Why do some people never seem to get bitten by ticks, while others are absolute tick-magnets? Are there certain human traits that attract or repel ticks? Yes, there are! By understanding how ticks detect their prey, we can understand why some individuals are more likely than others to attract ticks.
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How Are Ticks Related to Spiders?
When it comes to bugs, not all creepy-crawly critters are created equally. Some bugs are insects, and some are not. Insects are small, six-legged animals, often with wings. Ticks may be small, and some may have six legs when they’re young, but ticks aren’t insects. They’re arachnids and share more characteristics with spiders than ants, flies, beetles, and other insects.
Are Ticks Related To Spiders?
Ticks are more closely related to spiders than they are to insects. Like spiders, they are a part of the arachnid family, along with mites and scorpions. Both spiders and adult ticks have eight legs and lack antennae and wings. Can ticks spin webs? Unlike their spider cousins, ticks are opportunistic predators, waiting for their prey to wander close enough to latch onto.
What Is The Difference Between A Tick And A Spider?
Both spiders and ticks are arachnids, but ticks aren’t spiders; rather. Ticks are a mite species, and mites are tiny, primarily parasitic pests that often cause itchy bites that can transmit various diseases.
Spiders and ticks are built differently. Both are arthropods– invertebrates with external skeletons and jointed legs, but spiders have segmented bodies while ticks do not, and Spiders have a separate cephalothorax and abdomen. Ticks have small, flat, unsegmented bodies that enable them to attach easily to a host.
These arachnid cousins have very different diets as well. Most spiders consume insects, but some will eat nectar, pollen, seeds, leaves, web silk, or dead arthropods. Some even eat their exoskeleton after shedding it! Larger spider species may consume small lizards, birds, bats, or fish. Humans, pets, and livestock are only part of the spider diet in monster movies, and they do not seek out humans as dietary staples.
On the other hand, ticks feed on the blood of mammals – people, pets, wild animals – and livestock, as well as on birds, reptiles, and amphibians. They are parasites that latch onto their host with their mouthparts, feasting on a blood meal.
Tick Bites vs. Spider Bites
Unlike ticks, spiders rarely transmit infectious diseases, and their bites are usually harmless. The exceptions are black widow and brown recluse spider bites that transmit toxic venom, causing pain, flu-like symptoms, skin lesions, and neurotoxicity.
Ticks, on the other hand, are a vector of multiple diseases. It’s estimated that more than half the ticks on Long Island carry Lyme disease. This bacterial disease is transmitted to humans through the bite of the black-legged tick, causing flu-like symptoms and a distinctive bullseye rash. East End residents are at risk of tick-borne diseases, including anaplasmosis, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, tularemia, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, so closely monitor the results of any tick encounters.
Call East End Tick Control® For Peace Of Mind
East End Tick Control® is Eastern Suffolk County’s most-experienced tick control company, providing the East End with effective tick extermination treatments since 1997. Protect your family from disease-carrying ticks year-round by requesting a free estimate now or by calling our Southampton office at (631) 287-9700, our East Hampton office at (631) 324-9700, or our Southold office at (631) 765-9700.
The Importance of Tick Identification
The dangers of tick bites are well known to East End residents. If a tick bites you, you’re wise to be concerned about contracting a tick-borne illness. But does it matter what kind of tick has bitten you? A tick is a tick, and they’re all bad, right? Actually, no. While most ticks carry pathogens, different types of ticks cause various illnesses, and some are far more dangerous to humans than others. It’s important to know what kind of tick has bitten you so you can understand what health consequences you may experience and what symptoms to look for.
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Five Tips for Keeping Your Kids Safe This Tick Season
Few insects inspire fear like ticks. Partially because they look a bit like tiny spiders, but even more because we know they latch on to us, suck our blood, and potentially leave behind a host of different tick-borne diseases; just the thought of a tick can make your skin crawl.
For most people, the obvious answer is to avoid them. But when you are a parent, especially a parent with children who enjoy playing outdoors, there is an ever-present threat of one of the little monsters attacking your little monster.
So how do you keep your kids safe from ticks? As with most insect bite prevention, the key is planning.
- First, when your children go outside, know where they will be and evaluate the risk. While your backyard might not seem like a haven for ticks, you might be mistaken. The first step in keeping kids safe is ensuring your yard is not hospitable to ticks.
The Centers for Disease Control suggests frequently mowing, keeping leaves raked and wood neatly stacked in a sunny, dry place. They also say to keep swings, monkey bars, and other play equipment in bright areas, not under a shade tree. Remember that play equipment in the sun can get hot and cause burns.
- The next step in preventing ticks on your child is to clothe them appropriately. It’s time to forgo favorite colors that are dark and allow bugs to hide. Instead, opt for light-colored clothing and closed-toe shoes. Wearing a hat is always a good idea when under trees and staying out of high weeds.
- The third step to keeping your children safe during tick season is learning to perform a good tick check and safely remove a tick found on your child.
Every time your child comes in from the outdoors, it’s a good idea to do a quick visual inspection to look for ticks.
Not sure how to check for ticks on a child? This YouTube tutorial can help. The key is to inspect their hairline and all the crevices an insect might be able to hide in. Often ticks are found on the scalp or in the armpits, but the mother in the video found a tick in her son’s belly button.
One way to help prevent a tick from latching onto your child is to have them take a bath or shower as soon as they enter. This also helps get rid of any allergens they pick up while outside.
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What to do ff I find a tick on my child? That’s where the fourth step comes in: don’t panic.
Yes, ticks in New York can carry disease, but getting rid of the tick as quickly as possible is essential. Remove the tick from your child, and then worry about the consequences.
Grab a pair of tweezers and a plastic bag. Grasp the tick as close to the head as possible and pull it directly away from the skin. Put the tick in the plastic bag, rinse the wound with soap and water or an antiseptic and then call your pediatrician’s office for advice. Some doctors may want to see the tick to determine the chances of it making your child sick and recommend any follow-up treatment.
- The fifth step in preventing ticks on your children this summer should be your first step. Call East End Tick Control and talk to us about tick prevention treatment for your property. You’ll still want to be careful and use insect repellent, but you’ll sleep a lot easier if you know you’ve done all you can to keep ticks out of your yard and off your kids.
Prevent Ticks by Calling East End Tick Control
Although Lyme disease is highly treatable, prevention is the best cure. Professional tick mitigation is one of the most effective ways to avoid these pests on your property. Since 1997, East End Tick and Mosquito Control® have been Suffolk County’s most trusted tick control company. For 25 years, we use the most effective extermination methods to protect yourself and your family. Request a free estimate now or call our Southampton office at (631) 287-9700, our East Hampton office at (631) 324-9700, or our Southold office at (631) 765-9700.
The Life Cycle of Ticks
One of the best ways to avoid tick encounters and minimize the likelihood of contracting a tick-borne illness is to understand their life cycle. If you are bitten by a tick, knowing where it’s at in its development will help you determine your risk of disease and the course of action you need to take.
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A History of Ticks – Everything You Need to Know
Ticks are a kind of parasitic mite that lives off the blood of animals. They will attach to and feed on mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Ticks have eight legs, just like spiders, and are classified as arachnids. Adult ticks are generally between 3 and 5mm long, depending on the species. They come in soft and hard varieties, depending on the hardness of their body covering. Nearly 900 species of ticks are known to exist worldwide.
Ticks expand when they feed, increasing their body weight by up to 600 times. They extract blood by nibbling a hole in the host’s skin and inserting a small sharp, straw-like structure directly into the host. To help in feeding, they excrete a chemical that keeps the blood from clotting.
Did Dinosaurs Have Ticks?
How long have ticks been around? To answer the question, we must go to the fossil record. While the precise origin of ticks is unknown, according to ABC News, the oldest preserved tick was discovered in 2006 encased in amber. It dates to near 90 million years old (from the Cretaceous Period). Evidence shows that prehistoric ticks fed from “feathered dinosaurs, non-avialan or avialan excluding crown-group birds.” So yes, dinosaurs had ticks.
Are Ticks All Over the World?
Ticks are seen almost everywhere on earth. They do have particular preferences about where they live, including –
- They thrive in warmer, wetter climates since low temperatures stunt the growth of their eggs.
- They prefer areas of transition between woodlands and fields or open spaces.
- They like plenty of leaves, low-lying vegetation, and moist, warm places where brush and weeds grow wild.
How Dangerous Are Ticks?
Unfortunately, ticks are very harmful to both animals and humans. According to National Institute of Health experts, “Tick-borne pathogens are believed to be responsible for more than 100,000 cases of illness in humans throughout the world. Ticks are considered to be second worldwide to mosquitoes as vectors of human diseases, but they are the most important vectors of disease-causing pathogens in domestic and wild animals.”
Ticks can spread several diseases to humans, including Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Colorado tick fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and Lyme disease.
When Was Lyme Disease First Discovered?
As mentioned earlier, ticks have been around for close to 100 million years. While the bacteria that causes Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi) was only officially named in 1981, a 5,300-year-old mummy was recently found to contain the bacteria.
Those infected with Lyme disease may experience a rash, joint pain and weakness, muscle aches, fatigue, fever, joint stiffness or swelling, and headache. While treatable, early detection can help avoid more severe heart or nervous system problems. A doctor can run a simple test to determine if the bacteria is present and prescribe medication as treatment.
How Do I Prevent Ticks?
As previously discussed, ticks love humid places with low vegetation to lay their eggs. One way to help manage ticks is to remove leaves, brush, and weeds at the edge of your property. Regular warm-weather tick spraying and preventative winter treatments can provide year-round tick prevention.
Trust Your Property with East End Tick and Mosquito Control®
East End Tick and Mosquito Control® is Eastern Suffolk County’s most-experienced tick extermination company. Since 1997, we have provided Suffolk County’s Twin Forks and East End with the most effective prevention and extermination methods. Protect yourself and your family from disease-carrying ticks by requesting a free estimate now or you can call our Southampton office at (631) 287-9700, our East Hampton office at (631) 324-9700, or our Southold office at (631) 765-9700.
Are Ticks Still a Concern in Winter?
Autumn and winter are times for fall festivals and other outdoor events. From skiing, ice fishing, and other winter sports, it is a time of many outdoor entertainment options. Along with spending time outdoors comes the risk of exposure to ticks. But how bad is that risk?
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Fall Tick Bite Prevention Tips
Many long-time Long Island residents would argue that the fall is the best time of the year on the East End. Farm stands are full of locally grown pumpkins, squash, and apples. Every weekend in October, there are fall festivals and events for all ages. But there is a hidden outdoor predator that lurks amid the pumpkin patches and hayrides. Ticks remain active until the temperatures dip under 40 degrees. Here are some tips to help prevent tick bites while you are out enjoying all that a Long Island autumn has to offer.
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Fall Tick Season Forecast for 2021
Lower New York and Long Island experienced a warm summer, with temperatures higher than 2020 and significant rainfall, with record rains in July alone. The combination means that the tick population will be especially active and thriving this fall and into early winter. Not only will the ticks emerge in increased quantities, but local area scientists have also made the unpleasant discovery that this year’s tick population carries noticeably higher percentages of dangerous diseases than in years past. Long Islanders must act quickly to safeguard themselves from this season’s rapidly emerging tick population.
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Ticks Outside Of New York – What To Be Aware Of
The weather is getting warmer, family and friends are getting together, and you may want to scratch that itch to travel. There are multiple popular vacation destinations in the United States from which to choose. BusinessInsider.com places California, Florida, and Texas within the top seven most popular states in the U.S. that attract tourists. There are many landmarks to see in these states, but there are also various species of ticks that you can encounter. East End Tick Control® is here to advise you about the ticks found in those states so you can correctly identify them and protect yourself and your loved ones.
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