Description
Ticks are small and reddish-brown in color. Adult ticks have four pairs of legs and no antennae. Ticks are grouped into two families- “hard ticks” which have a hard, smooth skin and an apparent head, and “soft ticks” which have a tough, leathery, pitted skin and no recognizable head. Both groups are parasites of warm-blooded animals and attck humans and animals.
Adult ticks range in size from 1/8-inch to 5/8-inch in length.
Hard ticks usually mate on the host animal, then drops to the ground and deposits 3,000-6,000 eggs that hatch into larvae. They then climb vegetation and attach to a host, After engorging itself on blood, it drops to the ground, sheds its skin and emerge as nymphs. Nymphs repeat this process and become adults. Some species feed as larvae, nymphs, and adults on only one host during the life cycle. While ticks need a blood meal at each stage after hatching, some species can survive years without feeding.
When feeding, ticks make a small hole in the skin, attach themselves with a modification of one of the mouthparts which has teeth that curve backwards, and insert barbed piercing mouthparts to remove blood.
The presence of ticks is annoying to dogs and humans. Heavy continuous infestations on dogs cause irritation and loss of vitality. Pulling ticks off the host may leave a running wound that may become infected because of their type of attachment..
Of the ticks found in Florida, the brown dog tick and the American dog tick are the most troublesome. The brown dog tick rarely bites humans, but infestations are frequently found on dogs and in the home. The American dog tick attacks a wide variety of hosts, including humans, but rarely will infest homes..
This cache has been placed with permission for the CREW Trust and
the South Florida Water Management District
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