So, you've read how to remove a tick, and now you're standing around with a blood-drinking insect wrapped in a tissue. Not a very pleasant situation. Read on to learn how to kill and get rid of that pesky pest for good.


Steps

Fire Method

1. Get a match. Hold the tick with tweezers. Ask someone near you to set the match on fire while you hold the tweezers securely. The last thing you want to do is drop it!
2. Have the person carefully bring the flame to the tick. It's best if the flame reaches the tick's head. The tick should turn red after a few seconds, and will burn. Don't remove the flame until you're positive it's dead.
3. Dispose of the tick. You can wrap it up in a tissue and throw it in the garbage, or flush it down the toilet. Just make sure you won't see it again.

Toilet Method

1. Wrap the tick in a tissue. Make sure it's wrapped up really well. Don't tape it, because you can't flush tape down a toilet.
2. Drop the tick in the toilet. It should still be in the tissue. Don't let it escape the tissue before you put it in the toilet.
3. Flush the toilet. Feel free to watch the tick swirl down the toilet for a sense of victory over the bug. You should also watch it go down to make sure nothing goes wrong, i.e., the tick escaping, the toilet not flushing, etc. Once the tick is down the toilet, it will drown after a period of time in the pipes. Don't be afraid if the tick get out of the tissue and you can see it floating on the surface. It will die eventually before you ever see it again.

Microwave Method

1. Get a resealable snack baggie (to contain blood that may explode).
2. Place tick inside baggie. Leave a bit of air, then seal.
3. Put baggie inside a microwave, running it for 15 seconds. (There'll be a noticeable POP towards the last 5 seconds.)
4. When microwaving is done, carefully extract the "body bag" to discard appropriately.

Tips

• It's a good idea to use the fire method over a sink in case you drop the tick.
• You could throw the tick in the fireplace for the fire method, but there is still a chance it will escape. Use the match method to be sure.
• Dropping the little parasites into a small bowl of bleach or vinegar can also work. They can sometimes crawl out of a dry bowl, can doggie-paddle in water, but this may stop them.

Warnings

• Don't try to squash a tick. Ticks have very hard backs, and it is difficult to squash them without the right tweezers. More importantly, the spirochete that causes diseases will hibernate for great periods of time inside of the tick, specifically in its intestines. When the tick feeds on fresh blood, it triggers an considerable increase in spirochetes. They then move to the salivary glands to enter a new host. Squashing the tick spreads spirochetes everywhere.
• Don't try to suffocate a tick with Vaseline. This is a common misconception, as ticks can survive for a long time on very little air.
• Ticks can cause many diseases, such as Lyme Disease. Make sure that you always kill a tick, and don't just flick it away.