
Raccoon Invasion: How To Safeguard Your Manatee County Home From Unwanted Guests
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Raccoons are dangerous wild animals that find their way to our yards. Learn how to guard your property against them. ...
Ticks are a type of external parasite that feed on the blood of wildlife, domestic animals, and people. Ticks are a potentially very dangerous pest because they pose serious health concerns as they have the ability to carry and transmit disease a wide variety of diseases to people and pets. The three most common species of ticks found living in Florida include the American dog tick, blacklegged tick (deer tick), and brown dog tick.
Before having a blood meal American dog ticks are brownish-tan in color and have marbled white or yellow markings; after having a blood meal they turn a grayish-blue or olive green color. Their body is oval in shape but when full of blood they increase in size and become round in shape.
Blacklegged ticks are a very small species of tick, they are a dark orange color and have distinctively darker, almost black colored legs. Before a meal, the adults are only about 1/8th of an inch in length, and after a meal, they become engorged and grow larger.
Yes, ticks bite in order to pierce the skin of their host so that they can feed on their blood. Most tick bites are painless and result in redness and swelling. Tick bites may develop into sores on the skin as well.
Ticks use their specialized mouthparts to grasp the skin, pierce it, and insert a feeding tube to suck out the blood. They secrete a small amount of saliva with anesthetic properties in it during the feeding process in order to make the process painless.
Yes, ticks are considered to be dangerous because of many diseases that they can spread to both people and animals. According to the Florida Department of Health, the blacklegged tick is responsible for spreading Lyme disease and babesiosis; and the American dog tick spreads Rocky Mountain spotted fever. While brown dog ticks rarely cause health issues for humans, the website of the University of Florida notes that brown dog ticks spread diseases to dogs including canine ehrlichiosis and canine babesia.
Ticks are often introduced by rodents and other wildlife as they wander through. They’ll seek out tall grass, thick vegetation, and wooded areas where they’ll wait for a new host to wander by.
Another way ticks arrive is on people and pets. If you spend time in areas where ticks are likely to be (i.e. hiking trails and woods), you run the risk of bringing them home.
In order to make your home, your family, and your pets less attractive to ticks, we recommend the following tick prevention tips:
Despite your best efforts, you may not be able to avoid ticks when you’re outside. With that in mind, you should always check yourself, family members and pets for ticks before coming inside.
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