Wisconsin tick identification3/21/2024 ![]() On average, two generations may occur per year, but up to four generations per year have been documented in countries in tropical regions. Ticks are notoriously long-lived and can survive as long as three to five months in each stage without feeding. The overall development from egg to egg-laying female can be completed in just over two months, but frequently it will take longer if there are few hosts available or under cooler temperatures. This can lead to the apparent disappearance and then re-appearance of ticks in a residential infestation. Although ticks are visible while looking for a host and feeding, they are not easily observed while digesting their blood meals, molting, or laying eggs, due to their cryptic behavior. Survival is generally higher at cooler temperatures and higher relative humidity, but these ticks are tolerant of a wide range of conditions. The length of time that each life stage feed, as well as the time required for development and molting, are both temperature dependent. Feeding and development times are generally faster at warmer temperatures. As adults, both males and females will attach to hosts and feed, although the males feed only for short periods. The nymphs then find and attach to another host (possibly the same dog), feed for 3 to 13 days, fall from the dog and take about two weeks to develop into adults. Larvae feed for 5 to 15 days, drop from the dog, then take about one to two weeks to develop into nymphs. The host seeking activity, which occurs in all the active stages, results in increased movement of ticks towards a dog, thus owners often see ticks drawn out into the open on furniture, baseboards, carpeting and dog bedding. The larvae hatch 6 to 23 days later, and begin to quest, or look for a host. The female dies after she finishes laying her eggs. The number of eggs laid depends on the size of the tick and the amount of blood she ingested. ![]() As she lays the eggs, she passes them over her porose areas (specialized areas on the back of the basis capituli) to coat them in secretions that protect the eggs from desiccation.Ī fully blood-fed female brown dog tick can lay over 7,000 eggs, with 4,000 on average. She may start laying as soon as four days after she completes feeding and drops off the host, and can continue to lay for 15 to 18 days. Cracks and crevices in houses, garages and dog runs are ideal locations for this. Mating of brown dog ticks occurs on the host following the stimulation of blood ingestion.Īn adult female will feed on the host for about a week, then drop off the host and find a secluded place for egg incubation for about one to two weeks. The Brown Dog tick is a three-host tick meaning each active stage (larva, nymph, and adult) feeds only once, then leaves the host to digest the blood meal and molt to the next stage or lay eggs. Nymphs are distinguishable from adults primarily by size, but this is unreliable and so these two stages need to be confirmed by microscopic examination, and usually by an expert. Males and females can be difficult to distinguish without examining them with magnification due to their lack of coloration, but males take only small blood meals while females take large meals and increase dramatically in size. On male Brown Dog ticks, the scutum (dorsal shield) covers the entire dorsal surface, but only covers the anterior dorsal (area just behind the mouthparts) surface in females. Many features used to identify the stages and sexes are difficult to see without a microscope. ![]() The different stages (larva, nymph, and adult) are progressively larger in size and once a blood meal is taken, tick size within a stage become larger and more variable. Frequently, when people report having a “tick infestation,” they often believe that they have several different types of ticks in their home or on their dogs – when in fact they are observing multiple life stages of the Brown Dog tick.
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