Ticks
The most common type of tick in upstate New York is the deer tick, also known as the blacklegged tick. These bloodsucking hitchhikers are 1/8’’ long with dark brown to black oval shaped bodies. These wingless insects have eight legs and prefer to live in tall grass, shrubs, and leaf piles. They will hold onto grass or leaves with their third and fourth pair of legs and use their other legs to grab onto a nearby host. Ticks primarily live off the blood of deer or other mammals, such as mice or rabbits, but can live for a long period of time without food or water depending on what stage of their life they are in (egg, larva, nymph, adult). These hitchhikers will grasp onto skin, insert their barbed feeding tube, and suck on blood slowly as they feast. Within the feeding process, ticks secrete small amounts of saliva that could potentially pick up pathogens from their host.

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Pest Info