Last night at obedience class, one of Wally’s classmates had ear issues during the 3 minute down. The culprit, who I tactfully slipped into a cardboard box, came home for a quick photo shoot.
R. sanguineus feeds on a wide variety of mammals, though dogs are the preferred host. The brown dog tick requires a host for each of the three stages of its life cycle. It leaves the host to develop and molt between the larval, nymphal and adult stages. Stage nomenclature will seem odd to those familiar with entomology, but so be it.
A fully mature, blood-fed female brown dog tick can lay in excess of 5000 eggs. Duration of feeding time and length of each life cycle stage is heavily impacted by ambient temperature. Warm temperatures speed up development, while survivorship at every stage is generally increased by cool temperatures and high humidity.
Double click the image above if you haven’t done so already.
This wonderful photo now explains to me what my father always said, “stuffed as a tick”. Holy engorgement!
Do they come with fingerprints, or are they optional? Many years ago I worked at the Rocky Mountain Lab and photographed thousands of ticks.
Good eyes! I was wondering if someone would notice my fingerprint. I guess I now have shared yet another personal aspect electronically!
I had a cat that looked like this. Poor thing!