Tick Report - It's Worse Than We Thought

According to Wikipedia there are approximately 900 tick species world wide. All but one of these species are grouped into two families, hard ticks and soft ticks. Although ticks flourish in warm humid climates, they may be found in all habitats that don't stay frozen year round. Ticks do indeed live in farm country and are a real problem in some regions. Livestock that experience severe tick infestations may turn anemic, lose weight, or die from one of the dozen or so diseases that are spread by ticks. Farmers and ranchers in areas that are thick with ticks have to run their stock through a chemical bath or shower once or twice a year to minimize the damage.

Ticks go through a number of growth stages in their lifetimes, which may be a year or more. The four stages of hard ticks are egg, larva, nymph, and adult. In addition, soft ticks may experience up to three intermediate stages. Larval ticks only have six legs, but they grow two additional legs in the next stage, making them true arthropods, not insects. Except for the egg stage, ticks must suck some blood before advancing to the next stage. They will suck on all manner of mammals, birds, and even the occasional reptile or amphibian. They cannot fly or jump, so they must make direct contact with their victim. Some species sneak up and climb aboard when the animal is sleeping, but most of them make contact by "questing". This involves climbing on a blade of tall grass or other vegetation and waiting for something to brush against them. Seems like an unlikely way to meet someone, and some ticks must starve to death in the attempt, but there's plenty more where they came from. Adult ticks mate and the females lay thousands of eggs after their last meal, and die shortly thereafter. The hard ticks drop off their host after each meal, but some soft ticks may live their whole lives on the same host. The bite of the hard ticks is generally painless, and they may stay attached for days or even weeks, sucking away, with their host unaware of their presence. Soft tick bites can be painful, so they have to do their sucking in a matter of minutes before their host takes measures to remove them.

When ticks suck blood, they swell up like a balloon, their outer covering stretching to accommodate. This covering will molt off later, in preparation for the next growth spurt. The ticks I picked off my dogs many years ago must have been full up, which is probably why I could squish them so easily. The tiny black ones that we have been seeing are probably babies who haven't sucked yet, so there is little under their hard shells to squish.

Ticks are almost impossible to eradicate, but there are measures you can take to inhibit their growth and subsequent reproduction. While chemical baths may work on individual animals, broadcast spraying of the land itself is expensive, ineffective, and may be harmful to non-target species. Your best bet there is to keep your grass and other vegetation cut short and fence out wildlife. But who's got time for that? Another tactic is to free range Guinea fowl because they are particularly fond of eating ticks. The problem I can see with that is the Guinea fowl will likely attract predators that will just bring in more ticks. Ah, the joys of country living!