[pct-l] ticks, skeeters and other itch producing bugs

[brick at fastpack.com (Brick Robbins)]

At 08:18 AM 2/27/04, cmkudija@earthlink.net wrote:
>  Ticks wait on the seedheads and drop off
>on passing mammals, attracted (I think) by body heat.

Actually they cling for hours to the ends of plants (grass, brush, 
bushes...) with their front legs extended.

Those legs look like fish hooks. Any animals that brush by get hooked, and 
the tick goes with them. If it gets too hot during the day, they climb back 
down the grass and wait in the cooler leaf litter, so you tend to get more 
ticks in the cooler parts of the day

Here is a photo of a tick waiting, you can see the upper legs extended
http://www.aldf.com/images/ongrassleaf.jpg

Health officials collect ticks by brushing white sheets over foliage, and 
then picking off the ticks that are clinging to the sheet
http://www.labodia.com/en/lyme/review_en/image_tick_collecting.jpg

I hate the little buggers. I the Piutes I was removing about 20-30 each 
hour for a couple of days, though I never got bit.


--
Brick Robbins

All that is gold does not glitter,
not all those who wander, are lost....