Ticks & Chiggers--a study

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,154
4,258
Pines; Bamber area
I wish something could be done to annihilate ticks from Earth. Or at least reduce their numbers drastically. Think outside of the box--come up with something bold and innovative. Like when you use certain products to kill ants, and they kill others nearby by association.
 

NJChileHead

Explorer
Dec 22, 2011
831
628
I wish something could be done to annihilate ticks from Earth. Or at least reduce their numbers drastically. Think outside of the box--come up with something bold and innovative. Like when you use certain products to kill ants, and they kill others nearby by association.

So do I. Tick tubes are reputed to be effective but I think that they only work over smaller areas.
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,552
2,465
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millville nj
www.youtube.com
Apparently the deer management down here is far from quality.I never have seen the sense in planting fields for deer in every square mile of forest the way Bevan does. I usually substitute the acronym WMA with Deer farm in NJ Thats all they really are. More deer and more game birds isn't necessarily the best answer.Just like cramming more people into cities like Philly and NYC doesn't make for better happier people.Looking at the aerials of Greenwood I"d say thats a Deer Farm as well.
 
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bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,154
4,258
Pines; Bamber area
Another female America Dog Tick picked up near Pemberton, in farm country. This tick gave me no reaction on my leg at all.

upload_2017-8-5_13-57-31.png
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,154
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Pines; Bamber area
Yesterday was the first day I got the little ones on me this year. Sue and Al (via our mutual friend) pointed out that they were not chiggers after all when I saw this type of patch of critters on my leg just above the knee. Now I certainly see what they mean. These are just .7 mm long. They died overnight in the plastic bag. They are hungry, but they did not get a piece of me. I was bombed four times like this between today and yesterday. I used permethrin, but it still takes them some time to die. They were still alive in the bag 3 hours later.

Because I see only 6 legs, I'm going to guess Lone Start Tick larva.

Leg.JPG
3some.JPG
micro.JPG
 
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Sue Gremlin

Piney
Sep 13, 2005
1,277
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Vicksburg, Michigan
Oh my. I've had that happen before. Suddenly, our legs were...moving. It's amazing how many larvae can stick to you as you're walking through the weeds.

Your ID is accurate. SIx legs, round body shape, long mouthparts, festoons around the caudal aspect (The curly, fancy design around the back part, like one would find on an apple pie). All those point to Amblyomma americanum.
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,154
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Pines; Bamber area
Sue, I have a zoom dissection microscope that zooms in to 50X. I simply shoot a photo through the eyepiece lens. That is how I did the photo of the 3 together.

I also have a compound microscope with powers of 40X, 100X, 400X, and 1,000X. I place the offensive tick on a slide in a drop of water, and then place a cover slip over the disgusting creature. The closeup of the body is 100X. I also shoot through the eyepiece lens.

Here is the nasty critter's biting parts at 400X.

upload_2017-8-11_9-16-30.png
 
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Sue Gremlin

Piney
Sep 13, 2005
1,277
233
61
Vicksburg, Michigan
Ooh boy. Sometimes the simplest thing is the best solution. I shot this with my iPhone, a dried up ant that I picked up off the floor and threw onto the base of my dissecting scope.
I am in graduate school right now at Cornell, and this will be really useful.
Handsome lad, if not a little dried up.
 

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bobpbx

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