tickSAFE research

The construction of the Tickgripper and in particular the gripper heads has extended over many years. Numerous tests were carried out to clarify the following questions:

  • How does the gripper behave with very small or large ticks?
  • What influence do suction duration or tick size have on the removal behavior?
  • What pressure is required to allow the jaws to grip the tick tight enough to turn it out without squeezing it?
  • How do pinched hair or fur affect the unscrewing of the tick?

Different shapes and materials were clinically tested. The Tickgripper is the result of a successful collaboration between engineers and doctors, led by Dr. Matthias Meinhold, who is a physicist and a doctor himself. Under his leadership, tickSAFE is constantly working on the further development of the gripper heads.


On the market since 2019: the open gripper head
The removal of small ticks is a challenge. Even experienced users sometimes might try several times until the tick is removed. tickSAFE has dealt with the removal of small ticks and found out: If the tick is not positioned exactly in the center of the gripper, it can turn out laterally from the gripper slot during the rotation. However, since in certain positions the gripper head can obscure the view of the tick and gripping position and thus prevent exact positioning, the open gripper head was developed for a better view of the 'surgical field'.

In the open gripper head, the gripper halves consist of two flexible, tweezer-type gripping arms and allow a clear view of the tick to be removed. So you can quickly check if the gripper is placed correctly so that the tick is positioned in the center of the closed gripping arms.

Basically, the open gripper head works like a pair of tweezers, but with two decisive advantages

  • The flexible arms prevent squeezing the tick
  • The tick is automatically extracted by the rotation mechanism


After having conducted extensive clinical testing the open gripper head has gone into series production in 2019 and is now in every package.