Dr. Stafford Tick Management Handbook - Newtown, CT

StaffordThe Connecticut Agricultural Experimentation StationRocky Mountain Wood Tick, Dermacentor andersoni StilesThe Rocky Mountain Wood tick, Dermacentor andersoni,is found in western North America from British Columbia andSaskatchewan south through North Dakota to northern NewMexico and Arizona and California. The immature stagesprefer to feed on a variety of small mammals such as groundsquirrels, chipmunks, meadow mice, woodchucks, and rabbits,while the adults feed mainly on larger animals like cattle,sheep, deer, elk, dogs, and humans. Adults become active inFebruary or March, peak in April and May, and decline byJuly. The normal life cycle requires 1 or 2 years. Unfed adultticks may survive for 66 days. The female tick can lay up to7,400 eggs. This tick is the vector for Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Colorado tick fever inwestern Canada and the northwestern United States as well as tularemia and Q fever.40Pacific Coast Tick, Dermacentor occidentalis MarxThis 3-host tick is distributed along the Paci. c coast west of the Cascade range and SierraNevada Mountains in Oregon and California as well as northern Baja California, Mexico. Theimmature stages prefer to feed on a variety of small mammals such as ground squirrels, chipmunks,meadow mice, and wood rats, while the adults feed commonly on cattle, horses, deer, and humans.This tick is a vector for Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia and bites are very irritating tohumans. Adult ticks are active all year, but are most abundant in April and May.Brown Dog Tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille)The brown dog tick or kennel tick, Rhipicephalussanguineus, is a three-host tick found almost worldwide andthroughout the United States. The tick is more abundant in thesouthern states. This is the only species of this genus in theU.S. Domestic dogs are the principal host for all three stages ofthe tick, especially in the United States, although the tick feedson other hosts in other parts of the world. Adult ticks feedmainly inside the ears, head and neck, and between the toes,while the immature stages feed almost anywhere, includingthe neck, legs, chest, and belly. People may occasionally beattacked.This tick is closely associated with yards, homes, kennels and small animal hospitals where dogsare present, particularly in pet bedding areas. In the North, this tick is found almost exclusivelyindoors. Brown dog ticks may be observed crawling around baseboards, up the walls or othervertical surfaces of infested homes seeking protected areas, such as cracks, crevices, spaces betweenwalls or wallpaper, to molt or lay eggs. A female tick can deposit between 360 to 3,000 eggs. Underfavorable conditions, the life cycle can be completed in about two months. This tick is the vectorfor canine ehrlichiosis (Ehrlichia canis) and canine babesiosis (Babesia canis or Babesia gibsoni)and may possibly be associated with the transmission of Bartonella vinsonii in dogs. Brown dogticks infected with the agent for Rocky Mountain spotted fever were recovered in Arizona where anoutbreak of the disease had occurred.41Bulletin No. 1010 17