Dog ticks, or much more specifically brown dog ticks, get started as tiny little parasites seeking a blood meal. When first born, they are tiny and difficult to see. Through their life, they moult numerous times and eventually, at maturity, turn into the large, unpleasant creatures most of us identify. They are considered to be the most prevalent tick observed throughout the entire world.
A female dog tick feeds just once. Her entire body swells up to many times its original size. Then, a smaller sized male tick attaches next to her for breeding. The female will then drop to the earth and lay her eggs. She can easily develop 10,000 eggs at one time.
These newborn ticks, or larvae, are often called seed ticks as a result of their small size. They’re attracted to light, which often makes them scale any structure they come across. They wait on their lofty perch, at times a blade of grass or even a tree branch, for the smell of carbon dioxide. This particular gas is released in every single breath a dog (or human) takes. After they smell the gas, they let go and fall on the pet that is passing below them.
After they are on the dog’s body, they crawl to the neck, back, ears or even in between the toes and attach themselves to the pet’s skin. They feed on the dog’s blood for 2-4 days then fall off the pet to moult directly into a nymph stage. This second stage tick must also obtain a blood meal from a pet prior to falling off once again to shed into an adult tick.
Simply because it is quite a difficult task for this kind of a small creature to get on a rapidly moving target like a pet, ticks have remarkable survival rates. A dog tick larva will be able to survive up to 6 months with no feeding. An adult tick can survive for 19 months. This makes clear why, in houses that haven’t been lived in for a long time, live ticks can easily even yet be picked up in the yard.
Brown dog ticks trigger discomfort, specifically if in large amounts. They can be found in quite a few bushland regions and where other dogs have been located. Simply because of the large amount of eggs one female tick can lay, it is very easy to understand that they can be problematic to get rid of after they make it into an environment. Long survival rates combined with difficulty in locating and getting rid of the ticks make them a challenge and a nuisance for many pet owners.
Control of these pests requires treatment of both the dog and environment. Lots of different chemicals are available but extreme caution should be taken not to overdose the pet dog with toxic products. A careful, thorough plan of removal and vigilance will eventually get rid of the issue.
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