Help the Ixodes Outreach Project montior ticks!

The Ixodes Outreach Project needs your help to build our Tick Bank.  We use ticks for a variety of teaching and research applications.  We also are interested in recording where ticks are being found.  So, please send us ticks you come across on you, your family or your pets.  You can contact us for a free Tick Kit with supplies and directions for submitting your specimens.  Using the kit is super easy!

To request a kit simply write to us stating you would like to request a Tick Kit.  Be sure to include your name and mailing address.  At certain times of the year our staff may be busy in the field or the lab, please know we will process your request as soon as possible, but it may take a few weeks to receive your kit.

Email us at:

ixodesoutreach@d.umn.edu 

in the subject heading type Tick Kit Request.

Or write to us by USPS mail at:

University of Minnesota Duluth
Ixodes Outreach Project
1035 University Dr.
Duluth, MN  55812
Attn: SMed 332

You can also submit ticks without the use of a Tick Kit.  To do so, please put ticks inside a Ziploc style baggie.  If possible, include a small squirt of hand-sanitizer gel and coat the tick with the gel.  This will help preserve the tick during transit and reduce bacterial growth in the bag.  However, we can still used specimens sent without.  We would prefer you do not tape ticks, they can be difficult to remove from tape.

In your tick submission please include the following:

• Your name and address so we can follow up with you if necessary.
• The location of where you found the tick.  If you know coordinates, feel free to send them, but if you do not, please try to be specific as to city, county and state.
• The date when you found the tick.
• Weather conditions, if known.
• Optional: description of the terrain where tick was picked up (grass land, deciduous woods, near a wood pile, etc.)
• Indicate whether it was attached to a person, dog, cat, horse, etc. or whether it was found unattached.
  

Mail ticks by USPS to the address provided above.

Please note:  We cannot provide timely diagnostic services on ticks.  If you are submitting a tick that has bitten you, your family or pet and are concerned about the risk of contacting a tick-borne illness, such as Lyme disease, please contact your physician or veterinarian.  We will try to notify you of the results of testing on your specimens, but we cannot guarantee how long it may take for specimens to be tested.  Some specimens may be used for teaching/training or other research purposes and not be tested.