If you have found a tick on yourself or your pet and want to have it identified, please take the following steps to preserve your specimen for identification:

• Do not kill the tick
• Put the live tick in a plastic bag or container with a piece of moist paper towel to provide humidity
• Write down the location (street address, park name, or trail name) where you think you got the tick
• If the tick was attached to your skin, note approximately how long it was attached

Submit a service request or stop by our office (M-F, 8-4:30) to arrange for the tick identification.

Photo courtesy of the California Department of Public Health.

Page last reviewed: June 21, 2021