\u00a02014:<\/strong> The BugLady encountered a deer tick on her scalp last week (second week of March), a reminder that these are very hardy little critters \u2013 AND \u2013 that the uncharacteristically balmy weather is getting lots of stuff going early.\u00a0So, here\u2019s the deer tick story as told in a BOTW from three years ago along with some\u00a0hot-off-the-presses<\/em>\u00a0additional information and, of course, new pictures.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\u00a0DEER TICK<\/strong>\u00a0(Ixodes<\/em>\u00a0scapularis<\/em>) (not to be confused with the musical group\u00a0Deer Tick<\/em>) is a critter whose escapades are well known to those of us who live here in God\u2019s Country (at least they should be).\u00a0It\u2019s notorious for its ability to spread Lyme (not Lymes) disease and because its sesame-seed-size makes \u201ctick checks\u201d a challenge (scroll down to the ruler<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lyme disease is an initially-flu-like disease that doesn\u2019t go away and will escalate if ignored, and it is more treatable early than late.\u00a0 The CDC has a very comprehensive website with information about tests, symptoms, treatment, and prevention at\u00a0http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/lyme\/<\/a>, (there\u2019s disagreement about Lyme disease testing and treatment, mainly from organizations whose members have spent months and years looking for a clear diagnosis and an effective cure for this frustrating disease).\u00a0Lyme disease is not \u201ccatching,\u201d and you can\u2019t get it from eating venison from an infected deer (but kneeling on the ground dressing out a deer puts you right down there in DT territory).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the BugLady moved into her rural home 39 years ago, ticks were scarce, she plucked a wood\/dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis<\/em>) off the dog every 5 years or so, and she never saw a deer tick.\u00a0In the past four or five years she has seen fewer wood ticks, but deer ticks (a.k.a. Black-legged ticks) have arrived in force and are showing their little heads by late April (chiggers are\u00a0way<\/em>\u00a0more numerous, too).\u00a0An article in\u00a0Science Daily<\/em>\u00a0(June 22, 2011) refers to the \u201csteady march of deer ticks across the Upper Midwest\u201d and reports that the rate of their advance through Indiana and Illinois (having successfully occupied Minnesota and Wisconsin) is two counties per year.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Non-feeding adult DTs are very small (about 3mm long) and flat and dark (females may look blood-red when they\u2019re empty but not when they\u2019re full, and males are dark and vaguely speckled). They have eight black legs and a black \u201cshield\u201d (called a \u201cscutum<\/em>\u201d) in back of its head.\u00a0DTs don\u2019t have any white\/light markings on the\u00a0scutum<\/em>, but wood ticks do.\u00a0A feeding adult female looks like a tiny, over-filled, blue-gray balloon (\u201cas tight as a tick<\/em>\u201d) (the BugLady is trying to avoid comparisons to grapes here, lest she put BugFans off their feed).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n DTs lead a complex, three-stage, two-year life.\u00a0 All three stages are mobile and all three require a blood meal that can take three to five days to complete.\u00a0Adult DTs are fairly impervious to frosts and can be out and about on winter days that are above freezing.\u00a0 In spring, Mom has a big meal (adult males rarely feed), mates, drops to the ground, and lays thousands of eggs.\u00a0The first post-egg stage is a minute\u2019 six-legged larva that feeds once during mid-summer on a bird or a small mammal (it\u2019s especially fond of white-footed mice).\u00a0The well-fed larva leaves its host and overwinters in the leaf litter.\u00a0The following spring it molts into a poppy seed-sized nymph that feeds again (another mouse, maybe, or a raccoon or squirrel) and then molts into an adult that becomes active in fall.\u00a0Adults favor large mammals like white-tailed deer.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ms. DT finds Mr. DT through the magic of aggregation pheromones (chemical \u201cperfumes\u201d) that cause DTs to gather in groups, allowing boy to meet girl.\u00a0They may mate on a host, on vegetation, or on the ground.\u00a0He dies after mating a few times; she dies after laying eggs.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where does a DT pick up Lyme disease?\u00a0Typically not from Mom, even if she\u2019s carrying it.\u00a0 An uninfected larva or nymph can pick up the disease from its host; an infected larva can transmit it to its host, and once they\u2019ve picked up the infection, ticks retain it for the rest of their lives.\u00a0The general estimate is that in high-Lyme areas, 25% of nymphal DTs and 50% of adults carry the bacterium that causes the disease, but according to the American Lyme Foundation, fewer than 5% of DTs south of Maryland are carriers.\u00a0 Dog ticks do not spread Lyme disease (but they are not totally innocent bystanders, either).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n DTs are classed as\u00a0sanguivores<\/em>\u00a0(animals that ingest fresh blood).\u00a0They\u2019re opportunistic – to find a host, they\u2019ll often wait at the tips of vegetation in what is called the \u201cquesting position,\u201d sensing the air, waiting for something large to brush against them (top picture<\/a>\u00a0then scroll down for a Lyme map \u2013 we no longer presume that someone who tests positive for Lyme has been \u201cup North\u201d).\u00a0The biggest mortality factor for ticks may be starvation, and harsh climate can also affect them.\u00a0They typically aren\u2019t eaten by predators because they\u2019re simply too small to see.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s the DT\u2019s pedigree: they\u2019re in the family Ixodidae (the hard ticks), which is in the order Ixodida (ticks), which is in the Class Arachnida (spiders and friends), which is in the Phylum Arthropoda (insects, spiders and crustaceans).\u00a0They are, potentially, found wherever their final host, the white-tailed deer, is found.\u00a0 Most DTs live east of a line from Minnesota to Texas<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Along with Lyme disease, DTs can pack a number of disease-causing bacteria and parasites into that tiny body, and scientists are still finding new ones.\u00a0In the three years since the original DT post, a West Nile virus\/meningitis-like disease called Powassan virus has been added to the deer ticks\u2019 arsenal.\u00a0Tiny nymphal ticks far outnumber their elders, and because nymphal ticks are most active during the period when we\u2019re all outside in summer, bites from nymphal ticks are presumed to be the cause of most human infections.\u00a0Pets can get Lyme disease, too; talk to your vet.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also new on the Wisconsin scene is a new tick species, the Lone Star tick, which carries its own set of unpleasant diseases, including one that may trigger in the \u201cbitee<\/em>\u201d a lifelong allergy to beef, pork, and lamb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Scientists have discovered some intricate ways that DTs fit into the ecological jigsaw puzzle:<\/p>\n\n\n\n So – stay inside until winter?\u00a0Through<\/em>\u00a0winter?\u00a0Nope.\u00a0Standard precautions include wearing light-colored clothing, using repellents containing DEET, and pulling socks over your pants cuffs to make it harder for ticks to duck and hide.\u00a0According to the CDC, \u201cIn most cases, the tick must be attached for 36-48 hours or more before the Lyme disease bacterium can be transmitted,<\/em>\u201d so do thorough tick checks of your hairline and all your nooks and crannies.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..the BugLady feels like stuff is crawling on her<\/em>\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BugLady<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n Note: All links are to an external site. Howdy, BugFans, 2025: The BugLady was out in a wetland today, stalking the wily Pink Lady\u2019s Slipper (aka the Moccasin flower), a large and lovely native orchid. After she got home, she …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38860,"featured_media":16234,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[8],"tags":[607,818,926,84],"class_list":["post-16233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bug-of-the-week","tag-bugs","tag-deer-ticks","tag-lyme","tag-ticks"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Deer](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2025\/05\/deer-tick-females13-13-300x215.webp\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Dog](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2025\/05\/tick-dog25-1rz-300x300.webp\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"DT](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2025\/05\/deer-tick-female13-1rz-300x300.webp\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"deer](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2025\/05\/deer-tick-male15-1-300x300.webp\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Deer](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2025\/05\/deer-tick-pair15-6-300x214.webp\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
![\"deer](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2025\/05\/deer-tick-female13-14-300x300.webp\")
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