facts

Tick Tubes® Fact Sheet


Damminix Tick Tubes® are an effective, safe, and environmentally sound product designed specifically for the control of Lyme disease carrying ticks.

Damminix Tick Tubes® were developed at a leading Lyme disease research laboratory at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Damminix Tick Tubes® are based on the scientific study of ecology of the deer tick and the field mouse, the respective vector and the reservoir of the disease.

Damminix Tick Tubes® enlist the aid of the common field mouse by providing them with pesticide-treated nesting material, cotton balls, in biodegradable cardboard tubes which are placed out in brush and flower beds (not on lawns because mice do not make their burrows on lawns). The mice find the tubes and collect the cotton for their nests. The pesticide on the cotton gets on the fur of the mouse, and is brought into the burrow. The mouse is transformed into a very efficient tick killer.

Damminix Tick Tubes® work. Tests have proven that the risk of encountering infected ticks on treated property can be reduced up to 97% by the use of Damminix. Please see test data included in the kit.

Damminix Tick Tubes® use the pesticide, permethrin, which does not hurt mice, other mammals or birds, and is so mild that it has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in a head louse shampoo for children. Permethrin is a synthetic form of the naturally occurring pesticide, pyrethrum, an extract from flower heads of the chrysanthemum. Permethrin is highly neuro-toxic to ticks.

Damminix Tick Tubes® are not a spray but rather an environmentally responsible treatment that effectively gets to the root of the problem without harming other life forms and vegetation. The cardboard tubes are biodegradable and do not need to be inspected, picked up, or discarded. They will eventually rot harmlessly and disappear, but not before they have killed hundreds of Lyme disease carrying ticks.

For the average homeowner, Damminix Tick Tubes® cost less than $50 per application. Damminix Tick Tubes® are also sold at a special price for public agencies and non-profit groups treating land to which the public has access. Damminix Tick Tubes® are available in three sizes: 6 tubes for 1/4 acre lot with average vegetation; 24 tubes for a 1/2 acre lot with average vegetation; and 96 tubes 2 acres. Bulk sizes are available to professional applicators and the like.

Damminix Tick Tubes® need to be applied twice a year, in spring and in mid-summer (as late as mid-September) to coincide with the two appearances each year of the ticks.

Damminix Tick Tubes® are registered by the EPA, No. 56783-1, and in 14 states.

Damminix Tick Tubes® are manufactured in the United States by EcoHealth, Inc., a Boston-based company.

Damminix Tick Tubes® are available at hardware stores and garden centers, and from professional applicators.

Damminix Tick Tubes® received U.S. Patent No. 4,662, 104 in May 1987.