5 Types of Ticks in Florida (With Pictures)

Florida is recognized as the Sunshine Point out. It features heat sunny climate yr-spherical. It is a favored place for travelers, snowbirds, and locals alike. Each year, tens of millions of men and women flock to Florida’s shorelines, shady trails, very clear rivers, and condition parks to appreciate some much needed outside the house time. That places people at danger of working into Florida’s indigenous tick inhabitants. Florida’s warm sunny weather is also favored by the very small arachnids.

In order to very best protect oneself from ticks, you require to know what to search out for, when the ticks are active and what kind of pitfalls they pose. Listed here are five of the most widespread tick species to be mindful of in Florida.

The 5 Types of Ticks in Florida

1. American Dog Tick

American Dog Tick
American Dog Tick (Image Credit: Ryan Hodnett, Wikimedia Commons CC SA 4.0 International)
Scientific Name:  Dermacentor variabilis
Size:  5 mm
Associate Diseases:  Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Tularemia

The American pet tick is a single of the most typical ticks in Florida. The tick gets its identify from the simple fact that it mostly likes to feed on puppies. The grownup American dog ticks are relatively massive and characteristic unique white markings on the backs of the males and females. The relaxation of the ticks are brown in shade. Adolescent American puppy ticks are inclined to feed on modest rodents.

Although these ticks really don't normally favor people, they can even now attach on their own in the correct situations. American dog ticks can cause temporary paralysis in uncommon cases. When the tick is hooked up, it can enable off a toxin into the spinal column or mind that leads to paralysis until finally the tick is removed. This has been documented in the two canine and tiny children. The American puppy tick is also a vector for Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

If you have a dog, it is advised that you maintain their flea and tick medicine up to date. Be confident to check out your self for ticks often if you spend time exterior, specifically in woody or brushy locations.


2. Black-Legged Tick

black legged tick on a leaf
Image Credit: Erik_Karits, Pixabay
Scientific Name:  Ixodes scapularis
Size:  2-3 mm
Associate Diseases:  Lyme disease, Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis

The black-legged tick utilized to be referred to as the deer tick. The identify has been shifted to reflect the neutral mother nature of the tick. The name deer tick manufactured men and women think that the ticks only favored to hitch a experience on deer. That is not the situation. Black-legged ticks are 1 of the most prolific spreaders of Lyme illness in the United States. Lyme illness is a significant ailment that takes place when a tick stays attached for at minimum 24 hours and transfers poor microorganisms into your bloodstream.

Black-legged ticks usually escape notice simply because they are so tiny, just 2 to 3mm in dimension. That helps make them difficult to find and remove, which tends to make them harmful. Because these ticks are the main Lyme condition vector, it is critical to try and spot them as speedily as feasible. In Florida, black-legged ticks are lively in the winter, with action levels maximum from September by means of May possibly. Black-legged ticks are identified through Florida and all through the total Eastern United States.


3. Brown Dog Tick

brown dog tick
Image Credit: NOPPHARAT539. Shutterstock
Scientific Name:  Rhipicephalus sanguineus
Size:  5 mm
Associate Diseases:  Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

Brown pet ticks mainly feed on dogs, therefore the name. Brown puppy ticks are most frequently located in areas in which canines regular or in areas with big populations of domesticated or wild puppies. Brown puppy ticks are a lot more most likely to impact your canine friends than they are to effect you, but they do still occasionally chunk folks. You can pick up ticks that are sitting down on your canine. That means if you pet your puppy after they went to a dog park infested with brown pet ticks, you could get a brown dog tick on your pores and skin.

Brown puppy ticks have been identified as a vector species for Rocky Mountain Noticed Fever, a significant ailment. Nevertheless, as of correct now, the CDC has only identified Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in canine ticks in the southwestern United States and in Mexico, meaning the chance in Florida is reasonably low. It is nevertheless recommended that you eliminate ticks correct absent if you find them.

If you have a dog, it is recommended to hold them up to date on their flea and tick drugs so that ticks will die if they endeavor to bite your animals. That will help preserve you and your puppies secure from tick bites.


4. Gulf Coast Tick

gulf coast tick on a dog
Image Credit: Jen Helton, Shutterstock
Scientific Name:  Amblyomma maculatum
Size:  4-6 mm
Associate Diseases:  Rickettsia parkeri

The Gulf coast tick is a huge tick that is similar to the American pet tick in form and appearance. This tick is widespread in huge figures all through the southeastern United States and receives its name from the close by Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf coast tick has greater mouth elements than the similar seeking American canine tick, and it is also predisposed to latch on to animals alternatively of folks. These ticks are often found in and on the ears of huge mammals such as cattle, puppies, horses, and other out of doors animals.

Regardless of the prevalence of other mammals, these ticks can nevertheless bite people. They do not transmit massive quantities of conditions like other ticks, but they are a vector for Rickettsia parkeri. Rickettsia parkeri is a illness that is comparable to Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, but experts say that Rickettsia parkeri is milder than its hazardous cousin. If you get bitten by a Gulf coastline tick, you require to be mindful of the indications and signs of Rickettsia parkeri.

Adolescent ticks and nymphs commence appearing in the winter season (January – March), with the older people turning out to be active for the duration of the standard tick time stretching from March by way of September.


5. Lone Star Tick

Lone star tick
Image Credit: Jay Ondreicka, Shutterstock
Scientific Name:  Amblyomma americanum
Size:  5 mm
Associate Diseases:  Southern Tick-associated Rash Illness (STARI), Ehrlichiosis, Heartland Virus Disease, Bourbon Virus Disease, and Tularemia

Really don't be fooled by the title. Lone star ticks are not only discovered in Texas. They can be identified during Florida. The name lone star tick arrives from a distinctive white spot that seems on the backs of the normally brown arachnid. Lone star ticks are fairly massive and can be recognized by the lone star on their back.

Lone star ticks do not have Lyme disease, but they do carry a host of other terrible illnesses. Two of the worst diseases carried by the lone star tick consist of southern tick-connected rash sickness (STARI) and ehrlichiosis. These ticks are most often lively throughout the summer time months, with their population peaks happening in July. Lone star ticks are the most frequent human-biting tick in Florida, and they need to be carefully avoided. The only way to keep away from receiving the ailments carried by the lone star tick is to keep away from becoming bitten by the tick in the first location.

When Are Ticks Most Active?

Ticks are generally most energetic in summer season, with a year that stretches from March by means of September. Florida’s season is a tiny distinct. Given that Florida has warmer and a lot more consistent weather than other spots in the United States, the tick season stretches for a longer period of time of time.

Several ticks can be energetic in Florida from February by means of November. That implies that ticks are lively nearly year-spherical. The black-legged tick is mainly active in the winter season in Florida and operates on an reverse plan of most species of ticks. The outcome is that you have to be vigilant all through the whole year towards tick bites and tick exercise.

Asian Longhorned Tick
Image Credit: JerzyGorecki, Pixabay

Best Ways to Avoid Ticks

The greatest way to avoid ticks is to keep away from where they reside. You are a lot more very likely to select up ticks in regions with large quantities of ticks. Ticks like to dwell in intensely wooded locations and in tall brush. If you invest time in the woods, make sure to adhere to the paths and trails that are preserved. If you wander into unmaintained brush, you have a good opportunity of bumping into a tick. It only takes a slight brushing movement to pick up a wayward tick.

Yet another way to avoid ticks is to wear long-sleeved shirts and trousers. If you can, tuck your pants into a pair of boots. The more pores and skin you have covered, the much less very likely you are to get a tick bite. Putting on light-weight colored apparel is useful as effectively. Because ticks are mostly brown and black, they show up properly on light-weight material. If you can, use gentle coloured shirts and trousers. That way, if you pick up a tick, you will be capable to location it faster. Once you location a tick on your clothing, you will be tipped off to the fact that you are in a tick-infested location which can aid you be much more vigilant.

Remove Ticks Immediately

You must get rid of ticks right away when you locate them. If you see them on your clothing, brush them off correct absent. If you spend any time in outside regions the place ticks could be current, you must seem yourself over meticulously for indicators of embedded ticks. Tick-borne illnesses typically just take at the very least 24 several hours to set in, which indicates the more rapidly you eliminate them, the significantly less likely you are to get ill.

The greatest guess is to look yourself above in the shower. Spend shut attention to dim and heat places of the human body such as armpits, groin, elbows, and behind your knees. Ticks can also disguise in hair, like the hair on your head. If you uncover a tick on you, remove it quickly.

Conclusion

There are 5 frequent species of tick in the condition of Florida. The ticks are most active amongst March and November. Ticks can carry a host of illnesses in Florida, including the dreaded Lyme ailment. The ideal factor to do is to consider and stay away from ticks altogether, and if you can not, make positive you shield your self and eliminate them appropriate absent if you uncover them on you. Florida has some stunning outside spaces. Just be mindful of the ticks.

Sources

Highlighted Image Credit score: Anest, Shutterstock

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