What the crap is this? - Page 2

Cute pupper... but the tick I would refer to as a "Big Nasty".... Yuck!

Looks like a regular brown dog tick to me, nothing to get too excited about, and he was certainly on there for days, not 30 minutes.  Ticks do NOT gorge themselves like this, drop off and re-attach to a new host.  When they're gorged, they drop off and molt into a new stage in their life cycle.  They don't seek out a new host till after this, and this one obviously has not done that yet, he's still gorged.  To get that big takes a little while, much longer than 30 minutes. 

zdog,  no......it was not on there for more than 30 minutes. Not to mention, about an hour before that he went to the bank with me where I was holding him then as well at first.  They interacted with him, on the counter, and I also never saw or felt a tick on him anywhere then as well on any part of his body.  He was NOT on him for days. Not to mention, I just touched the tick and it fell off, it apparently wasn't latched on too hard.

alboe, I was thinking they'd have to be on a host for days as well.  And I check these guys every single day for any ticks....usually we don't have them, but regardless I always check for that. I'm getting irritated at those who say it was on him for days, when I know good and well I've checked him every day before, and even looked and didn't see anything literally hours before.  If he came off the pup THAT easily, by me touching it, obviously he could attach to a new host after that.  Out of curiosity though, I wander, how big can a tick actually get?

HI,

Cute puppy.

The tick was obviously well fed, but they can feed from numerous hosts over several days. It is quite likely it had fed or 'hitched a ride' on one of your adult dogs (a rabbit, squirrel, bird, or the neighbors annoying cat) and become dislodged (or voluntarily dropped off) and simply landed in an area to which the puppy had access, including your puppy's 'potty' or play area. From there the tick would either seek another host, a place to molt, or if female, seek an area to lay eggs. The tick, if lucky enough to find a host (aka your puppy in this case), will automatically climb to a new feeding spot, and since they are not exactly Speedy Gonzales, it was probably still seeking it's feeding spot and had not attached to your puppy or it would not have fallen off.

One thing I would recommend, is to Google tick disposal. What they lack in mobility (they don't run, jump or fly- just crawl along) they make up for in tenacity. They can live for months in adverse conditions that you would be sure would kill them. It is best  to not be exposed to consumed blood, as that can expose you to disease same as if you were bittten. Where there is one tick there are sure to be more. I did not see where you are located, but I am in Ohio, and the cool wet spring we had had been idea for all the little creepy crawlies pests, ticks in particular have already been bad.

I don't know what kind of tick it is, but we see them that size, larger even, on winter-pastured horses here in Northern CA.

You need to read about tick life cycle, GSDguy. They don't even start sucking until they have been attached for about 48 hours. They spend all that time putting in their saliva, which has some kind of anti coagulant property, so that they can feed without the bite spot clotting over. The tick was there for DAYS. Or anyway, that's what I read...not that I'm a scientist.

Okay VomMarischal, since you obviously held my puppy, and examined him that morning, the night, and day before and saw the tick for yourself, he MUST have been on my puppy. Even though I, never saw it, even though I looked very closely as I always do. :)

The thing I don't get is that you guys act like ticks can't have more than one host.  What happens if a tick gets knocked off of it's host that it has been feeding on? Does it not attach itself to another host that it finds?  Or does it just not feed ever again until it dies....You guys act like they never feed on more than one host.

Shelley, I'm curious, how big have you seen them before?

Actually, I just now read that they (specifically dog ticks) CAN have more than one host...take a break, lay some eggs, find another "sucker," if you'll pardon the expression. Suckee, really.