stated research criteria, please click this link.
If someone you know might be interested in finding out if their tick control is helping,
we encourage you to share this website with them.
This collaborative research project has been approved by the The University of Massachusetts Institutional Review Board, Protocols 3969 and 4503, with a reliance agreement with Western Connecticut State University IRB. Please contact the UMASS Amherst Human Research Protection Office with any questions or concerns (413-545-3428).
For more information about the work we do in the WCSU Tick Lab, reach out to us at [email protected].
If someone you know might be interested in finding out if their tick control is helping,
we encourage you to share this website with them.
This collaborative research project has been approved by the The University of Massachusetts Institutional Review Board, Protocols 3969 and 4503, with a reliance agreement with Western Connecticut State University IRB. Please contact the UMASS Amherst Human Research Protection Office with any questions or concerns (413-545-3428).
For more information about the work we do in the WCSU Tick Lab, reach out to us at [email protected].