Tick Bites in Colorado: How to Remove a Tick and When to Get It Checked

Found a tick bite in Colorado? Most are harmless if you remove the tick soon: grasp it close to the skin with fine-tipped tweezers, pull straight up with steady pressure, and clean the spot. Then watch for fever, rash or feeling unwell over the next few weeks. If you can't get the tick out, the area looks infected, or you get sick afterwards, a clinician can check it.

How to remove a tick

Speed matters more than technique. The longer a tick stays attached, the more chance it has to pass on an infection.

• Use fine-tipped tweezers. Grasp the tick as close to the skin as you can, by its head and mouthparts rather than its body.
• Pull upward with slow, steady pressure. Don't twist, jerk or squeeze the body.
• If part of the mouth stays in the skin, try to lift it out with clean tweezers. If you can't, leave it; the skin usually pushes it out as it heals.
• Wash the bite and your hands with soap and water, or use rubbing alcohol.
• Put the tick in a sealed bag or tape it to a piece of paper and write down the date. If you get sick later, it helps a clinician to know what bit you and when.

Skip the folk remedies: a hot match, nail polish or petroleum jelly. They take longer and can make the tick dig in or release more saliva.

Which ticks are in Colorado?

The tick most people in Colorado meet is the Rocky Mountain wood tick. It lives in grassy and brushy areas in the foothills and mountains, and it is most active in spring and early summer, roughly March through July. Hikers, campers, trail runners, hunters and dogs pick them up most.

There are also soft ticks that live in rodent nests, sometimes in older mountain cabins. They feed briefly at night, so people often never see them, only the illness that can follow.

What illnesses can a tick bite cause in Colorado?

Most tick bites never cause illness. The ones Colorado health officials watch for include:

• Colorado tick fever, a viral illness from the wood tick. It causes fever, chills, headache and body aches, often a few days after the bite, and can come back after a short break.
• Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a bacterial infection that is rare in Colorado but serious. It usually starts with fever and headache, and a rash of small spots can follow, often on the wrists and ankles.
• Tularemia, which can follow a tick bite or contact with rabbits and rodents. It can cause fever and a sore or ulcer where the bite was.
• Tick-borne relapsing fever, from the soft ticks in cabins, with fevers that come and go.
• Tick paralysis, rare and caused by a toxin in the tick's saliva. Weakness usually starts in the legs and climbs upward, and it improves once the tick is found and removed.

What about Lyme disease? The ticks that spread it are not established in Colorado, so Lyme cases here are generally picked up while traveling. If you were bitten somewhere Lyme is common, such as the Northeast or Upper Midwest, tell the clinician.

Is a red bump after a tick bite normal?

A small red bump or mild itch at the bite for a few days is common and is usually just a skin reaction. Things that are worth getting checked:

• Redness that keeps spreading, gets warmer or more painful, or starts to drain pus
• A rash that spreads away from the bite, or a rash of small spots on the wrists, ankles or elsewhere
• Fever, chills, headache, body aches or unusual tiredness within a few weeks of the bite
• A tick you couldn't fully remove, or one that was attached somewhere you can't reach or see well

Call 911 or go to the ER if someone has weakness or numbness that is spreading, trouble walking, trouble breathing or swallowing, a stiff neck with fever, confusion or unusual sleepiness, a rash with a high fever and feeling very ill, or signs of a severe allergic reaction such as swelling of the face or throat after a bite.

When to come to urgent care for a tick bite

Come in if you can't get the tick off, if a piece is left and the area is getting red or sore, or if you develop fever, aches or a rash in the weeks after a bite. A clinician can remove the tick properly, look at the bite, and examine you for signs of a tick-borne illness, then discuss whether testing or treatment makes sense. Bring the tick if you saved it, and know roughly when and where you were bitten.

How to avoid tick bites

• Stay in the middle of trails and avoid brushing through tall grass and shrubs.
• Wear light-colored long sleeves and long pants, and tuck pants into socks.
• Use an insect repellent registered for ticks, and consider permethrin-treated clothing for camping and hunting.
• Check your whole body after time outdoors, including the scalp, behind the ears, armpits, waistband and behind the knees. Check children and dogs too.
• Shower soon after coming in, and tumble-dry outdoor clothes on high heat to kill ticks you missed.

What a visit costs

With insurance, your cost depends on your plan. We contract with all major commercial and government plans, including Colorado Medicaid and Medicare. We can't guarantee a commercial plan has us in network; if you turn out to be out of network or your benefits are denied, we charge our self-pay rates instead. Self-pay in-clinic visits start at $175, and the full tiers are on our cost and insurance page.

Where to find us

Four clinics across metro Denver, all ages welcome, se habla español:

• Hampden (Southeast Denver): 8 AM–11 PM daily
• Littleton: 8 AM–11 PM daily
• Thornton: 8 AM–11 PM daily
• Highlands: Mon–Fri 5–11 PM, Sat–Sun 8 AM–11 PM

Walk in, or book online.