Tick

Ticks are unpopular pests: the small creepy-crawlies bite into the skin of animals and humans and suck blood there. The animals are about the size of a pea.

Characteristics

What do ticks look like?

Ticks belong to the family of ticks and thus to the order of mites and to the class of arachnids. Normally, ticks are only one to two millimeters in size. However, when they have sucked blood, they measure up to a centimeter. The females are usually larger than the males. The body of the tick is egg-shaped, red to light brown in color, and divided into two parts: the body and the tiny head with the mouthparts.

On their backs, they carry a dark, solid chitin shield, which has a typical pattern of fine pore channels. It is much larger in males than in females, where the shield is barely visible. At the tip of the body sits the dark, almost blackhead with the tiny mouthparts.

They have been transformed into perfect stinging and sucking devices: the animals can cut a hole in the skin with sharp teeth, through which they then insert a kind of suction tube with which they suck blood. Four tiny pairs of black legs can be seen slightly below the mouthparts. Because ticks are arachnids, they have eight legs. There are also tiny openings on the underside of the body between the pairs of legs: These are the so-called tracheae through which the ticks breathe.

Where do ticks live?

Ticks are found practically all over the world. The ticks that are native to us are mainly found in temperate climate zones up to an altitude of 1000 meters. Ticks mainly live in tall grass and on bushes or in leaf litter on damp ground. However, they never crawl up trees but can be found at a maximum height of 80 centimeters above the ground.

What types of ticks are there?

There are around 800 different species of ticks around the world.

How old do ticks get?

Ticks live about two to three years. Both the larvae and adults can survive the cold winter months in a hiding place.

Behavior

How do ticks live?

Ticks are also called wood ticks. Perfectly equipped for life as freeloaders, they possess sophisticated senses that enable them to seek out animals and humans in order to suck blood. For example, what is known as Haller’s organ, which serves as a chemoreceptor, is located in the front pair of legs. This allows the animals to smell traces of humans and animals such as carbon dioxide released when they breathe out or sweat.

This organ can also perceive heat: If a living being approaches, the ticks notice this because the temperature in their environment increases due to the relatively high body temperature of humans and animals. With Haller’s organ, they can also feel the finest vibrations that are triggered by the movements of other living beings.

If ticks sense that a person or animal is nearby, they drop on them from blades of grass and bushes. They look for a moist, warm area of ​​skin, hold on there and suck blood. They release a substance into the wound that prevents blood from clotting so they can suckle better. Unfortunately, in some areas, ticks transmit pathogens when they suck. These include the TBE virus, which leads to a certain form of meningitis, and a bacterium that causes Lyme disease. You can get vaccinated against the TBE virus, and antibiotics help against Lyme disease.

Usually, we don’t notice it at first when a tick has attached itself. This is because the animals release an analgesic substance into the wound when they sting. And often, after sucking, the tick has dropped again before you notice the puncture site: the wound is then very red and itchy. If you discover the tick while it is still stuck in the skin, you should remove it immediately. To do this, special tick tweezers are used so that the animal is not squeezed and does not tear off, but is pulled completely out of the skin.

If you tear the tick while pulling it out, the mouthparts remain in the wound and inflammation can occur. It’s best to see a doctor if you’ve been bitten.

How do ticks reproduce?

After mating, the tick males die, and the females live on until after the eggs are laid. Female ticks can produce up to 5,000 eggs in their bodies, with an average of 2,000. The more blood they suckle, the more eggs they produce. Tick ​​eggs are very resistant: the females release a waxy substance from a special gland that coats the eggs and thus prevents them from drying out.

The larvae hatch from the eggs first. They are just a millimeter in size and almost transparent. In addition, they only have six legs and not eight like the adult ticks. The larvae go through several stages of development: they molt and the fourth pair of legs is formed. The larva is now called a nymph. It is also undyed and almost transparent. In order for the larvae and nymphs to be able to go through the individual stages of development, they each need a “blood meal”