TICKS

TICKS

Ticks are the largest and most conspicuous members of the order Acarina, which also includes mites; ticks feed

only on the blood of vertebrates, e.g., mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. Ticks differ from other mites;

ticks are larger and have recurved teeth or ridges on the central mouthparts (called the holdfast organ). Ticks

do not have wings and they can not jump and they can not run, hop, fly or even move quickly.

They also have a sensory pit on each of the first pair of legs. This pit detects stimuli such as heat and carbon

dioxide. Ticks also detect light and dark as well as shapes, shadows and vibrations - all stimuli that help them

find their vertebrate hosts. Ticks are noted for crawling under clothing, hiding under fringes of hair and attaching

to the skin. Some species of ticks have the uncanny ability to detect people up to 18 feet away.

There are two types of ticks: soft and hard. Soft ticks feed on hosts that return periodically to a nest, shelter,

cave, coop and so forth. Hard ticks are found on pets, cattle, wildlife and people. In the United States, all

campers, soldiers, hikers and hunters are sometimes hosts for hard ticks; worldwide, there are over 650 species

in this group.

Some ticks live their life on one host; other species spend only their larval and nymphal stages on one host,

then the adult drops off to find another host. Most ticks, however, have three hosts - one for each stage in their

life cycle.

Ticks are considered the most important vectors of disease agents affecting livestock. In the U.S.A.,

ticks are the causal agents of more human cases of vector-borne diseases than any other group of

arthropods.

TICK Life Cycle - Four stages: egg, larvae, nymph and adult

Seed Ticks - A fully engorged female tick can deposit (100 - 18,000) eggs on the ground. Normally, thousands of

tiny 6-legged larvae hatch from the batch of eggs and crawl randomly up grasses, weeds, twigs or low vegetation

or walking over the ground to await or search for a host in the surrounding area; fortunate ones attach to a small

mammal, bird or lizard. These ticks, called seed ticks, suck blood. Being small, their feeding (or engorgement)

time lasts only hours or a day or so. While feeding, the host wanders and seed ticks are distributed away from

the site of the initial encounter. When the engorged seed ticks drop off, they are still usually in or near an animal

run. After eating its blood meal the larva or seed tick molts (shed its skin) and becomes an 8-legged nymph.

Nymph - They are small: between 1/25 to 1/6 inch long and very hard to see. After molting the engorged nymph

climbs grass leaves or a plant stem. Ticks climb progressively higher as they develop; different stages reach

different layers of vegetation. Because of this, developing ticks usually find a larger host than they had during

the previous stage. After several days feeding, the engorged nymph drops off its host and molts again. Look

for a tiny dark speck that does not brush off.

Adult - The adult slowly climbs vegetation, stretches its front pair of legs and waits for vibrations or a shadow

announcing a nearby host. Ticks sometimes wait for months or more than a year for a suitable host to pass by.

According to one report, a soft tick lived for eleven years without feeding! Copulation usually takes place on the

host while the female is feeding. Ticks do not even need to drink. Tick saliva contains over 400 proteins that

interfere with blood clotting, increase blood flow at the wound and help destroy the host’s immune response.

If heat or vibration or odor or shadow or carbon dioxide is detected, e.g., from a feeding mouse, the tick will seek

it out. As the host passes by, claws located at the tips of the tick’s legs grab hold of the host; the tick moves

in the fur (or feathers) to a place where it can engorge itself on its host’s blood. Make a carbon dioxide trap

described in this manual. Limit the vegetation and you limit the infestations.

Attachment and Feeding - Adult female hard ticks will feed from several days to more than a week. (Anyone

who has removed an engorged tick gains, at least, a grudging respect for the parasitic tenacity of this pest.)

Since ticks cannot run, fly or jump and do not crawl up high shrubs or trees, they grasp human hosts from a

point relatively close to the ground: on the shoe, ankle or lower leg and crawl upwards until constricted by tight

clothing or until they reach the head. On wild mammals or pets, they often move until they reach the highest

point on the host - the head or ears. They are extremely hard to control chemically. Safe Solutions Enzyme

Cleaner with Peppermint used as a shampoo or spray, kills them in 2 minutes.

The tick’s ability to creep undetected is matched only by its ability to attach for feeding without the notice of the

host; stealth keeps ticks from being scratched off by the host before they can attach.

The tick slides its pair of slender teeth painlessly into the host’s skin and so the feeding attachment begins. The

central holdfast organ, covered with recurved teeth or ridges, is then inserted. Blood sucking begins. Secretions

from the tick’s salivary glands are then painlessly injected into the wound; these secretions form around the

holdfast organ and glue it in place. At this point, the tick cannot voluntarily detach until its feeding ceases and

the secretions stop. If you are in a known tick area, please purchase and use a device to remove ticks. The

strength of the holdfast organ helps the tick resist being scratched or pulled off. The organ’s importance increases as feeding proceeds; as the female tick engorges, she cannot hold on the host with her legs alone.

Female feeding may take from several days to a week or more - or in the case of human hosts, until the tick is

discovered. When feeding is complete, the engorged female drops off the host, lays eggs and then dies. The

Colombians feed their dogs brown sugar (from sugar cane) to stop ticks from feeding on their pets.

Male ticks are on the host primarily to mate. They do not enlarge greatly or feed much on the host. In fact, they

sometimes pierce and feed on the engorged females. (In one species, this is the only way males feed.)

INTELLIGENT PEST MANAGEMENT® AND CONTROL OF TICKS

Inspection (Be very thorough.)

 Deer ticks are as tiny as a freckle and hard to spot- dog ticks maybe about as large as a match head.

Both like to burrow in along the hairline - so carefully look and feel along the back of your neck, around

your ears and forehead and those of your pets and children, especially in the hair.

 Look in rooms where dogs sleep, under the edge of rugs, under furniture, in cracks around baseboards,

window and door frames, in dog boxes.

 Ticks prefer still, damp, shady areas, so turn on the lights and dehumidifier and fans.

Habitat Alteration and Control (They prefer shady areas.)

Advise occupants to:

 Forget modesty: Thoroughly and carefully inspect pets, children and one another regularly (at least once

a day) for ticks. Try lightly using Safe Solutions Insect Repellent, neem oil, food-grade diatomaceous

earth in your pet’s fur or menthol on their fur as a repellent.

 Wash dog bedding frequently with Safe Solutions Pet Wash or their enzyme cleaner with sodium borate.

 Keep grass cut short around buildings and paths and vegetation trimmed. Screen and caulk. Keeping

grass cut under 3” in height lowers the humidity at ground level making it difficult for ticks to survive desiccation

and their predators.

 Keep stray dogs and wildlife out of the yard. Fence your yard. Remove all underbrush and shrubs.

 As a last resort have a veterinarian treat pets using pesticidal dips, washes or dusts. Do not let small

children play with dogs that have been recently treated. Try bathing pets with Safe Solutions Pet

Wash or their enzyme cleaner with peppermint or even menthol or with food-grade DE first.

Inside:

 Caulk/seal all tiny spaces, crack and crevices where ticks hide. Don’t forget to check behind mop boards,

moldings, frames and baseboards, in furniture and carpets and rugs and inside window pulley openings.

Lightly dust with food-grade DE, boric acid, table salt, baking soda, talcum powder, medicated body

powder or powdered sulphur or Comet®. Spray Not Nice to Bugs® or diluted enzyme cleaners as needed.

 Vacuum daily under the edge of rugs, under furniture, in cracks around baseboards, window and door

frames, in dog boxes. Try spraying and/or cleaning with 1 oz. diluted Safe Solutions, Inc. enzyme

cleaners per quart water and/or peppermint soaps or menthol soaps and/or 1 tablespoon of borax or salt

and 1 tablespoon of 3% hydrogen peroxide (Caution: This mix will cause discoloration of certain

fabrics, paints, colors, etc.) or routinely steam clean the entire area.

 Routinely launder your pet’s bedding with diluted Safe Solutions, Inc. enzyme cleaner and borax and

groom your pets. Then lightly dust with Safe Solutions Food-grade DE.

 Fogging for ticks with volatile pesticide poisons is useless and dangerous.

Outside:

 Keep grass, weeds, shrubs and brush cut short and severely trimmed or cultivated wherever you walk or

play.

 Practice proper sanitation. Remove clutter and debris.

 Avoid tick infested areas and/or wear appropriate clothing.

 Seal all cracks, crevices and other openings into your home or buildings. Remove leaf litter and debris.

 Make tick flags, drags and/or traps; keep grass and brush trimmed and routinely sprayed with diluted

enzyme cleaner using a hose-end sprayer, or lightly dusted with powdered lime or medicated body

powder and/or sulphur. Remember, the shaded areas usually produce the most ticks.

 Raise and allow Guinea hens roam free for them to search out and destroy ticks.

 Read and utilize this Master IPM Planning Manual.

Follow-up - It is important that everyone know that dogs should be protected or inspected daily even after

treatment since eggs can take 30 days to hatch. Take time to assure occupants that brown dog ticks do

not normally bite humans and will, therefore, not transmit a disease. The fear of Lyme disease can create

hysteria and a desire for overkill; explain that the brown dog tick does not spread Lyme disease.

TICKS AND DISEASES

Both the argasid and the ixodid ticks are vectors of over 30 diseases to people, pets, cattle, sheep, goats and

other livestock. Many domestic and wild animals are killed by tick-borne diseases, e.g., fowl spirochaetosis,

Texas tick fever, relapsing fever, piroplasmosis and anaplasmosis. Many other animals are so weakened they

succumb to other diseases. Argus persicus, the “blue bug”, causes nervousness, weight loss, lowered egg

production, and even death in poultry due to blood loss. Several species of hard ticks are significant human

disease vectors (or carriers) and are responsible for the spread and increase of Lyme disease and the persistence

of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF). For this reason, you should be familiar with Lyme disease and the

Ixodes ticks that transmit it. The large urban population in the United States is becoming increasingly at risk

from tick-borne diseases. Humans are closer to disease-carrying ticks due to:

 reversion of cultivated farmland to scrub vegetation (soil banks),

 continuous incorporation of rural land into urban population centers, and

 frequent travel to rural areas for recreation and vacations.

Wildlife populations, hosts for tick-borne disease, are increasing in both rural and urban areas. As well, urban

tick populations do not lend themselves to classical agricultural pesticide poison applications.

There are many reasons why ticks are successful parasites and successful at transmitting diseases:

 They are persistent blood suckers; they attach and hold on until they finish feeding.

 Long feeding periods give time for the transfer of infections and extend the distribution time.

 Many tick species have a wide host range. Ticks feed initially on small hosts; later on larger

hosts. Most can take three different hosts; they primarily find mammals, but will accept birds, amphibians

and reptiles.

 They have a tremendous reproduction potential and lay several thousand eggs.

 Eggs of some disease-carrying ticks can also carry the disease.

 They have natural enemies. Two species of wasps are known to parasitize hard ticks; spiders, nematodes,

fungi, birds, e.g., Guinea fowl, and fire ants will eat them. No single control method will

eliminate every tick.

TBE - Tick-borne Encephalitis (TBE) can lead to meningitis and, in serious cases, results in paralysis and

death; it is now epidemic in 27 countries across mainland Europe, an increase of 11 in 2006. TBE infected ticks

are typically found in forest and rural areas of endemic countries, especially where people participate in outdoor

activities, e.g., walking, hiking, trekking, climbing, cycling and/or camping.

Lyme Disease - It takes an infected tick between 36 and 48 hours of attachment to transmit Lyme disease

to humans. First named in 1977, lyme disease is an arthropod- borne zoonosis, initiated by a spirochete (a

spiral-shaped bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi) vectored and maintained by a hard tick, Ixodes dammini

(Spielman, Clifford, Piesman & Corwin) in the Northwestern U. S. and by other tick species, e.g., black-legged

(deer) tick, Ixodes scapularis in the Eastern and Midwestern states and by the western black-legged tick, Ixodes

pacificus in the western states. Other tick species may also be involved in transmission of additional other

Borrelia species. in other areas. In addition to ticks B. burgdoferi spirochetes have been found in 6 species

of deerflies and horseflies (Tabanidae) and 3 species of Aedes mosquitoes. Symptoms vary and may mimic other diseases; many cases go undiagnosed. The first indication of a potential infection may be the discovery

of an attached tick. Disease transmission does not occur for an estimated 10 - 12 hours after feeding begins;

if the tick is located and removed within that time, no infection is likely to occur. There are different strains of

the spirochete, especially in the Southern states. First diagnosed in 1976 in Lyme, Conn. In 1998 there were

almost 18,000 reported U. S. cases.

Lyme disease is now found on nearly every continent in temperate zones as well as in some colder zones. At

this time it is not found in tropical areas. Lyme disease, or borreliosis, is an emerging infectiious disease caused

by at least three species of bacteria belonging to the genus Borrelia. [1] Borrelia burdorderi is the predominant

cause of Lyme disease in the United States, wheras Borrelia afzelii amd Borrelia garinii are implicated in most

Europeqan cases.

Usually with seven days (from three to 32 days) after disease transmission, a rash appears (in 60 to 75 percent

of all cases). The rash looks like a red, expanding ring with a clear center; this center often is the site of the

bite. The rash may burn or itch. Technically, this rash is called erythema cronicum migrans (ECM); it is not

uncommon to find ECM at multiple sites. It disappears within three weeks but can recur. Other skin symptoms

may be hives, redness of cheeks under eyes and swelling of eyelids with reddening of the whites of the eyes.

Flu-like symptoms may accompany the skin symptoms, e.g., high fever, headache, stiff neck, fatigue, sore throat

and swollen glands, it can be treated with antibiotics.

A second set of symptoms occurs in untreated patients four to six weeks after transmission. Over half untreated

victims experience an arthritis of the large joints (primarily the knees, elbows and wrists) intermittently or

chronically. A few (10 - 27 percent) experience neurological effects including severe headache, stiff neck, facial

paralysis, weakness and, possibly, pain of the chest or extremities; these symptoms may persist for weeks. In

6 - 10 percent of the cases, heart blockage may occur. In 1995, the U. S. had about 11,700 confirmed cases

of Lyme Disease in 43 states and the District of Columbia. In 1996, there were 16,461 cases nationally, with

90% of them in the Northeast. Ninety per cent of all cases of human exposure is from the black legged tick

nymph. Approximately seventy per cent of all human cases of Lyme disease originate in people’s back yards.

The highest density of ticks will be within 3 feet of the wood edge of your yard. They also live down in the duff

of the forest floor where the white-footed mice live.

Dogs can also acquire Lyme disease. They forage in tick habitat and become infected. In fact, diagnosis of the

disease in dogs in the area is a harbinger of human cases to follow. Symptoms in dogs include sluggishness

and lameness. Usually the disease is contracted from May through August.

Robert Lane, an insect biologist from the University of California at Berkeley, said in April 1998 that ticks with

lyme disease can be cleansed of the infection when they feed on the blood of the common fence lizard.

Responses to Lyme Disease: Education

This serious disease can be expected to increase. You should clearly instruct your children and any visitors or

occupants of an area that there are no easy or effective control measures that school districts, local, state or

federal agencies can perform.

 Children are at highest risk; they encounter infected ticks in camps, parks, on hikes, or at play

in areas where deer and mice abound. Children are not as concerned or sensitive to finding

ticks on themselves are as adults.

 The second risk group are adults whose occupations place them in tick habitat: farmers, outdoor maintenance

workers, park and forestry personnel and military personnel.

 The general public who hikes, camps, participates in outdoor recreational sports, or lives in

areas of preferred tick and host habitat is the third risk group.

 Hunters, depending on the season and the amount of time spent out of doors, fit into either of

the last two groups.

 If you are trapping white mice wear gloves when handling sprung traps and/or mice carcasses.

Dispose of all dead mice in sealed plastic bags.

 When land is cultivated the deer population is decimated and ticks all but disappear.

Detection and Control

Detection. Surveillance for hard ticks is routinely conducted with a tick drag, a soft white cloth

(3x3 feet) stapled to a dowel to which a cord is attached, with a second dowel or board at the end to weigh

the cloth down. Questing ticks grab onto the cloth as it is dragged over grass and brush. The drag is

inspected for ticks at fixed intervals, for example, 10 paces in an area of relatively high tick density or

100 meters in less dense infestations. Tick drags are effective when the vegetation is dry and the

temperature exceeds 45EF.

For many species, carbon dioxide trapping can yield the most ticks per worker-hour expended.

This technique relies on the ability of ticks to sense carbon dioxide and move toward the source. Dry ice is

placed in ventilated containers or compressed gas is used as the source of carbon dioxide.

Host trapping, as described above for mite surveillance, is also an effective method for detecting

ticks. In areas with dense tick populations, simply walking through the habitat is an effective surveillance

method.

Prevention. Personal protection is a recommended approach for prevention of tick bites. Tucking

trousers into boots and shirts into pants, using repellent for exposed skin and an approved toxicant for

clothing, and performing regular clothing and body checks should be routine when in tick habitat.

Removal of attached, embedded ticks should be done carefully as the insertion is deep and

provides an entry for pathogens that might be released if the tick is crushed. The portion of the mouthpart

(hypostome) that penetrates the skin is long in certain ticks and firmly attached and may break off from

the body if the tick is forcibly pulled loose. The attachment results in a continuous itching. The inflamed

condition is relieved only when the mouthparts are removed. Secondary bacterial infections may occur at

the bite site. Do not force the tick to remove itself by placing a chemical or lighted cigarette on it because

the tick will respond by regurgitating into the wound before it pulls out. A pair of fine-tipped forceps

should be inserted into the skin at the base of the mouthparts and then the entire tick gently pulled out.

Control. Habitat alteration can be very effective. Exclusion of host animals (e.g., deer) can cause

major reductions in populations of ticks that feed on deer. Opening clearings provides better visibility for

predators to spot rodents. Keep vegetation short, widen paths and advise users to stay on the paths in

order to avoid ticks. Controlled burning and mechanical clearing can reduce infestations temporarily.

Reduced cover raises the ground temperature and lowers the humidity, causing the ticks to dry up and die.

It eliminates suitable habitat for the larval and nymphal hosts, which include small rodents such as the

white-footed mouse and the meadow vole. Also, limit access of dogs and children to tick habitats. Dog

control is important to reduce brown dog tick infestations. Dogs should be disinfested daily.