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About ticks
Ticks find a host by sensing their breath (CO2), heat, as well as
vibration using sense organs located on their front legs.
There are male and female ticks. After mating with the male,
female ticks lay thousands of eggs and then die. From the eggs
emerge larvae, which become nymphs and then adults.
Aprox 880 species are spread over the tempered zones around
the world.They like warm areas with high humidity. Normally
they sit at the tip on stalk of grass waving its claw supplied front
legs in search for a passing host.
In addition, the size is variable, depending on if the tick is empty
or blood-engorged : but note that only the size of the abdomen
changes; legs and shield's size don't vary.
The volume of blood ingested may be from 200 to 600 times their
unfed body weight.
Tick-borne diseases
It's important to remove ticks fixed in the skin as soon as
possible, because ticks can transmit serious diseases to
animals and people.
in people : rickettsiosis, Lyme's disease, tick-borne
encephalitis, tick-fever.
in animals : babesiosis, ehrlichiosis and Lyme's disease
in the dog, babesiosis in the horse, haemobartonellosis
in the cat,
babesiosis and ehrlichiosis in the cattle.
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