Introduction to Removing Ticks
Ticks are blood-feeding vermins that are habitually found in tall
grass and undergrowth where they attach themselves to a passing host. It
does so by inserting its chelicerae (sharp mandibles) and hypostome
(feeding tube), a calcified harpoon-like arrangement near the jaw area
of certain parasitic arthropods, into the skin.
 The only manner of transportation for ticks is bodily contact. Ticks
cannot jump or fly, though they can drop from their roost and fall onto
a host. Some even stalk the host from ground level, emerging from nooks
and crannies located in the woods or even inside a home or kennel, where
infestations of "seed ticks," the six-legged stage of newborn ticks, can
strike up to 30,000 at a time.
Weak or aged dogs, puppies, and cats are for the most part endangered
and can die from anemia caused by a rapid invasion of seed ticks. Seed
ticks also attack horses, cattle, moose, lions and other mammals,
causing various diseases like anaemia, paralysis and sometimes even
death. Such huge numbers can be tricky to notice until thousands have
affixed themselves to an animal and suppression is not easy. The
parasitic Ichneumon wasp has long been one of the better known methods
for keeping ticks at bay. It lays its eggs into ticks and the subsequent
hatching wasps kill their host. Another form of keeping ticks in check
is the guinea fowl, a bird species which consumes bulk amounts of ticks.
Two birds can polish off 2 acres in a solitary year. Topical
(drops/dust) flea/tick medicines may be lethal to animals and people.
Phenothrin eradicates adult fleas and ticks. Methoprene is an insect
growth controller that disrupts the insect's life cycle by destroying
the eggs.
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