Ticks Invisible threat

The enemies of our enemies are our friends

Connected by one chain. N.M. Zhirmunskaya

In this case, it is not a real iron chain, but the so-called food chain. Although this chain is invisible, its iron grip inexorably directs many biological processes and allows you to maintain balance in nature.

Equilibrium is the main law of nature. But we just violate it when we break down gardens and kitchen gardens and forget that with all our technical and chemical achievements we cannot escape from nature, which means that if you want, you don’t want, we must comply with its laws.

Consider one of the food chains that exist in our garden. It consists of the following links:

The first is plants that serve as food for herbivorous insects (phytophages);

Third, entomophages that feed on phytophages and themselves serve as food for birds, amphibians, etc.

In this chain, phytophages are in the most advantageous position, the very ones that in our view are united by one name - pests.

Their food is always abundant. Since the amount of food is unlimited, they could reproduce indefinitely, but this does not always happen, since in addition to food, the ability to reproduce depends on many other conditions, including climatic, space, as well as the presence of natural enemies. But since these conditions are constantly changing, the number of phytophage pests varies from season to season. This we see in our garden. One year we breathe a sigh of relief: neither aphids nor weevils. Another year, if in autumn and winter favorable conditions are formed for laying eggs and overwintering of these and other similar small creatures, then in spring we are horrified to see our fruit trees and berry bushes covered with hordes of pests.

Entomophages are not in the best position either. True, our joys turn into grief for them, and vice versa. When there are few pests, they have nothing to feed their young, and then their numbers are greatly reduced. When there are many pests, they are created for them. excellent conditions for reproduction and their number is increasing.

At first glance, everything looks quite safe: mass reproduction of pests is accompanied by mass reproduction of entomophages. The second eat the first and bring their numbers to an acceptable level.

Everything would be so if it were not for some delay in the reproduction of entomophages in comparison with the reproduction of pests. It is late / exactly for the time it takes for the larvae and adult insects to develop from the laid eggs, and this, as a rule, is 2-3 weeks.

In early spring, in April, we can observe the first stage of the confrontation between predators and their victims. As soon as the sun begins to warm, the first predators awaken - spiders and bugs.

Spider and victim

Spiders and most spiders different sizes live in the ground and on the branches of shrubs. They prey mainly on adult insects that have not yet left the stage of winter dormancy.

In April, predatory bugs of anthocoris awaken, which move to the apple trees and begin to suck out the contents of wintering eggs of red and brown fruit mites, aphids, copper flakes and leafworms.

Both adult bugs and their larvae are equally voracious. In the spring, they eat the eggs of the above pests.

An adult bug can destroy a thousand individuals of a red apple tick in one day. At the same time, without harming either the plants or the person, nor the same predators as he is.

During the day, the larvae of the predatory bug of Antokoris destroy up to 300 eggs or up to 250 larvae of the currant shoot gall midge, and in an hour - 50 - 60 spider mites.

When, in summer, adult individuals emerge from eggs, they also eat adults. Bedbugs do not miss aphids, nor copper flocks, or leafworms, but fruit mites and especially their eggs remain their favorite food.

At first it is small and it does not have a strong damaging effect on the shoots, but aphids have unlimited ability to reproduce. Over the summer they give 11-13 generations and, if nothing interferes, their number grows like an avalanche. Aphids reproduce especially intensively in the second half of summer after June 24, when the composition of vegetable juice changes (the content of carbohydrates increases in it, and this stimulates the nutrition and reproduction of aphids). And they would multiply indefinitely, if not for their many natural enemies.

Aphids feed on several species of predatory spiders and 21 species predatory insectsincluding ladybugs, lacewings, predatory bugs, sirfid flies, predatory gall midges. The faster the aphids breed, the more actively the predators that feed on them.

Sierphid flies lay their eggs right in the aphid colonies, and the larvae of eggs that degenerate from the eggs eat the aphids from late May to August.

In June-August, aphids are eaten by the larvae of a silver fly. By the joint efforts of predators of different species, the number of aphids in the second half of summer, as a rule, decreases to an acceptable level.

As a result, a trichogram leaves the egg instead of the moth. They learned to breed the trichogramm artificially, and if it is released in the garden early in the spring, then damage to apples by the moths can be significantly reduced.

Others lay their eggs in the body of caterpillars or larvae. So do most ichneumonid riders, tahini flies.

Then he lays an egg on the caterpillar, closes the entrance to the mink with a pebble and flies away with a calm soul. Hatching from an egg, the larva will find a sufficient supply of food.

Ground beetles are active predators, their prey is everything that lives on the surface and shallow below the surface of the soil. In central Russia, several hundred species of ground beetles were found, but only five species are most common and numerous.

Ground beetles are rather large beetles with hard elytra, which, depending on the species, have a color from blue-black to copper-red. Ground beetles possess such properties that make them very effective entomophages - voracity, aggressiveness, high fecundity, multiplicity and long life spans.

Their victims are eggs, larvae and adults of the most diverse types of insects, but it is very important for us that ground beetle eats the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle, which even birds refuse because of their disgusting taste.

The Colorado potato beetle gives two generations over the summer. Larvae of the most harmful first generation at the beginning of summer are not very accessible to ground beetles, as they sit high on potato bushes, and ground beetles run mainly on the ground. But after heavy rain, wind or hilling, many larvae fall to the ground and become victims of a predator. Ground beetles destroy 30 to 70% of the larvae of the first generation.

The second generation of Colorado potato beetle larvae develops in the second half of summer, when potato tops grows and lays on the ground. At the same time, the period of greatest activity of ground beetles begins. One ground beetle per day can eat an average of 26 larvae of the Colorado potato beetle.

In total, ground beetles eat 60 to 100% of the eggs and larvae of the second generation Colorado potato beetle.

Accordingly, the number of beetles that goes to winter and attacks potato fields in the spring of next year is reduced.

In the fight against colorado potato beetle ground beetles are helped by ladybugs, lacewings and predatory bugs.

In addition, it turned out that this bug can be bred under artificial conditions and released at the right time on potato fields. But best of all, he established himself in eggplant.

Slugs and flies are the favorite food of lizards.

At the garden site it’s not so difficult to choose a place, the food for lizards will be cozy. It should not be sunshine, but not without sunlight the area is wet. A few stones, an old stump will help the lizard brought from the forest to take root with you.

The toad has neither sharp teeth nor wings to chase insects like a bat.

Nevertheless, she is one of the gardener's best friends. Toad hunts only at night. And this is the favorite time for slugs.

Over the summer, 100 worms per square meter of soil lay kilometers of passages, making it loose, water- and breathable.

On the earth, where there are many worms, and this is determined by the holes on the surface of the soil, you can grow everything without fertilizing.

Entomophagous carnivorous insects contribute a lot to controlling the reproduction of harmful insects. The magnitude of this contribution varies greatly depending on certain conditions. Among these conditions, accessibility of nutrition is not the last place, just what the gardener has the ability to influence in a certain way and thereby contribute to an increase in the number of entomophages. Here we again once again mention hedges.

A large number of various insects always live in hedges: both harmful and beneficial. There they are in balance. The latter eat the former and thereby prevent them from multiplying uncontrollably, but at the same time they never destroy them completely, thus supporting their nutrition and, accordingly, their numbers at a fairly high level.

If in the garden suddenly begins the mass reproduction of pests, entomophages will be ready to move to cultivated plants and help the gardener deal with this disaster. In this case, the sequence of events that is characteristic of a garden without hedges is violated:

Without top dressing, they live 2-3 days, and with top dressing 9-15. This significantly increases the time, and during which riders infect the pest caterpillars.

It is known that beneficial insects prefer small flowers of plants from the family of umbellate, complex and cruciferous. IN optimal option through successive crops, a permanent conveyor of nectaronids should be organized, supplying entomophages with food from spring to autumn.

Anise flowers

Predatory wasps and flies are attracted to flat open flowers of daisies, daisies, as well as mint, savory.

Daisies

Savory garden Argonaut

It is important to provide predatory fly flies with early flowering plants.

Creepers, or Flower flies (syrphids)

When they awaken from hibernation in spring, they need food the same hour. If they do not find the necessary food at this time, their larvae, active aphid eaters, will appear too late, only in August.

In addition to nutrition, beneficial insects require sun-protected, shady, moist habitats and plants suitable for laying eggs.

Spiders and ground beetles prefer to live and lay eggs in high grass under hedge bushes, from where they make hunting raids on garden beds at night.

Ground beetles winter in the soil. Scientists have found that their number can be increased by 1.5 times if they create favorable conditions for overwintering, having loosened in the autumn and prepared ridges for planting potatoes.

Lacewings for laying eggs choose thickets of ferns and evergreen shrubs. In the garden, it is advisable to keep some wild flowering plantsfor example, tansy, chamomile, yarrow, on which the ladybug likes to lay eggs.

Tansy

Daisies

Yarrow

Another technique is hanging bunches of straw or reed in sheltered from rain places. it comfortable places for
many egg-laying beneficial insects.

For catchers of aphids and codling moths - earwigs on small apple trees are suspended upside down flower potsstuffed with dry grass and all kinds of dust.

Earwig

There the earwig hides during the day. as it leads a nocturnal lifestyle. There she lays eggs.

Recall another type of beneficial insect - pollinators. Hedgerows with flowering bushes - This is one way to attract them.

Another way is to create living quarters for wild bees. An old log with large quantity holes drilled in it. It is strengthened in an upright position and is covered with a cap on top to protect it from rain.

After all of the above, it is hardly worth convincing gardeners to abandon the use of pesticides. Pesticides destroy the living chain and create all the conditions for uncontrolled reproduction of pests.

First of all, beneficial insects die - predators that live openly and do not hide like pests in different secluded places: under bark or lumps of soil. Applying pesticides, you are captured by them, because you destroy your allies and are left with the problem of protecting your garden one on one.

A tick (lat. Acari) is one of the oldest inhabitants that inhabit our planet. Contrary to the erroneous opinion, ticks are not insects, but are representatives of the arachnid order.

Description of ticks. What does a tick look like?

In size, these representatives of arthropods rarely reach 3 mm, mainly the size of ticks ranges from 0.1 to 0.5 mm. As it should be arachnids, ticks lack wings. Adult ticks have 4 pairs of legs, and in specimens that have not reached puberty, three pairs of legs are observed. Without eyes, the mites orient themselves in space using a well-developed sensory apparatus, thanks to which they can smell the victim for 10 meters. According to the structure of the body, all types of ticks can be divided into leathery, with fused head and chest, and solid (armored), in which the head is attached to the body movably. Oxygen supply also depends on the structure of the body: the former breathe through the skin or trachea, and the shells have special spiracles.

What do ticks eat?

According to the method of nutrition, ticks are divided into:

Blood-sucking ticks predators await the victim, sitting in ambush on blades of grass, twigs and sticks. With the help of paws equipped with claws and suction cups, they are attached to it, after which they are moved to the place of feeding (groin, neck or head, armpits). And the victim of the tick can be not only a person, but also other herbivorous mites or thrips.

A tick bite can be very dangerous, since ticks are carriers of diseases, including encephalitis. Ticks can go without food for up to 3 years, but at the slightest opportunity they manifest miracles of gluttony and can increase in weight up to 120 times.

Types of ticks. Tick \u200b\u200bclassification.

Ticks have more than 40,000 species, which scientists have divided into 2 main orders:

Description of the main types of ticks:

. It is absolutely harmless to birds, animals and humans, as it is a complete “vegetarian” and eats plant juices, settling from the bottom of the leaf and sucking juices out of it. It is a carrier of gray rot pernicious to plants.

It feeds on its relatives, therefore, it is sometimes specially planted by a person in greenhouse and greenhouse farms to combat spider mites.

Barn (flour, bread) mite. For humans, in principle, it is safe, but for stocks of grain or flour it is a serious pest: products are clogged with waste products of the flour mite, which leads to its decay and the formation of mold.

lives in southern Russia, in Kazakhstan, Transcaucasia, mountains of Central Asia, in the south of Western Siberia. It mainly settles in forest-steppes or forests. It is dangerous for animals and humans, it can be a carrier of encephalitis, plague, brucellosis, and fever.

not dangerous for humans, but dangerous for dogs. It lives everywhere. It is especially active in coastal areas and on the Black Sea coast.

Where do ticks live?

Ticks live in every climate zone and on all continents. Due to the fact that ticks prefer moist places, they choose forest gullies, undergrowth, overgrown off the banks of streams, flooded meadows, overgrown paths, animal hair, dark warehouses with agricultural products, and their habitat. Individual species adapted for life in the seas and ponds with fresh water. Some mites live in houses and apartments, for example, house mites, dust mites, flour mites.

Tick \u200b\u200bspread.

How long does a tick live?

The life span of a tick depends on the species. For example, ticks house dust or dust mites live 65-80 days. Other species, for example taiga ticklive up to 4 years. Without food, ticks can live from 1 month to 3 years.

Reproduction of ticks. Stages (cycle) of tick development.

Most ticks are oviparous, although live-bearing species are found. Like all arachnids, ticks have a clear division into females and males. The most interesting life cycle is monitored in bloodsucking species. The following stages of tick development are distinguished:

• Larva
• Nymph
• Adult

Mite eggs.

In late spring or early summer, a female tick, fed with blood, makes a clutch of 2.5-3 thousand eggs. What do tick eggs look like? The egg is a rather large cell relative to the size of the female, consisting of the cytoplasm and nucleus, and covered with a two-layer membrane, which is painted in a variety of colors. Tick \u200b\u200beggs can have completely different shape - from round or oval to flattened and elongated.

What the tick eggs look like

In the fight against ticks, ground beetles and ants can be used, which willingly eat them

One of biological methods Natural protection of plants in the garden involves the use of beneficial insects as natural enemies of pests, their study and assistance in the resettlement of the garden and life in it.

ladybug

Well known healthy insect in the garden. In total, we have about 70 species of large cows, among which about 50 species feed on deciduous aphids, and the rest on shell aphids and spider mites. Ladybugs, along with other deciduous aphid exterminators, are the most important helpers in the garden. It is especially important that both the larvae and the beetles themselves belong to the species of predatory insects and feed on aphids. The seven-spotted ladybug known in our country destroys up to 150 aphids per day, smaller species - up to 60. Still, as larvae, insects devour a total of up to 800 aphids. So, the female beetle destroys about 4 thousand adult aphids in its life.

Gallitsa

Various species of the family of gall midges are better known to amateur gardeners as harmful insects (larvae of a number of species develop in the tissues of plants, causing the formation of galls), and among them there are useful ones that help in the fight against pests. The body length of gall midges varies from 1 to 5 mm. Famous pests in the garden include, for example, pear gall midges.

Useful gall midges feed on the stage of aphid larvae. Critical view is aphidoletes aphidimyza. The female (about 2–3 mm in size) lays 50–60 eggs near the aphid colony in one life span of 1 week. On day 4-7, orange-red larvae hatch. The latter bite the aphids by the legs and inject paralyzing liquid. Bitten aphids die and are used by the larva for food. After 2 weeks, a fully formed larva falls to the ground and turns on the ground into a cocoon. After 3 weeks, a second brood hatch, whose larvae winter in the cocoon on the ground and hatch in the spring, as adults.

Ground beetle larvae

They feed on eggs of vegetable flies, small insects and their larvae, worms, slugs. These bugs are rarely seen during the day in the garden; they hide in shelters. Ground beetle length up to 4 cm, it is very mobile. Many species cannot fly, and therefore ground beetles are active at night. The color of ground beetle is very different: large black and completely yellow flickering species are known. Along with ground beetles, living mainly on earth, there are also tree and flying species. They feed on small insects and worms, and therefore live in rotting organic matter, for example, in compost.

Pesticides - the most terrible enemy of ground beetles!

Gourds

They are of great importance in horticulture, as their larvae feed on aphids. Larvae develop in different conditions - in soil, slurry or on plants. Visually, the corm is like a wasp, length adult - 8-15 mm. The peculiarity of the beetles reflected in their name is that in flight they can seem to freeze in place, making a sound remotely resembling the murmur of water.

To hunt for aphids, creepers use their hook-shaped jaws, which hold the prey firmly, sucking it. The development of the larva to the pupal stage lasts 2 weeks. During this time, the larva eats up to 700 aphids. Hopper larvae are active mainly at night and go hunting not earlier than dusk. The beetles themselves feed on flower and honey dew, as well as aphid secretions.

Lacewing

As well as ladybugs is the enemy of aphids. In our gardens, the most common type of green with yellow eyes. The beetle got its name precisely for these eyes. Larvae feed on small insects, especially aphids. Individual individuals can destroy up to 500 aphids during development. After 18 days, the larvae hide in a protected place, wrap themselves and turn into a white round cocoon. After the lacewing leaves the cocoon, the next generation begins.

Just a year, two generations may appear. Adult individuals feed, as a rule, with honey dew and pollen, on occasion without preying on small insects. An adult lacewinter winters in nooks, because sometimes it can be found in residential premises. During the wintering period, the insect can acquire a yellow or brown color, but in the spring it turns green again.

The use of lacewings for targeted biological protection of plants in greenhouses and on protected ground has been tested and has yielded good results. For this, it is necessary for each square meter surfaces, place 20 lacewing eggs, which can be purchased in special biological laboratories.

Riders

Common earwig

Belongs to the order of the winged-winged, well-known to gardeners and gardeners. The earwig hunts mainly at dusk and at night, and hides in dark narrow crevices during the day.

By exterminating harmful insects, such as dahlias, the earwig can damage delicate young dahlia plants.

Well, and as a bonus, I dare say that ticks do not live in places where there are anthills! Ants are real orderlies in the forest, they eat small ticks, not even letting them grow. Therefore, if you, walking through the forest, see tremendous anthills, you should know that there should not be ticks!

About ticks

The rider lays several dozen very small eggs into the body of female ticks, from which its larvae develop. The latter feed on the internal contents of their host-tick, leaving only cover from it. It was found that riders infect mainly females and less often nymphs. In each mite, 30–50 adult rider insects develop. So, in the Khabarovsk Territory, natural infection of ticks with a rider is about 15 percent.

In the fight against ticks, ground beetles and ants that willingly eat them can be used. Mites in the mass die from various pathogenic fungi.

All of these living organisms play the role of biological regulators of the natural number of disease vectors in natural foci. Insects, like other living organisms, can be affected by disease. The causative agents of such diseases are various microorganisms: bacteria, fungi, viruses.

In our country, preparations are made that destroy many harmful insects, for example, entobacteria, dendrobacillin to control caterpillars of harmful butterflies, etc. The advantage of bacterial preparations is their relative harmlessness to humans, warm-blooded animals, beneficial insects and plants.

Useful microorganisms are also used against fungal diseases of plants. So, to fight gooseberry powdery mildew, they successfully use cow dung or fresh hay infusion. It develops bacteria that destroy the mycelium (mycelium) powdery mildew. Of particular interest are studies aimed at exploring the possibility of using antibiotics (phytobacteriomycin, trichothecin) to combat bacterial and fungal diseases fruit, berry and other plants, as well as bacterial preparations for combating mouse rodents.

Bloodthirsty and patient, they constantly monitor people and animals. They can wait their victims for years. Evolution made them first-class hunters. They are always hungry and ready to attack. Their tenacious paws will not let anyone who comes too close. These are ticks.

With the onset of warm spring days, we want to go into the woods in nature, sit on grass, sunbathe, cleanse garden plot from last year’s grass and dry garbage.

Green grass, the sun, all this has to peace of mind. But we must not forget that we are constantly under the gun of these little arachnids. The same age as the dinosaurs.

470 thousand people bitten by ticks turned to medical institutions for help. according to official figures, until August 2017. And how many have not yet applied? Summer is not over yet!

Ticks do not have natural enemies and can adapt to any conditions.

Ixodid ticks

These ticks (family Ixodidae) belong to the type of arthropods (Arthropoda), a class of arachnids. They do not belong to insects,. Distinctive feature is the presence of four pairs of legs, not three. Therefore. this arthropod family includes over 650 species distributed around the world.

AT different regions inhabit different types ticks. Different ticks carry different diseases. In everyday life, they often use the concept of "Pasture tick". This is the name of ticks that live mainly in the wild, not only in the field of pastures, but also in flood meadows, forest edges, clearings, river banks, roadsides and other places where you can become a victim of a tick bite.

It is worth noting that although this definition is accepted, it does not exist in the official classification of a huge class of arachnids, it is an exclusively popular name that was attached to ticks of the ixodidae family.

Lack of vision and hearing does not prevent ticks from feeling a potential victim.
The tick feels a place for puncture with special processes - palms

Types of Ticks

Most cases of bites in Russia are associated with two types of ticks of the genus Ixodes: canine (Ixodes ricinus) and taiga (Ixodes persulcatus) ticks.

These species, along with some ticks of the genus Dermacentor (for example, D. silvarum), are the main carriers of tick-borne encephalitis, tick-borne borreliosis (Lyme disease) and some other diseases. In the common people there is a frightening name "encephalitis", i.e. ticks that carry encephalitis.

A male dog tick may not eat even once. However, they also crawl onto their “hosts” since mating most often occurs on their body. Here, a female is more likely to meet a drunk blood.

This tick is dangerous for humans because it can transmit tick-borne encephalitis virus during a bite, which is often observed in conditions middle strip continent from Baltic sea to Kamchatka, as well as anaplasmosis, babesiosis, borreliosis and other severe diseases.

Ear of a dog, covered with sucking ticks.
The female dog tick that got drunk blood (on the left) grows to the size of a bean and looks like a castor bean seed, for which the tick got its specific name “ricinus” - castor bean. A saturated taiga tick looks exactly the same.

Taiga tick

If earlier the taiga tick lived only in dense forest thickets, now it can be found on pastures near settlements and in park areas. It turns out that almost every person is at risk, so precautions are necessary.

In the cottages, you need to mow the grass not only inside the site, but also around it, so you will deprive the tick of its habitat. Going into the forest, put on dense fabric pants, narrowed to the bottom, boots, a jacket or windbreaker with ties and a hood. Every 10-15 minutes you need to examine yourself.

As an example, you can take part in competitions held in forested areas, where the probability of being bitten by a tick increases. Therefore, you need to know how to protect yourself from a tick bite in addition to vaccination.

Habitat ixodid ticks - almost whole earth, so you need to know what the tick looks like, since a meeting with it is quite real, both in the city and in the taiga area.

Females, as a rule, are somewhat larger than males. The length of the female is 3-4 mm in a hungry state (increases to 10 mm for a pumped female, the color of which changes to light gray). The back covers of the female can be greatly stretched, allowing the blood to be absorbed in an amount exceeding its weight by more than a hundred times.

Males up to 2.5 mm. In males, the dorsal rigid shield covers the entire body, in females, a third. In all ixodal blood, only females eat. They need it for the successful completion of fertilization. Males eat only plant foods.

As it should be arachnids, ticks lack wings. Adult ticks have 4 pairs of legs, and in specimens that have not reached puberty, there are three pairs of legs. Without eyes, the mites navigate in space using a well-developed sensory apparatus, thanks to which they can smell the victim for 10 meters.

According to the structure of the body, all types of ticks can be divided into leathery, with fused head and chest, and solid (armored), in which the head is attached to the body movably. Oxygen supply also depends on the structure of the body: the former breathe through the skin or trachea, and the shells have special spiracles.

Reproduction and development

Females of ixodid ticks lay up to 17 thousand eggs in the ground, but due to the complex development process, only a few "survive" to the adult stage. Hatching from eggs, the larvae feed only once, usually on small mammals (rodents, insectivores, and marten).

A well-fed larva falls to the ground and after a while turns into nymph. After feeding and molting, the nymph turns into the “adult” stage - in imago. Mature female ixodid ticks feed once and mainly on cattle.

Hatching from an egg, a forest tick passes through three stages of development:
larva (0.5 mm);
nymph (1.5 mm);
adult (about 3 mm - male, 4 mm - female).

Ticks prefer moist, moderately shaded places: the bottom of ravines, dense grass on the edges of forests, undergrowth, overgrown off the banks of streams, flooded meadows, overgrown paths, animal hair, dark storage rooms with agricultural products and the like. Ticks hibernate in dry litter.

In the eastern regions of the European part of Russia, both species of ticks are found. I. persulcatus, the distribution of which covers the territory from the Baltic to the Far East.

Where do the ticks bite?

Many people think that ticks can fall on a person or animal from trees. In fact, this is not so, because these insects almost never rise to a height of more than half a meter. However, getting on the victim’s body, the tick activates and cleverly scrambles up, getting to the most “tasty” sites in its opinion.

The tick is attached to the human body using a hypostome. This unpaired growth performs the functions of the sensory organ, fastening and bloodsucking. The most likely place for the tick to suck up to the person from the bottom up:

• groin area.
• belly and lower back.
• chest, armpits, neck.
• ear area.

How long does a tick live?

The life span of a tick depends on the species. For example, house dust mites or dust mites live 65-80 days. Other species, such as the taiga tick, live up to 4 years. Without food, ticks can live from 1 month to 3 liters.

Tick \u200b\u200bactivity period?

In general, ixodid ticks become active as soon as the temperature is set at + 6 ° C and higher, therefore, tick-borne infections are characterized by a clear seasonality.

The period of tick activity for months looks like a double sinusoid - from April rise, peak at the end of May, then decline and a new rise in September. Spring is the time when tick larvae and nymphs emerge from the litter for food, as well as the breeding season of adults, which is why the end of spring and the beginning of summer are the most dangerous times.

Autumn peak falls on the period of emergence of larvae from eggs, which just happens after 10 weeks. Given the time for development and egg laying, the second peak falls at the end of summer - the beginning of autumn.

Who feeds on ticks

Ticks are eaten by birds, lizards, toads, dragonflies, ants, spiders, bugs of ground beetle. The main enemies of ticks are ground beetles and ants.

How to protect yourself from ticks

• Going to nature, wear clothes that fit tightly to the body. In outer clothing should be as few folds and places through which ticks can creep onto the naked body. Legs need to be tucked into the shafts, and better - pull on them.
• The color of outerwear is better to choose neutral pastel colors.
• You can not sit down or lie down on the grass, ticks cling to clothes and always creep up;
• Use tick repellents that can be purchased at any pharmacy or supermarket. If these were not at hand, you can use a concentrated solution of confectionery vanillin.
• Every 10-15 minutes, carry out self-and peer reviews for ticks, inspect clothing, paying attention to the seams, collar, where ticks can hide.
• Inspect pets after walking in nature, on house territory. For these purposes, it is convenient to use a hairdryer.
• Arriving home, take a shower using a washcloth
• If a tick is sucked, seek medical attention at a clinic or emergency room.
• Be sure to turn in the removed tick for examination to the laboratory.
• Follow the annual vaccination schedule for tick-borne encephalitis. In this case, the symptoms of the disease can occur most smoothly or even completely absent. You need to remember that you only need to use the vaccine that is assigned to a certain region of residence or location.

The detection of a sucking tick on the human body is, of course, the very first and most important sign of a bite. The tick usually bites in places with delicate skin, with a developed capillary system. It is possible to suck ticks of two age stages - imago (adult form) and / or nymph (one of the forms of the larva). Visually they are distinguished by the number of limbs:

imago - four pairs of legs;

nymph - three pairs of legs.

Tick \u200b\u200bRemoval Methods

A sucking tick is tied with a thread, closer to the proboscis, and carefully, taking its ends in opposite directions and up, they are pulled out. You can use tweezers by capturing the tick near the surface of the skin and stretching vertically with uniform movements. Also exist special tools to remove ticks. The procedure is carried out in special protective gloves.

Extraction of a tick with a thread.
Removing a tick with tweezers. Extraction of a tick by means of a special mite clamp. (Analogue to nail clipper).
Removing the tick using a special device with a loop at the end. A kind of tick twister.

It is not recommended to use ointments, oils, creams, hot lotions, nail polish and other similar remedies, since it is believed that such methods increase the salivation of the tick, increasing the risk of infection.

But the tick must be pulled out as quickly as possible, so the majority of the population uses what is at hand - various creams, petroleum jelly, birch tar, I also somehow used petroleum jelly and tar to remove the tick, which can be said to help. Without access to oxygen, the tick begins to climb. With the help of a thread, tweezers or other improvised means you carefully help him to go outside.

If the tick head remains in the wound, you need to seek help from a surgeon or wait for it to spontaneously exit.

The removed tick is stored in the refrigerator, placed with a piece of wet cotton wool in a glass bottle with a tight lid. To carry out a microscopic examination of a live tick, they are delivered to the laboratory no later than two days from the moment of the bite. If this is not possible, then the tick is best simply burned.

Symptoms and signs of a tick bite

• Raising the temperature to 37-38 degrees.
• Redness of the bite.
• Drowsiness and weakness, itching, chills, aching joints.
• Photophobia.
• Quincke's edema (swelling of the eyelids, lips and other parts of the body), enlarged lymph nodes ..
• Headache, nausea and vomiting, shortness of breath, hallucinations may also be present.

Tick-borne encephalitis

Tick-borne encephalitis (spring-summer tick-borne meningoencephalitis) is a natural focal viral infection characterized by fever, intoxication and damage to the gray matter of the brain (encephalitis) or membranes of the brain and spinal cord (meningitis and meningoencephalitis). The disease can lead to persistent neurological and psychiatric complications and even death of the patient.

According to statistics, six out of a hundred ticks are carriers of the virus (in this case, 2 to 6% of bitten people can get sick from an infected individual).

Often this disease is disguised as a cold or a common malaise. Also, often the symptoms of encephalitis begin to manifest only 30 days after infection. These include the following conditions: - weakness in the neck, as well as in the arms and legs; - increase in body temperature. Often the fever cannot be brought down for several days. - the appearance and intensification of headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness; - development of photophobia, the appearance of hallucinations, stunning consciousness; - numbness of the limbs, weakness and pain in the muscles, the occurrence of seizures, epileptic seizures and even paralysis.

Symptoms of tick-borne borreliosis

Lyme disease is the most common tick transmitted disease in the Northern Hemisphere. Bacteria are transmitted to humans through the bite of infected ixodid ticks belonging to several species of the genus Ixodes.

Early manifestations of the disease may include

• Headaches.
• Fatigue and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans (lat. Erythema migrans).
• In some cases, in the presence of a genetic predisposition, joint tissues, the heart, as well as nervous systemeyes.

In most cases, the symptoms are stopped by antibiotics. The outcome of the disease largely depends on the timeliness and accuracy of the diagnosis and early treatment of the infection. Untimely and inadequate therapy can lead to the development of a "late stage", or chronic Lyme disease, which is difficult to cure and can result in disability or even death of the patient.

As a rule, in the first 20 days after infection, any symptoms of the disease are absent. But after this some signs may appear: - The stain from a bite changes color and increases in size. - The appearance of nausea and vomiting. The occurrence of heat and pain in the joints. - The appearance on the body of characteristic spots, rashes, nodes. - Violation of cardiac activity, the development of muscle weakness and cramps. - After a few months after infection, disturbances in the functioning of the nervous system may begin.

Tick \u200b\u200bRemedy

Afraid of ticks - do not go to the forest. Unfortunately it's true. Everyone at least once in his life met this small, ugly arachnid creature. Even those of us who do not suffer from acarophobia and are not afraid of small insects are frankly afraid of ticks. The fact is that some representatives of this type of arthropod can be carriers of diseases dangerous to humans. Where ticks live and what threat they can pose to people, we will try to find out in this article.

Mite habitats, range of distribution of different species

Ticks are small arachnid creatures reaching a length of no more than 0.5 cm. They live on almost all continents and in different climatic zones. They belong to the class Arachnids, a subclass - Arthropods, numbering more than 50 thousand species, which differ in lifestyle and nutrition. Most ticks prefer moist forests, grassy glades and shrubs. But there are those who live in residential premises with people. These are the so-called saprophytes, or dust mites that live in house dust and feed on dead epidermal cells. Some species live under human skin and in hair follicles.

Endemic territories of the Russian Federation for the spread of tick-borne encephalitis

It's important to know! Scientists have developed vaccines for viral encephalitis, but there are still no vaccines for such dangerous diseases as borreliosis and Crimean hemorrhagic fever.

Habitats of ixodid ticks, periods of their activity

• well-warmed slopes, densely covered with grass and low shrubs;
• forest edges and adjacent glades;
• places ferned in the shade of trees;
• banks of rivers, lakes and streams.

Ticks do not rise to a height of more than 1–1.5 m, despite the widespread belief that they fall on their victims from trees. The main danger is low shrubs and dense grass stands.

Ticks adore humid places, for example, near forest streams, where animals often come

The maximum activity of ticks occurs in April-May, that is, during mating and egg laying. By mid-July, it decreases and then resumes again from August to September, but with less force. In the cold season, individuals that can harm a person are practically not found.

Ticks living in nature

From the lifestyle of ticks and their biological features depends on what they eat.

Ixodid ticks

There are many types of ixodid ticks. They are common in tropical rainforests as well as in desert areas. They feed on the blood of vertebrates: mammals, reptiles and birds.

The most dangerous for humans in our latitudes are two species: European forest and taiga ticks. The first is widespread in Europe (except for its northernmost part), North Africa and the European part of the Russian Federation. lives in the middle and southern zones of the taiga.

These two species are the main distributors of such dangerous diseases as tick-borne encephalitis, borreliosis (Lyme disease), hemorrhagic fever. Get sick with Lyme disease due to tick bites most likely in the suburbs, Moscow, Krasnodar Territory. In the Rostov and Volgograd regions, in the Caucasus region of Russia, there is a risk of contracting hemorrhagic fever. The situation with the spread of viral encephalitis is no better. This is the North-Western District of the Russian Federation, Karelia, the Volga region, many regions of the Central District, the entire Far East. In the easternmost part of the country, Vladivostok occupies a leading position.

It has been established that this type of arthropod is dangerous at almost all stages of its development. Nymphs and larvae, after their birth, are looking for a host. The larva is waiting for the victim on the ground. As a rule, these are small rodents. Nymph prefers larger animals.

Life cycle ticks: larva, nymph, male and female (from left to right)

Demodex, or iron ore

Scientists have not exactly established how this subcutaneous tick spreads among people. There is an opinion that with close contact, the general use of personal hygiene products and cosmetics, the disease passes from a sick person to a healthy one. It is worth noting that, externally, a demodex carrier can be absolutely healthy.

There are two types of demodex, one of which settles in the hair follicles, and the other in the sebaceous glands.

Scabies mite

It is also called scabies itching. It is the cause of such an unpleasant disease as scabies. It spreads from a sick person to a healthy one after close physical contact (shaking hands, touching “skin to skin”, intimacy). Animals do not suffer from human scabies, but can be carriers of it.

Similarly, the female scabies tick moves in the subcutaneous tissues of the body and lays eggs

Home tick

Dust mites

The ideal conditions for their living and active reproduction are darkness and warm wet air (relative humidity more than 70% at 23–25 ° C). Favorite habitats for dust mites are carpets, rugs, cushioned furniture and toys. Especially many representatives of the species are in a vacuum cleaner, namely in a bag for collecting dust.

Dust mites are completely invisible to human eyes, but are found in almost every home

Video: Dust mite habitat and how to deal with them

Bed tick

He lives in pillows, duvets, mattresses - for a comfortable stay, such a tick needs fluff and feathers, so it is important to clean bedding at least once every few years.

Home ticks can be dangerous for humans, as they often provoke allergic reactions and asthma attacks.

The good old tradition of drying pillows made of fluff and feathers has been very effective in combating bed ticks

Human safe mites

Many types of ticks pose a danger only to animals, plants and other types of ticks. These include the following species.