8.07.2008

Drat, Ticked Again!

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Yes, that is my boot and, yes, those little brown specks are ticks.
Now, multiply what you see by about 7 times and you will have an idea of the number of these precious little critters I came in contact with today in a remarkably short period of time.
Click to enlarge the photo.
Shall we all have a collective shudder?
Larval stage of the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum, a.k.a. seed ticks.

(Relax, I got them off before they even thought about attaching. Vigilance pays.)

4 comments:

nina at Nature Remains. said...

Good Grief! I'd be ticked, too!
I have never seen such a thing--so many and so small.
I thought I'd hit the jackpot when I first moved here (SW Ohio) and walked through a feild of grass. My shoelaces were dotted with them like burrs.
But they were the larger dog ticks--nowhere near as many as you have.

swamp4me said...

nina,
They are impressive little beasts, in a creepy sort of way!

Anonymous said...

So.Gross.

I don't judge many beasts, unless they occupy public office, but ticks just give me the willies. I should never have looked at those high-powered magnifications of their mouthparts, I suppose. UGH.

Lampreys are gross, too. Luckily they don't attach to people, though they may have surreptitiously invaded public office.

swamp4me said...

tf23,
I'm generally non-judgmental myself, but I agree -- there is just something willie-producing about ticks. I may also have to agree about the lampreys, but I try to stay apolitical on this particular blog ;)