Ticks feed on human blood by biting them. They can be found inside homes and in different areas outside homes. In Berthoud, coming across ticks is not uncommon. These insects are parasites, and there are more than 800 species of them. The American dog tick is considered to be the most common tick among the other.
These ticks feed on dogs for many days. If you have a pet dog at home, make sure you take it to the veterinarian for a regular checkup. It will not be easy to spot them on your dog because they are pretty good at hiding easily under thick fur.
One sign that you can notice in your dogs that can indicate tick infestation is their scratching their body. If you see this often, it is most probably because of ticks. The life cycle of these insects can last as long as two years.
Do not ignore their infestation if they are inside your home; make sure you do something about it as soon as you can. See details about pest control in your area and contact them directly.
What does the lifecycle of ticks look like?
There are several stages that you can observe in ticks. We will go through each stage in a bit of detail below:
The egg
Once the adult female tick gets a proper blood meal, she begins to mate with the male tick. During this time, the tick leaves the host and looks for a safe and hidden place to lay eggs. The eggs then hatch, and larvae emerge, which also have six legs.
The larval stage
There are some missing legs, and at this stage, the larvae look more like the adult ticks. Once the larva is out of the eggs, it seems to feed on grasses and stays there until it finally finds a suitable host to attach to.
These ticks can sense the scent of mammals, and that is how they attach themselves to the host. Once they succeed in securing themselves, they then start to undergo other stages of development and turn into nymphs.
Turning into a nymph
Once they feed on the host’s blood, the larvae detach themselves from the host and start to moult. They do so to get those eight legs. For about two weeks, the process of moulding goes on, and then finally they turn into a nymph.
The nymph possesses eight legs and then starts to search for a good host to get attached to. The process attaching to the host is the same as we saw in the larval stage.
Becoming an adult tick
Finally, the tick becomes sexually mature and can reproduce. Hard ticks are one kind of tick in which the males and females first have their blood meal and then start to mate. When they are feeding and having their meal, the females are known to take a longer time compared to male ticks.
Once the mating is done, the male ticks die. Female ticks also die once they lay eggs. The number of eggs that females produce can range from two thousand to about eighteen thousand. If it is a soft tick, they take less time to take their meal and can lay eggs more than once.
Ticks usually prefer to feed on mammals and birds, and reptiles. While they go through different stages in their life cycle, they change hosts multiple times. They do not stick to one host throughout. Their life cycle is highly dependent on how good the host is and whether they are getting sufficient meals or not.
Make your place Tick-free!
Ticks usually infest homes in large numbers, and your pets can easily bring them inside your home. Thus, if you notice any activity of these little insects, it is better to let a pest control company handle it for you. They will make the elimination quicker and easier. Furthermore, they also ensure the safety of pets while using any chemicals.
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