'Bugs News

tick This is Elizabeth's story about her experience with a tick bite. "Being a member of the Over-Fifty set, it's not every day that I experience something completely new." "One day I found a tick firmly attached to my back. I had never before been bitten by a tick. Found one on my clothes once, plucked more than I care to count off our basset hound (you can really tell when the Frontline [a flea and tick med] wears off), but never been bitten myself." "How did I get the tick? Our best guess is that I picked it up from our dog while grooming her. I had had my arms wrapped around her while clipping her toenails and the little bugger must have wandered onto me. We had been walking in the local park that morning, and being a good basset hound, she had her nose buried in many little rodent runs in the tall grass. She probably picked it up there. And I picked it up from her." "So what DOES it feel like to be bitten by a tick ? Well, it ...

Ticks, and their host animals such as mice and deer, become more active in Spring. This is also when mating generally occurs and this brings host animals closer together which gives ticks the opportunity to move from one host to another. Ticks actually time this increase in host animal activity by monitoring the levels of certain hormones in the blood of their hosts. Therefore as the Spring mating season gets into high gear tick activity will increase as well. As the owners of dogs that like to explore rodent holes we have to be especially vigilant in the spring. Noses that explore mouse holes can sometimes emerge with a tick! And, these same ticks don't necessarily stay on the dogs but can be deposited into our house as well. So, the bottom line is that Spring is "tick season" , so be prepared. Ticks feed on the blood of their host animal. Ticks can remained attach to their host for many hours during which their saliva mixes with the host's blood. Tick saliv...