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The tick kit.

5 things to keep around once tick season starts. A small tool that grips a tick properly, a repellent your kids can wear, socks that fight back, and a lint roller for the trailhead. Most of it lives in a glove box or by the back door for the whole summer.

What goes in the kit

If you only buy one, start at the top.

You don’t need all five. The first two cover removal, which is the moment you can’t bluff your way through. The rest make next weekend’s hike easier.

Removal tool

Tick Key

The tool you want when there's a tick on the dog and one hand is holding the dog still. It slides under the head and lifts straight up with even pressure, no twisting and no squeezing the body. Lives on a keychain.

Doesn't replace fine-tip tweezers for poppy-seed-sized nymphs. Get both.

View on Amazon.ca (affiliate)

Removal tool

Tweezerman fine-tip tweezers

The fallback your doctor will recommend if you walk in without a removal tool. Pointed tips (not the slanted cosmetic kind) let you grab a tick right at the skin. Pack two: one for the first aid kit, one for the car.

View on Amazon.ca (affiliate)

Prevention

Natrapel Icaridin 20%

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) lists Icaridin as the preferred repellent for most situations. It protects as well as DEET and doesn't melt plastic. Safe for children over 6 months. 20% is the working strength.

View on Amazon.ca (affiliate)

After-hike

Scotch-Brite Pet Hair Pickup lint roller (6-pack)

Sounds silly. Works. Rolling a sticky lint roller down your legs after a hike pulls crawling ticks off your clothes faster than any visual inspection. Keep one in the car for the trailhead, one by the door at home.

View on Amazon.ca (affiliate)

Prevention

BushWear No-Tick Boot Socks

Thermal hunting socks with IR3535 (also called Si Repel) bonded into the fibre at the factory. Ticks climb on from grass at calf height, and these cover that exact band. The treatment is chemically bound to the fabric, so it doesn't wash out for about 100 washes.

IR3535 is a different active ingredient from DEET or Icaridin. It repels ticks well but only on fabric. Skin still wants Icaridin.

View on Amazon.ca (affiliate)

How to use the kit

A typical outing, end to end.

Before you head out: Icaridin on any exposed skin, treated socks on. Tuck pants into the socks if you’ll be brushing through tall grass.

Back at the car: lint roller down your legs, your kids’ legs, and the dog. Crawling ticks come off in seconds.

If a tick is attached: the removal tool comes out, with the tweezers as backup for nymph-sized ticks. Save the tick on tape in a Ziploc with the date and bite location. If you develop symptoms in the next 30 days, that note goes to the pharmacy with you.

How to safely remove a tick - the 5 steps, and what never to do.
Prevention - repellent, treated clothing, and where permethrin fits.
Ticks and pets - what changes when the tick is on a dog or cat.
Affiliate disclosure - what happens when you buy through a link here.

Last reviewed May 30, 2026

General information only, not medical advice. In an emergency, call 911. Read the full disclaimer.

The tick kit.

If you only buy one, start at the top.

Tick Key

Tweezerman fine-tip tweezers

Natrapel Icaridin 20%

Scotch-Brite Pet Hair Pickup lint roller (6-pack)

BushWear No-Tick Boot Socks

A typical outing, end to end.

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