After coming indoors, clothes, gear and pets should be checked for ticks. Clothes can be put into a hot dryer for 10 minutes to kill ticks (just washing or warm dryer are not enough). Showering as soon as possible, looking for ticks over the entire body, and removing them reduce risk of infection. Unfed tick nymphs are the size of a poppy seed, but a day or two after biting and attaching themselves to a person, they look like a small blood blister. The following areas should be checked especially carefully: armpits, between legs, back of knee, bellybutton, trunk, and in children ears, neck and hair.