According to an article just out in E – The Environmental Magazine, there may be a surge in Lyme Disease cases this year caused by a scarcity of acorns. Apparently, when Ixodes scapularis, the black legged tick, also known as a deer tick, emerges in the spring, the feast of choice is white – footed mice, and other small mammals. Mice, along with deer, chipmunks and squirrels in turn feast on acorns. 2011 produced an extremely small crop of acorns, thus the mouse population has dwindled. The ticks will be looking for other warm blooded creatures, two footed or four footed.
Everything you ever wanted to know about deer ticks:
Blacklegged ticks live two to three years and have three blood meals. The life cycle begins when the female lays eggs. As the eggs mature, they develop into larvae, then nymphs, and finally adults.
- From May through September, eggs hatch into larvae (plural).
- The larva (singular):
- is the size of a period at end of sentence
- initially does not carry diseases such as Lyme disease, human anaplasmosis, or babesiois
- may pick up diseases during its first meal from a diseased host
- Larvae usually feed on white-footed mice or other small mammals.
- If the mouse is infected with disease-causing organisms, the larva will become infected and be able to transmit these organisms during its second or third feeding
- The tick may also feed on a small mammal or bird that is not infected. These ticks cannot transmit disease in later feedings.
- After this feeding, the larvae molt into nymphs and become dormant until the following spring.
- In the spring and summer of the tick’s second year, primarily from May through early July, the nymph becomes active and takes its second feeding from a mammal.
- If the tick is carrying disease agents from its first feeding in the larval stage, it can transmit them during this second feeding.
- If the nymph was not already infected, it can become infected if the second meal host is carrying disease agents.
- The nymph is about the size of a poppy seed. Nymph stage ticks often look like a speck of dirt or a freckle on a person’s skin.
- In the fall of the second year, nymphs molt into adult ticks. Female adults are red or orange and larger than males.
- The adult female ticks feed and mate on large animals in the fall or early spring. The female lays her eggs, then dies.
- If the ticks did not get a blood meal in the fall, they go dormant over winter and seek a meal in the spring. A frost does not kill blacklegged ticks. Adults may become active as soon as it is above freezing. They are occassionally spotted during a temporary thaw in the winter.
- As female ticks feed over the course of several days, their bodies slowly enlarge with blood (engorge). Adult females infected with disease agents as larvae or nymphs may transmit disease during this feeding.
- Male ticks attach, but do not feed or become engorged. Because the adult males do not take a blood meal, they do not transmit Lyme disease.
- Blacklegged ticks feed on blood by inserting their mouth parts into the skin.
- They are slow feeders and will feed for 3-5 days.
- If the blacklegged tick is infected, it must be attached for 24-48 hours before it transmits Lyme disease.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.