25 Interesting and Helpful Facts About Ticks

Ticks are understandably annoying for a number of reasons: they look awful, they can carry diseases, and they are parasites that attach themselves to the skin to feed. That being said, they’re also pretty interesting if you can bear to learn more about them!

In this article, you’ll learn 25 fun facts about ticks to educate you and give you insight into their behavior and presence so you can protect your own pets. Read on and find out more!

• Ticks are arachnids and if you look closely they have eight legs! Although often mistaken for insects or beetles, they are actually more closely related to scorpions and spiders, which are also arachnids, than to true insects.
• All ticks go through four distinct life stages: they begin as eggs, then progress to the infant stage as larvae, and then, when immature, are referred to as nymphs. The adult, mature tick is the final stage of the life cycle.
• A tick that has free access to food and is not injured can live up to three years! However, most ticks only live a few weeks and cannot survive very long without a food source.
• There are over 850 different species of ticks, some of which are only found in certain areas of the world.
• Lyme disease is thought to be the top tick-borne threat, but several other diseases such as Colorado tick fever and Ehrlichia can also be tick-borne.
• One species of tick, the Australian paralysis tick, is actually venomous and can cause paralysis in its hosts!
• Ticks feed and survive by latching on to their host, piercing their skin, and feeding on their blood before dropping again when they are full.
• Ticks are highly adaptable and will attach to all sorts of hosts, including cats, dogs, humans, reptiles, birds, and wildlife.
• Ticks range in size from a small, pinhead-sized speck to the size of a fingernail when engorged with blood.
• Dogs are more likely to be infested with ticks than cats.
• As a rule, ticks are not born as carriers of diseases; they become vectors by ingesting them in the areas where they live or by feeding on one host and then passing the disease on to the next host.
• Animals can contract more than one disease or condition from a single tick bite.
• Ticks cannot fly or jump; they attach themselves to their hosts by crawling up grass and bushes and waiting for a passing host.
• In some species of ticks, their saliva acts as a kind of glue, holding the tick in place while it attaches itself to the skin to feed.
• Using a spot-on flea treatment that is also said to be effective against ticks can prevent your pet from becoming a host for a tick in the first place.
• Since ticks are quite nasty disease-carrying agents, you should always wear gloves when handling or removing a tick from your pet.
• If your pet has caught a tick, you can simply take them to the vet where a veterinarian will quickly and easily remove the tick for a small fee.
• It’s entirely possible to safely remove ticks at home, and every pet owner living in a tick-prone area should learn how to do it properly!
• You can buy a special tool called a tick puller that will allow you to pull the tick out of the skin without breaking off the head.
• While ticks can transmit disease, most pets who ingest a tick will not get sick from it, and your pet may have ingested ticks that later shed without disease, without you noticing!
• Ticks recognize their hosts by sensing their breathing, body odor, and warmth.
• Ticks wait for a temporary meal by waiting in the undergrowth with their first pair of legs outstretched to cling to their host.
• Eating a host can take anywhere from ten minutes to a few hours, depending on the size of the tick.
• Ticks are thought to have evolved 120 million years ago.
• Wild animals such as hedgehogs and foxes are often covered in ticks!

Facts About Ticks – FAQs

The tick is the biggest spreader of diseases. With the exception of mosquitoes, ticks are the largest spreaders of diseases worldwide. Within Europe, ticks are even the biggest spreaders of diseases!

What is the purpose of ticks?

It has been proven that ticks are very nutritious for other creatures such as birds or fungi and are therefore an important element in the food chain for certain species.

How long does a tick bite last?

Depending on the stage of development (larva, nymph, tick), blood is sucked for three to seven days. Ticks seek out the ground to molt, lay eggs and hibernate. Our ticks are all three hosts, so each stage has to suck blood once.

What happens to ticks when they are full?

The tick sucks the blood directly into its intestine. By sucking blood, their own weight increases many times over. Because the intestine consists of many appendages and is so elastic that a saturated tick can weigh up to 200 times as much as a hungry one.

How long can a tick live?

A tick can be satisfied with a single blood meal for a very long time. In the laboratory, ticks that had previously sucked blood could survive for up to ten years without further food. In the wild, the wood goat lives an average of three to five years.

What do ticks not survive?

It only becomes critical for ticks at 60 degrees or in the tumble dryer, as the endurance test has shown: “If you really want to be on the safe side, you have to wash your laundry at 60 degrees or put it in the tumble dryer after spending time outdoors.

How long does a tick live without blood?

Ticks can survive underwater for up to an incredible three weeks. They have no lungs but breathe through tracheae. A washing machine can also do little harm to the arachnids.

At what temperature do ticks die?

Ticks in the apartment in the endurance test: wash at 40 degrees Celsius, water, and a freezer. They can even survive a wash cycle of 40 degrees Celsius including a spin cycle without damage. It can only be assumed that they will be killed off at a temperature of 60 degrees Celsius.

How long can a fully sucked tick survive?

How long the ticks can survive in the apartment does not depend on the last blood meal of the small parasites. Once ticks have sucked their fill, it can be several days or weeks before their next meal is due.

How bad is it when a tick head gets stuck?

If you see 3 short mandibles on the head, you have completely removed the tick. However, it can also happen that parts of the head get stuck in the skin. That’s not bad! You don’t even have to remove these parts.

Should you turn ticks out or pull them out?

Do not turn the tick and in particular do not squeeze it, as this makes it easier for pathogens to get into the wound. If the tick is difficult to remove, turning it back and forth can help. Other tools are e.g. a tick card (see picture) or a tick picker.

In which direction do you have to turn a tick?

The following applies when pulling: do not jerk, but rather carefully and cautiously. The following applies when turning: In contrast to screws, ticks have no thread – so the direction does not play a role when turning and it works both left and right.

Does the tick have a natural enemy?

There are few enemies that can be dangerous to them. These include a few species of fungi that grow on or inside them, thereby killing them. Or roundworms that attack ticks, which also leads to the death of ticks.

Are ticks good for anything?

Ticks serve as food for other creatures. Some types of fungi settle on them, nematodes make the parasites themselves hosts and even kill them in the end, as do the larvae of the chalcid wasp “Ixodiphagus hookeri”. There are also birds that eat ticks.

Who feeds on ticks?

Which animals eat ticks? Ticks’ natural enemies include numerous bird species, ants, hedgehogs, and shrews. Arachnids, nematodes, and wasps also use ticks as food.

How long can a tick bite be red?

For the first two to three days after a tick bite, the skin around the bite site may be slightly red, like a mosquito bite. Such redness is usually harmless. Only if it hasn’t gone away after three days or is spreading should you seek medical advice.