“If we end up running into the situation that we’ve had the past couple of years where we have dry conditions starting in June and lasting through August, that’s not a good situation for ticks. “This time of year it’s tricky because the growing season is just starting, and once the trees start to green out, they’ll pull an awful lot of the moisture out of the soil,” Lubelczyk said. Maine’s most troublesome tick - the blacklegged tick, also known as the deer tick - is highly susceptible to drying up and will seek shelter in dry conditions rather than search for animals - or people - to bite. Nevertheless, a hot, dry summer could slow down tick activity in the state, Lubelczyk said. “We’re not anticipating reduced tick numbers or reduced tick activity. “I think we had enough snow cover over the winter that winter conditions probably didn’t have any impact on tick populations,” said Griffin Dill, pest management specialist at the University of Maine Tick Identification Lab. Snow protects and insulates overwintering ticks, helping them survive the cold months. In addition, Maine just experienced a relatively snowy winter, with snowfall above average throughout the state. “If it stays damp and rainy as it has been, we can expect a fairly normal to healthy season for ticks.” “The real kicker is that it’s been a very damp spring, and the damp helps ticks survive,” said Chuck Lubelczyk, a field biologist for the Maine Medical Center Research Institute’s Lyme and Vector-Borne Disease Laboratory. This may not bode well for the months ahead. Knowing which species you have in or around your home or business is key when trying to keep your family and pets safe and prevent an infestation.( BDN) - Tick season is in full swing in Maine, and so far, weather conditions have been favorable for these dangerous pests. Photo of a dog tick waiting on a blade of grass The Importance of Pest IdentificationĪs with any pest, tick identification can help you better understand the nature of the problem and develop a plan of action. As you can tell from this top-view pest image, other than a slightly pitted appearance, the brown dog tick lacks the more distinct body patterns found in other species. Adult females range in size from an eighth to a fourth of an inch in length, but their size and shape changes dramatically after feeding.īoth males and females are a similar reddish-brown color. Male brown dog ticks take only small amounts of blood from a host, but females take much more. Females are brown to reddish-orange and have a black shield-like plate, or scutum, behind their heads. Adult males tend to be dark brown with no reddish coloration. In this deer tick image, you can see why some people call the pests black-legged ticks. A louse has six legs while an adult tick has eight. For pest identification, you’ll need to take a close look at the specimen’s limbs. Both pests are small and appear similar at first glance. Since they are hard to see, it’s easy for people to mistake a tick for a head louse. Their coloring can also change to tan, gray, or dark brown. Once they’ve taken a blood meal, adult female ticks can increase in size to as much as a half-inch in length. In this side-view pest image, you can see that ticks are small and flat before feeding. Male deer ticks, on the other hand, are slightly smaller in size.Ī photo of a deer tick crawling on a person’s skin Females grow up to about an eighth of an inch in length. Two deer ticks pictured on a penny for size referenceĪs seen from this deer tick photo, these pests are tiny. The pests are far too little to see on blades of grass, and their reddish-orange or dark brown coloration helps them blend in with their surroundings. Females deer ticks have a dark red abdomen and black head.ĭue to their small size and coloration, ticks are hard to spot outdoors. While they may seem similar from a distance, each species is unique in how they look. In addition to learning more about the appearance and characteristics of the species, these pictures can help you identify a tick if you see one in your home or business, or worse, on you, your family, or your pets. We’ve put together an image gallery of the most common ticks in the region. Size and appearance vary by species, and most ticks have distinct characteristics that help with identification. In general, these pests have teardrop-shaped bodies and females are typically larger than males. While there are hundreds of different types of ticks in the U.S., only a few live in the Mid-Atlantic region.
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