Wood tick

TICKS

Wood ticks are highly colorful and pretty easy to recognize. They have grayish patterns on their bodies and males will have a mottled grey coloration along their backs. American dog ticks (wood ticks) are often mistaken for Deer ticks, which carry Lyme disease. The American dog tick does not carry Lyme disease.

The American dog tick also has a wide, oval body with a flattened top. Females are generally larger than males, measuring about 5 mm long when not engorged (with blood), and 15 mm long and 10 mm wide when engorged. Males measure just 3.6 mm long when not engorged.

Deer ticks (also called blacklegged ticks) are much smaller than Wood ticks and can be distinguished by their—you guessed it—black legs.

Wood ticks are a three-host species of tick that goes through four distinct lifecycles: eggs, larvae, nymph, and adult.

After hatching from its egg, a tick must feed on the blood of a host at every life stage in order to survive. The newly hatched tick is called a larva, or seed tick. Tick larvae have just six legs and are about 1/8 inch in size.

Since ticks can’t jump, the larva must stand on blades of grass or perch on vegetation until a warm blooded mammal walks by, at which point it latches on. This behavior is called “questing,” and looks like the tick is trying to stand up to grab the sky. Once the larva has fed on its initial host, it will drop to the ground and molt into an eight-legged nymph.

Nymphs then lie in wait until a second warm-blooded host wanders by, like a raccoon, possum, or other large animal. The nymph will then feed for a few days until it becomes engorged with blood. It again drops to the ground and molts into an adult tick.

Adult ticks will hunt for a third and final host, preferring large animals like deer or dogs, where they will be able to feed, breed, drop off, and lay eggs. Once the female has laid a few thousand eggs she dies.

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