sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

This is a focused stacked image that I staged of one of my preserved Lone Star ticks. Inspecting my body for ticks is part of the routine I go through after my camera walkabouts through the weeded fields. Unfortunately for the Better Half, she has to look in places that I can't see.

This post is a reminder to be aware of ticks now that the warm weather has arrived for they are nasty little buggers and they can be transmitters of various diseases. Don't forget to check your pets for them too including looking inside their ears where they hide in the folds.

I've included two images from the internet to help illustrate how ticks attach themselves to their hosts (like me) and why they are so difficult to remove. One is a detailed illustration and the other is an image taken from an electron scanning microscope (I WANT ONE...!!)

Here are a few interesting things about ticks:

1. There are two types of ticks which are defined as either soft or hard-bodied.

2. They have eyes. Their eyes are those smooth round patches that you can see located on the side of their body by their first legs.

3. Adult female ticks need to feed on blood to reproduce. When an adult female has obtained a blood meal, she mates, drops from the host, and finds a suitable site where she lays her eggs in a mass and dies.

4. Tick larvae are born with six legs. They move up on blades of grass and wait for a suitable host (usually a mammal) to pass by. The odor of butyric acid, emanated by all mammals, stimulates the larvae to drop onto and attach to a host. After filling themselves with the host’s blood, the larvae detach and molt, becoming eight-legged nymphs.

5. After their first feeding, they drop to the ground, molt, and become adult ticks. Adults may wait up to three years before they find another host to feed on.

(Download)


(Download)

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

Amazing!

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Thanks, Nimbushopper.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Excellent set, Sippy.

MFTVGirl Loc: Baltimore, MD

Fascinating images and information!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

That explains why they are so difficult to remove.

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

YUCK!
Great Image.
but YUCK!

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Thanks, Earnest.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Thanks, MFTVGirl. Glad you could stop by.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Thanks, Longshadow. There are many more things of interest about these little suckers.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Thanks, BigDaddy. I appreciate the reply.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Outstanding. I hate those beggars, sippy.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Thanks, Kpmac. Sadly, they attach themselves to places that make them difficult to find which is why the Better Half conducts a detailed inspection. I hate it when she says, "Is this a tick or a mole?" "I'm going to pick at it to see if it moves and comes off."

srsincary Loc: Cary, NC

Fascinating!

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Fantastic image!!! of an Ugly little Bastard