Subject: Identity
Geographic location of the bug: NJ
Date: 02/18/2019
Time: 11:45 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: Found this in our house yesterday. Haven’t seen anymore. Curious what this is.
How you want your letter signed: Wayne
Dear Wayne,
Do you have a dog or other pet that goes outside? This is a very well fed Tick, meaning it is engorged with blood.
Yes we have one dog that we take outside to go to the bathroom. Due to the winter he has not been outside to play on his dog run since probably October. However a lot of leaves fell late after we already had snow on the ground so is it possible the ticks have survived the cold under those leaves?
Hi again Wayne,
Ticks must survive cold winters, or they wouldn’t be a problem in northern latitudes. We don’t know how dormant they become or if they have any hibernating tendencies.
Having had myself, relatives and dogs bitten by ticks, and some of them having been diagnosed with lyme or suspected of having some one of the many tick bourne diseases, I would like to share this website with you for tick i.d.. You can submit your photo to them.
https://tickencounter.org/tick_identification
Dogs get stuff just as easily as people. Depending on the immune system, any symptoms can take a week or 6 months or more to show. Disconcerting to know the ba#&%&d@ can be active in winter! You’re the 2nd one I’ve heard of this year. Take care.