As an avid outdoorsman I usually love learning and
experiencing new things about nature but sometimes there is a limit. A recent blood tracking expedition taught me
something I really didn’t need to learn.
Last Tuesday night after a very routine blood tracking call
earlier that day in MD I found myself lying in bed in the dark scratching like
crazy on my legs. The itching and small
bumps immediately brought the thought to mind that I had again gotten into some
chiggers earlier in the day. Actually,
the itching and bumps were less than I had experienced in the past from
chiggers so I was pretty happy about that.
I found out a day and a half later it wasn’t chiggers that I had gotten
into but instead my dog Eibe and I had gotten into a nest of tick larvae! Tick larvae are very, very small and I had
not noticed them at first on myself or my dog but by Thursday morning they had
been feeding on Eibe for a while and had blown up to a size that I could now
easily see. Commonly called “seed ticks”
for their close resemblance to small seeds, Eibe was covered in them! Without exaggeration I would estimate there
were at least 1,000 or more engorged tick larvae all over her body! Upon close examination I could even see the
discarded exoskeletons from some of the larvae who had molted into the nymph
stage. The engorged ticks were so small
that I wasn’t even sure what they were until I used a magnifying glass and
could see their legs. A quick call to my
vet and a little internet research held the solution to the problem. Unlike adult ticks and just like chiggers,
these larvae don’t attach very securely when feeding. That’s why I easily rubbed them off my legs
unknowingly the first night and did not end up with any engorged ones on
me. All that was necessary to get them
off Eibe was a simple flea and tick shampoo and a flea comb through her hair
once dry.
Except for the fact that I can’t stop itching from just the
thought of all those creepy little critters all over my dog and some inevitably
crawling around my house the whole thing ended pretty easily. According to the research I have done, the
likelihood of tick borne diseases being transmitted by the nymph stage appears
low. Now the only big question left is
what will be my next dog disaster?
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Engorged tick larvae on Eibe’s back and belly.
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Shed larvae exoskeletons after molting to the nymph stage.
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Engorged tick larvae on Eibe’s back and belly.
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Just a few of the dead ticks collected from the drain after
Eibe’s tick bath.
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This chart shows the comparative size of the larvae, nymph,
and adult tick.
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