BEHAVIOR: Ticks are bloodsucking ectoparasite that connect themselves to a host and once they finish feeding off the host they detach themselves and lay their eggs. Ticks require a feeding of blood at stage in their life in order to grow especially for the female tick as she must engorge herself with blood to create the huge number of eggs she lays. In spite of the enormous number of eggs created, just a little rate will make it to development. Once a tick laches on to a host it does not entire its entire head into the host rather just its mouth to keep from blood clotting and also releases an anti-clogging agent as a preventative measure. During feeding ticks may inject bacterium into the body which can cause Lyme dieses and other pathogens. Ticks can go unnoticed for long periods of time due to their small size and depending on where they have latched on to the body, this increasing the chances of disease transmission. Unfortunately, the most common tick “blacklegged tick” are the primary species that carry lyme disease and also other diseases like anaplasmosis, Babesiosis and Ehrlichiosis. Studies have down that 90% of ticks can be infected with burgdorferi.

HABITATS: Ticks are mainly found outdoors and rarely indoors unless a pet or other host has brought them inside. Most species of ticks that are found in Canada are usually found in wooded areas or fields where there is a lot of wildlife such as deer, rodents, and other mammals. Some areas are listed in for high tick infested areas such as areas like Brampton, Mississauga, Toronto all have areas where the tick population is high. Each tick latches on to a host in different ways for example some ticks move from the first host to the second all throughout their life cycles and different development stages and some tick will wait for a host to come by climbing on to the tip of grass and jumping on to a host as they walk by while some ticks wait for a host to brush on by them so that they can latch on. As for rocky mountain ticks they differ from the other ticks due to the fact they live on high altitudes and rely on stimuli from the environment like change in humidity, temperature or carbon dioxide levels to determine if a host is present.

TIPS FOR CONTROL

Once ticks enter the home they can be very difficult to control which is why it is always a good idea to call the professionals to handle a tick infestation. It is also important to get the exterior of your home sprayed for tick especially in shaded areas where they are mostly found. The best ways to prevent a tick infestation from happening are listed below:

• It is always good to be fully covered by wearing long sleeved shirts and long pants. Since ticks are usually dark colors it is always a good idea to wear light color clothing.
• Tuck the bottom of your pants inside your socks or tie them around your ankles.
• Wear hats to protect your hair and tuck long hair into the hat.
• Use a repellant that works against ticks and mainly pray on lower regions of your body.
• Carefully inspect your body front and back after exiting a high tick infested area.
• Inspect your children once they come home
• Wash your clothing in warm water with detergent immediately arriving home and be careful to never mix the infested clothes into your other clothes or the floor.
• Protect your pets by making sure they don’t go into high tick infested areas, pets can also contact Lyme disease and other deadly diseases such as Ehrlichiosis. Consult your local veterinarian for tick treatment options for your pet.
• Always brush down your pet after they come back from outside and try to notice bumps or lumps within their fur.

How to remove a tick?

• If a tick has latched on to your skin do not grab it by the abdomen and pull it off that can result in you squeezing it stomach fluids into your skin which can increase the chances of infection and it can also break off the abdomen leaving the ticks mouth still connected to your skin. The best way to remove a tick is to use fine tipped tweezers and grip the tick by the head and slowly pull it out of your skin which will result the mouthparts to come out. Once the tick has been removed you will want to disinfect that bit area as soon as possible.

How does a tick bite look like?

Tick bites are not hard to spot especially since the tick can stay latched on to the skin for 10 days. Tick bites look like a red dot and can have a ring around it that develop into a rash. If you experience muscle stiffness, joint pains, headaches, nausea, fever or weakness see your physician.