Female Deer Tick - Tick Check Time!

While Michelle, Gabe, and I were taking a lunch break Michelle suddenly startled and screeched. She then said oh crap as she searched around for the tick she though she had flung out into the room. In the end I found it crawling up her arm and picked it off into a coke bottle cap. I took it outside to get some good shots of it with the camera before "retiring" it.


It is somewhat hard to believe that this little female deer tick can fit on the head of a pencil eraser and have room for company. At this same time a large percentage of them harbor Lyme disease. Even if they bite you it takes them a while to fully embed themselves, I guess they take their time so you don't notice the bite. You have a window to remove them when you get bit, so always take the time when you've been in brush to do a tick check. I do a full check whenever I come in from the garden and I've discovered more than one that way.


I flipped it over so you could see the underside. Scary beast.