How to Remove a Tick in Australia: FREEZE don't SQUEEZE

Reviewed: 29 June 2026

I know what you're thinking when you find a tick. You reach for the tweezers. Or someone says "put salt on it" or "use tropical strength roll-on." These methods have been passed down through generations, and people who've used them their whole lives are sometimes the hardest to convince. But the science on tick removal in Australia has changed — and the reason it matters more now than it did fifty years ago is not a small thing. An Australian teenager died in 2022 from a meat allergy triggered by a tick bite. The NSW Deputy State Coroner confirmed the case in February 2026. What happened to him can happen to anyone, at any age — and the way a tick is removed either reduces or dramatically increases that risk. This post explains why, and what to do instead.

What Australians Need to Know About Ticks Right Now

Australia has the highest prevalence of tick-induced allergies in the world. That's not a statistic from thirty years ago — that's where we are right now. The eastern paralysis tick (*Ixodes holocyclus*) causes two distinct and serious conditions that were either rare or unrecognised a generation ago: tick anaphylaxis (an immediate severe allergic reaction when the tick is disturbed) and mammalian meat allergy (MMA), also known as alpha-gal syndrome.

MMA is the one most people haven't heard of. A tick bite introduces a sugar molecule called alpha-gal into your bloodstream. In some people, this reprograms the immune system to react to the same molecule found in all mammalian meat — beef, lamb, pork, venison. The reaction doesn't happen immediately. It comes on two to six hours after eating meat, often in the middle of the night after dinner. People have no idea what's happening or why. CSIRO research published in 2026 found that MMA case numbers grew 22% year on year between 2020 and 2024. By 2024, 787 Australians had tested positive for alpha-gal antibodies — and researchers estimate up to 90% of cases still go undiagnosed.

The people most likely to use the old methods are often the people most at risk. MMA peaks in Australians aged 45 to 75. Females account for around 60% of cases. If you're someone who's been "doing it this way for forty years" — that history of tick bites is exactly what may have sensitised you. Each additional bite, removed incorrectly, adds more allergen to your system. The book changed. Here's the new way.

Where Ticks Are in Australia — By State and Season

The eastern paralysis tick lives in a roughly 20-kilometre band along the east coast from Far North Queensland down to Lakes Entrance in Victoria. It doesn't live in western NSW or the arid interior — but if you travel to the coast, rainforest edges, or leafy suburbs on the east coast, you're in its territory. Ticks don't announce themselves. The bite is painless — the tick injects a local anaesthetic when it attaches.

One important note for people in western NSW: the paralysis tick isn't in our backyard here in Dubbo. But plenty of our community travels — to Sydney, to the coast, to the ranges. If you're heading east, take a TickTox and a Tick Twister. You don't need them until you do — and when you do, you really do.

Where Ticks Hide on Your Body

Why the Old Methods Are Wrong — and Why People Still Use Them

I hear it in every course I run near the coast. Salt. Tropical strength roll-on. Fine tweezers. A lighter. These methods have been handed down like family recipes — and for a long time, people got away with them. Here's why that's changed.

The problem with squeezing — tweezers, fingers, anything

A tick's body is essentially a pressurised sac sitting against your skin. When you squeeze it — with tweezers, with your fingers, with any tool that compresses the tick — you're squeezing that sac. The allergen-containing saliva that was in the tick goes straight into your bloodstream. In someone who has been sensitised by previous tick bites, this is the mechanism that triggers immediate anaphylaxis. The research from Associate Professor Sheryl van Nunen — who first identified MMA in Australia — is explicit: squeezing the tick with any instrument is how tick anaphylaxis is triggered in sensitised patients. Household tweezers are specifically named as dangerous.

The problem with salt, roll-on, methylated spirits, and other irritants

The mechanism is identical — it's just slower. Any irritant causes the tick to react before it detaches. That reaction involves the tick contracting and expelling saliva. Tropical strength insect repellent is one of the most commonly used wrong methods in Australia — particularly in older demographics — and it is one of the worst, because it doesn't kill the tick quickly, it simply distresses it. Every second of tick distress between application and detachment is allergen going into your system.

Why people in their 50s, 60s, and 70s are at highest risk from the old methods

MMA peaks in Australians aged 45 to 75. These are also the people most likely to say "I've been doing this my whole life." But a lifetime of tick bites — and each subsequent sensitisation event — is exactly what puts them at greatest risk. The allergy doesn't appear after one bite. It builds. And the older methods that seemed harmless at 25 can be life-threatening at 65. No one cares about your health like you do. The book changed. The right response to finding that out is to change with it.

First Aid Steps — As per ANZCOR Guidelines

The correct method is freeze first, remove second. It is not more complicated than the old way — it's actually simpler, and it takes the same amount of time. The key is having the right product with you before you need it.

1. 1
   Stay calm and don't touch the tick. Do not scratch around it, pull at it, or brush anything against it. Tell anyone nearby not to touch it either. The tick hasn't had time to inject much yet — calm removal preserves that advantage.
2. 2
   Apply TickTox freeze spray directly to the tick. A few short bursts from the TickTox Tick Removal Spray — an ether-based aerosol — kills the tick in place within seconds. The tick cannot contract, cannot expel saliva. It dies before it can react.
3. 3
   Wait for the tick to be visibly dead. Usually within two to five minutes the tick will be visibly frozen and unmoving. If it drops off on its own at this point — perfect. If not, proceed to step four.
4. 4
   Remove the dead tick with a Tick Twister. Slide the Tick Twister under the dead tick and rotate gently. The tool is designed to disengage the mouthparts cleanly without squeezing. Do not use tweezers — even on a dead tick, compressing the body can still push residual content into the bite site.
5. 5
   Clean the bite site with antiseptic. Wash with clean water, apply antiseptic, and cover with a clean dressing if needed. Note the time and location of the bite — this information helps a doctor if symptoms develop later.
6. 6
   Monitor for symptoms — including delayed ones. Immediate symptoms: hives, facial swelling, difficulty breathing, dizziness — call 000. Delayed symptoms (2–6 hours after a meal containing red meat, in the weeks or months following a bite): gut cramping, hives, difficulty breathing after eating — this is mammalian meat allergy and needs medical investigation.
7. 7
   If you have a known tick allergy, go to emergency. ASCIA recommends people with tick allergy seek medical support for tick removal — do not attempt home removal. Carry your prescribed adrenaline injector and call 000 if you develop symptoms.

Watch: How to Use an EpiPen

If tick anaphylaxis occurs — hives, facial swelling, difficulty breathing after a bite — you need to use an adrenaline auto-injector immediately. Watch this short video to see exactly how it's done, so you're not learning it for the first time in an emergency.

What About Mammalian Meat Allergy — Do I Have It?

This is the question more Australians need to be asking. MMA doesn't announce itself like a conventional food allergy. You don't react straight away. You eat dinner, go to bed, and wake up at 2am with hives, gut cramps, and difficulty breathing. You don't connect it to the lamb chops you had four hours ago — and you definitely don't connect it to a tick bite you had six months ago.

If you've had multiple tick bites over your lifetime — particularly if you've lived on or near the coast in NSW, QLD, or Victoria — and you've noticed unexplained reactions after eating red meat, ask your GP for an alpha-gal IgE blood test. It's a simple test. If it comes back positive, you have MMA, and you need to know: each subsequent tick bite can increase your level of sensitisation. Correct tick removal from this point forward is not optional.

MMA can improve if you avoid further tick bites. Alpha-gal antibody levels can drop over 12 to 18 months without re-sensitisation. But this only works if you stop getting bitten — and stop using methods that inject allergen even during removal.

The Right Products — and Why They're Worth It

I hear the cost objection regularly. "I've got tweezers at home, why do I need to buy something?" Here's my answer: the TickTox and Tick Twister together cost less than a GP visit, and far less than an ambulance. They are not premium options — they are the correct options. There is no situation in Australia where household tweezers are the right tool for tick removal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Get the Right Tools Before You Need Them

TickTox and a Tick Twister should be in every household that spends time outdoors on or near the east coast. Not as a precaution — as a necessity. Get them before your next bushwalk, camping trip, or visit to the coast.

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Get the Snake Bite Max — Ticks, Snakes and More

Also worth reading: our jellyfish sting myth-buster — another topic where the wrong instinct is almost universal — and if you've been near bush or water, our hiking first aid kit guide for what to carry on the trail.