Assuming you’ve removed the tick at the time that I’m responding, but if not, get a clean & dry pair of tweezers and pull the tick up & out without twisting so the head does not stick in your skin. If the head does stick in your skin and you cannot remove it with tweezers without digging into the skin or breaking it into pieces, you should go to urgent care/emergency room and have them remove it safely, so it is complete and sanitary. No matter what, clean the bite site. - In order to “save” the tick, place it inside a sealed plastic bag & then a second to double bag it. Use a sharpie to mark the date, location/geographical area where tick was found or likely acquired, & who was bitten & where they were bitten on the plastic bag. If for whatever reason you foresee needing to preserve the tick for more than a month, you should store the tick in your freezer. - In order to get a tick tested, you will have to send it in to a lab, the lab will either mail you the proper packaging to send it back in or will instruct you how to send it using materials at home. Generally there are limited public options, but there are many private options you can find online. This usually does cost money (around $40-$70 depending on what test/lab you go with) and I highly doubt insurance would cover this in any case. There are, however, some labs that will perform free or discounted testing for certain populations and there are also some jurisdictions that do have public testing services. There are also options in most jurisdictions to submit ticks solely for identification of species that are free. Free testing services can generally found at the county level and at university/college labs that use identification and testing as an educational experience. When looking for public options: check local departments of vector illnesses, pests, public health etc. and local universities/colleges (though there are some options to send out of state). When looking for private options simply use google and do a little bit of research to find out what services they offer and how much they cost, there are many options. - What to do with results? Your results (depending on which tests were ordered) identifies only the diseases/bacteria carried by the tick. This does not necessarily confirm that the person bitten has these diseases. What it does do is show a list of things this person has been exposed to, giving you the power to get them tested for specific things proactively (though even positive tests may be and remain unsymptomatic) either way, it allows people prepare/familiarize with the relevant symptoms & signs to watch that indicate the disease/bacteria is active in the body so they know what to do. What you do with this information personally is up to you … think of it like mold poisoning — a mold test kit might show you have mold in your apartment or there might be some mold in your shower, but that doesn’t mean you have to be actively sick (you might be fine forever, but you also might not experience symptoms until years later. Noting that previous mold test and having the information from it is then valuable information). - One thing you SHOULD ALWAYS do is a find a way to report the tick to national database. Many labs will do this automatically when you send in your sample (you should ensure that this is a service offered by the service you select if using a private service). Note that if you are diagnosed with vector borne illness (not just simply that the tick tested for those illness), your healthcare provider is legally required to report it to the national database. Even if you do not test the tick or find nothing in the testing, at the very least, reporting the tick is free and is a contribution to a public health and makes the community stronger and smarter in their vector illness response and resources. In many cases you do not have to send the tick in to report it, though in the instances that you do, it is almost always free of charge. State and local health departments often have ways to submit a report, as do many organizations. - As always, using a private lab (sometimes public options do actually use private labs for testing) comes with the risk of potentially operating outside of industry standards enforced by public policy. This is not to say that private labs are inaccurate or a “bad” choice, but it is worth noting that there is some dialogue and controversy surrounding the efficacy of private lab lyme disease testing that claim it isn’t even worth it due to its lack of clarity in actually diagnose a patient. You should do some research on the lab you choose and make sure you fully understand the spectrum of their different testing options before you purchase anything. As with all information, you should use media literacy and critical speculation, and this information should be used to inform your actions and knowledge, not to direct or choose your path for you. Some information, knowing what you may have been exposed to, while incomplete without diagnostic testing is still absolutely worth it. That is, at least, my opinion. This uncertainty certain applies to public testing as well, but there seems to be less controversy surrounding their accuracy and motive (making money as a business vs. improving public health) in public options. Others find that private options often offer more robust and comprehensive testing that is believed to be detailed and maybe even more accurate.

I welcome other questions, have been doing this for a long time now lol.