![]() ![]() Knowing which species you have in or around your home or business is key when trying to keep your family and pets safe and prevent an infestation. Photo of a dog tick waiting on a blade of grass The Importance of Pest IdentificationĪs with any pest, tick identification can help you better understand the nature of the problem and develop a plan of action. As you can tell from this top-view pest image, other than a slightly pitted appearance, the brown dog tick lacks the more distinct body patterns found in other species. Adult females range in size from an eighth to a fourth of an inch in length, but their size and shape changes dramatically after feeding.īoth males and females are a similar reddish-brown color. Male brown dog ticks take only small amounts of blood from a host, but females take much more. Females are brown to reddish-orange and have a black shield-like plate, or scutum, behind their heads. Adult males tend to be dark brown with no reddish coloration. In this deer tick image, you can see why some people call the pests black-legged ticks. A louse has six legs while an adult tick has eight. For pest identification, you’ll need to take a close look at the specimen’s limbs. Both pests are small and appear similar at first glance. Since they are hard to see, it’s easy for people to mistake a tick for a head louse. Their coloring can also change to tan, gray, or dark brown. Once they’ve taken a blood meal, adult female ticks can increase in size to as much as a half-inch in length. In this side-view pest image, you can see that ticks are small and flat before feeding. The identification of ticks up to species level is much more complicated and requires more expertise. Male deer ticks, on the other hand, are slightly smaller in size.Ī photo of a deer tick crawling on a person’s skin The various genera of hard ticks can easily be differentiated by a set of features unique to each genus: mouthparts, basis capituli, scutum, eyes, festoons, adanal, subanal and accessory anal plates, coxae and anal groove. Females grow up to about an eighth of an inch in length. Two deer ticks pictured on a penny for size referenceĪs seen from this deer tick photo, these pests are tiny. The pests are far too little to see on blades of grass, and their reddish-orange or dark brown coloration helps them blend in with their surroundings. Females deer ticks have a dark red abdomen and black head.ĭue to their small size and coloration, ticks are hard to spot outdoors. While they may seem similar from a distance, each species is unique in how they look. In addition to learning more about the appearance and characteristics of the species, these pictures can help you identify a tick if you see one in your home or business, or worse, on you, your family, or your pets. We’ve put together an image gallery of the most common ticks in the region. Western Pest provides tick control services. Size and appearance vary by species, and most ticks have distinct characteristics that help with identification. Images of common ticks found around the home or property to help you identify tick problems. In general, these pests have teardrop-shaped bodies and females are typically larger than males. Eliminate dense plant beds close to your home.While there are hundreds of different types of ticks in the U.S., only a few live in the Mid-Atlantic region.Make sure that clotheslines are high enough off the ground so that clothes hanging from the line don’t touch the vegetation.Keep garbage in tightly sealed bins, away from your home.Remove woodpiles, brush, and leaf litter from the exterior of your home.Cut back wooded areas around your property to give ticks fewer places to hide.Cut the grass around your property short to eliminate hiding areas for ticks.They must drop off onto their host to feed. Once fed, they remove themselves from their host and molt to nymphs on the ground. When larvae emerge from their eggs, they feed on the blood of small mammals and birds. A female tick lays up to 3,000 eggs on the ground.Free tick submission kits are available from your local health. You can either email a picture of the tick to, or you can mail the tick to the MDHHS for identification. Tick species like deer ticks, American dog ticks, and brown dog ticks can be found throughout the world but tend to flourish in areas with warm or humid climates. Expert tick identification is available free of charge for Michigan residents through the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS).Because they feed on the blood of different animals, they are major vectors of disease in humans and other mammals, spreading Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Colorado tick fever, and many other disease-causing agents.They can satisfy all their nutritional needs on a diet of blood.Ticks go through three major life stages: larval, nymphal, and adult, and require a different host in each stage. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |