Just bring up the words “Wood Tick” and even the most ardent nature lover cringes and starts to get the heebie geebies. Even as I write this my skin is crawling.
As a naturalist I try to look for the “good” in all aspects of nature. I have spent my career explaining the virtues of plants such as the Poison Ivy and birds such as the American Crow to people that find them unfavorable. I try to convey something interesting that might spark a new way of looking at the “bad” plant or animal, something that might make you say “gee-whiz, that is interesting”. But I seem to be at a loss for words when it comes to the Wood Tick. But here it goes anyway.
Ticks are members of the Mite and Tick order, which are closely related to spiders. There are over 1,000 named species of ticks worldwide. Some estimate there are up to a half million more species tick yet to be discovered. Now there’s a comforting thought.
There are 2 types of ticks—hard bodied and soft bodied. Wood Ticks are a hard bodied tick and are so named because of the hard plate on top of their bodies. This is also why it’s difficult to kill them simply by squeezing or crushing. Soft bodies ticks lack the hard plate and have mouth parts located under their heads as compared to the hard ticks that have mouth parts in front of their head.
Newly hatched young, called larvae, have only 6 legs. They are extremely tiny and obtain 2 more legs after the first molt for a total of 8 legs, just like spiders. Just like the adults, the larvae also feed on blood, but they concentrate on small animals such as mice and voles. With each blood meal (total of 3-5) the larvae molt (shed their old skin) and grow larger. Once they are adult size they feed on larger mammals such as deer and people.
Ticks find their hosts by clinging to the tips of plants while extending their fore legs to grab any passing mammal (see image of female Wood Tick). They may remain perched on the end of a twig or blade of grass for weeks before a large mammal passes by within reach. Once they have landed upon a potential host, they often climb to the highest point and search for a warm and protected spot such as behind the ears, nape of the neck or the collar. (Are you starting to itch now?) Once in position they use their forward facing mouth parts to pierce the skin and begin to feed on the blood. Once fully engorged, they drop off and molt and lay eggs.
Mature females will mate just before their last blood meal. Using the nutrients from the blood meal, she will develop and deposit many eggs which hatch into tiny 6 legged larvae and the cycle starts over again.
Most full grown Wood Ticks are 1/8 of an inch long. Males and females are the same size but you can tell them apart. Males are reddish brown with two white strips running length wise down their body. Females are the same color but have a single U-shaped mark. An easy way to differentiate the sexes is to remember, males have markings that look like he is wearing suspenders while females look like they are wearing a necklace.
Wood Ticks are sometimes called American dog tick. Because they are feeding directly on blood, they can transfer disease from one host to the next, including Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia and tick paralysis.
If you find a tick attached to yourself, you can carefully remove it with tweezers. Grasp it around the head, as close to your skin as possible and gently yet firmly pull it out. Home remedies such as covering the tick with Vaseline or burning it off with a hot match do not work. Save any ticks that were attached for prolonged periods of time for identification by an expert.
Of course the best way to not get a tick bite is avoid the ticks in the first place. Avoid walking in tall grass. Wear long sleeves and long pants. Tuck your pants into your socks so you can see the tick crawling up the outside of your pants, not inside. Apply insect repellent, such as products containing DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) to clothing also helps. Of course consult your doctor before applying DEET to children. And always check yourself as soon as possible.
As for me, ticks don’t bother me, it’s those darn mosquito that drive me crazy. Until next time…