Deer ticks

Spring is here and we are spending more time outdoors enjoying the warm weather, but this warm weather also brings out the Deer Ticks (Ixodes scapularis). Mary found this tick after doing some yard work.



Deer ticks have a two-year life cycle, during which time it passes through three stages: larva, nymph, and adult. The tick must take a blood meal at each stage before maturing to the next. Deer tick females latch onto a host and drink its blood for four to five days. After the tick has consumed its blood meal, it drops off and overwinters in the leaf litter of the forest floor. The following spring, the female lays up to a few thousand eggs in clusters.

Ticks are very hardy creatures. Expect them to be active even after a moderate to severe frost, as daytime temperatures can warm them enough to keep them actively searching for a host. In the spring, they can be one of the first invertebrates to become active.