15 Interesting Facts About Ticks

01 Apr2015

We all know that ticks are nuisance but very few of you may know the facts that we have given below about ticks. Have a look at them:

Ticks are arachnids, which means they are a lot more related to scorpions and spiders than insects.
There are two main kinds of ticks-soft and hard. Soft ticks are found in cabins, on birds and in caves. The hard ticks are found in woods.
Ticks have 4 life stages-egg, larva, nymph and adult.
The size of a tick depends on its development stage. Larva is big as grain of sand, nymph as the poppy seed and adult animal as the apple seed. The females are bigger than the males.
Males are dark brown and females have a reddish body with black markings.
A single adult female has the capability of consuming 0.6 ml blood or even more.
There are 850 tick species. Some of them can transmit diseases like Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Lyme disease and Ehrlichia.
Ticks are to be attached for a minimum of 24 hours to the skin of human body before being able to transmit any disease.
Ticks feed on blood of their host-birds, humans, reptiles and domestic and wild mammals.
The ticks feed on the blood. Larvae feed on blood of birds and mice. Nymphs as well as adult insects feed on blood of big animals like deer, dogs and human beings.
Ticks usually detect their hosts via body temperature, odour, vibration and moisture. The sensory organ that helps in identifying the potential hosts is located on legs.
Severe tick infestations may cause anaemia, paralysis, weight loss and even death.
Ticks may survive from two months to two years, depending on the species.
Ticks may survive without any food for 200 days.
A tick should never be removed with bare hand. Use tweezers, grasp it close to skin and pull it gently.