Description and photo of a blood-borne tick

A blood-borne mite becomes round, clumsy. Size changes, color. Attack animals, birds, people representatives of the ixodic family. Why ticks drink blood - to replenish energy reserves, go to the next stage of development, lay eggs. Arachnid Life Cycle stretched for several years. The rate of development depends on weather conditions, nutrition. In anticipation of the victim, the hungry state of the parasite is able to stay from 1 to 3 years.

What does a pumped tick look like

In a hungry state, the body of the arachnid is flat, oblong, dark in color - brown, brown, black. Body size adult does not exceed 3 mm. Females are always larger than males. In the process of feeding, the chitin cover expands, the parasite increases in size. The abdomen becomes oval, convex. Body color acquires a red color or brightens - brown, beige, gray.

The size of the inflated tick is 11 * 8 * 5 mm. Sometimes the size reaches 2 cm. From the front there is a small head, 8 pairs of tenacious legs. The inflated tick is inactive, after saturation it simply falls off to the ground. A well-fed female lays eggs in the soil, a nymph continues to develop - molts. A photo of a tick that has drunk blood is presented below. Nymphs differ from adults in body size, the number of legs - 6 instead of 8.

On a note!

What a tick that has drunk blood looks like can be seen on a dog, a cat. Parasites lie in wait for the victim in tall grass, thickets, thickets. Initially, the pest clings to the wool, examines the site, looks for places favorable for a meal. Then he drinks blood for several days.

What happens to the tick when blood gets drunk

A tick sucks blood for several reasons - to continue development, replenish supplies, lay eggs. Larvae live in the soil where they developed in the egg. Waiting for the victim to drink blood. Most often these are rodents, reptiles, amphibians. At the end of the meal, it falls to the ground, molts, turns into a nymph. To go to the next stage of development, blood is needed again.

A fertilized female will not be able to lay eggs until a sufficient amount of blood enters her body. In the process of feeding her body is inflated, increases to 1-2 cm. The female becomes slow and vulnerable. The main goal of the fed-up female is to get on the soil, lay eggs.

On a note!

Does a tick die after drinking blood - male yes, the female does not immediately - as soon as she fulfills her mission of laying eggs. A re-adult individual does not bite.

How long does a tick drink blood from a person

The parasite is not particularly picky about food. It makes no difference to him - he will drink the blood of an animal, bird or person. The parasite looks for places where blood vessels are closer to the surface of the skin, thinner than the epidermis. Groin, armpits, neck, chest, less commonly stomach.

How much blood the tick drinks, how long it has been on the human body, depends on the age of the parasite, gender. A nymph of different ages quickly gets drunk, male. A female can drink 100 times her own weight. The drunk tick remains on the human body from several hours to 2 weeks.

Interesting!

You should also take into account the fact how long the female has starved after fertilization. A tick drinks blood for a long time if it was necessary to wait for a power source for more than 6 months. It is difficult to say in advance how many days the parasite will remain on the body. After the tick gets drunk with blood, it necessarily falls off.

If arachnid falls off at home

In a situation where the parasite bites a person, after a few hours it falls off, often goes unnoticed. A red spot remains on the body, slight inflammation, slight itching. The tick falls offif he fully satisfied his need for food, replenished nutrient reserves.

If a thick tick falls off at home, there is no future for it. The nymph will not be able to continue development, since there is no soil. The female will not be able to lay eggs for the same reasons. After some time, the parasite dies. A tick is dangerous if it does not get drunk with blood, then it can bite again. Where the tick disappears in the apartment, you should not particularly worry. Even if it is not detected, it will soon die.

Danger from ixodid ticks

Are carriers of dangerous diseases. The most common are borreliosis, tick-borne encephalitis. Infection occurs during bite. Borrelia is in the saliva of the parasite, the tick-borne encephalitis virus is in the blood. The likelihood of infection increases with prolonged suction, improper removal.

It is impossible to say exactly how long the tick gets drunk. If he stays on the human body for more than a day, the likelihood of contracting borreliosis increases. When swelling, his body becomes vulnerable. When pressed hard, it bursts. When trying to get it out of the skin, it can head off. Spray of infectious blood enters the human wound, infection with tick-borne encephalitis occurs.

On a note!

If the tick drank blood, it increases in size, becomes noticeable. IN tick-borne encephalitis, Not recommended get on their own parasite. You must immediately seek help at the emergency room or call the hotline. After removing its tick sent to the laboratory for research. Injured injected immunoglobulin with a positive result, or antibiotic. After 14 days you need blood test.