Ticks are arthropod creatures. More than twenty thousand of their species are distributed in the world. Many of them are bloodsucking. They cling to animals and people. There are ticks - pests of plants. They threaten the crop, indoor plants, completely destroying them.
Types and distribution of ticks
The most interesting thing is that the tick is not an insect. This animal belongs to the arachnid family. Each year, scientists record a different number of these individuals. Ticks mainly live in forests, but are also found in city centers, houses and apartments. The main thing for them is to be relatively humid and dark. Ticks avoid direct exposure to the rays of the sun, hiding from them in foliage and crevices.
Getting on a person or animal, ticks try to quickly hide under clothing and wool. Therefore, they are difficult to detect immediately. Ticks are extremely motionless creatures. Over their entire life cycle, they can independently move only a few meters. There are ticks that feed on the blood of people and animals. But most species are herbivores. They consume mushrooms and leaves. There are ticks that eat other arthropods, much larger in size than themselves.
Ixodid tick
This is a parasite tick. It adapts well to any climatic conditions. These creatures are found even in the Arctic, parasitizing on penguins and other birds. Ixodid ticks in the world about six hundred and fifty species. Many of them are blood-sucking, able to tolerate dangerous diseases - tick-borne encephalitis and borreliosis (Lyme disease).
The virus enters the bloodstream of a person or animal with tick saliva during a bite. Having become infected with such diseases, a person may die. If he recovered, then consequences may appear - blurred vision (up to blindness), paralysis, weight loss, and others. These are mainly dog and taiga ticks. Reproduction and development of these species occurs by laying eggs.
Breeding
To increase the population, these creatures lay eggs. Reproduction of ixodid ticks also occurs using this method. Females lay up to seventeen thousand eggs in the ground. But a small number of babies survive to the adult stage - only a few. Larvae hatch from these eggs, waiting for the moment when they can eat plenty.
They feed on the blood of mice, a variety of birds and animals that are in the reach. After eating, the larva again returns to the ground, falls asleep and grows into a nymph. At this stage, nutrition is again required, after which an adult grows from it - this is an adult stage. Tick breeding occurs in the warm season. Over the entire life cycle, these creatures eat three times: at the stage of larva, nymph and adult. People are their rare food, most often they prefer cattle and forest animals.
Spider mite
This type of tick is a real thunderstorm for lovers of indoor plants. After such tenants populate the plant, you can forget about the flower. It is easier to throw away than to cure. These are small arachnids, reaching a size of just a millimeter. You can consider it only under a magnifying glass. The most common spider mite has a yellowish color. His body is covered with bristles, there are four pairs of limbs.
They are very tenacious, getting rid of them is difficult, but possible. When such animals appear on plants, you can try treatment with alcohol diluted in water. In garden stores, special products are sold that can help get rid of ticks and save the plant. These creatures live in colonies, entangle the flower with cobwebs, hiding on the back of the foliage, in the soil and in various crevices. Love warmth and relative humidity.
Spider mite: reproduction
Female spider mites live for about a month. During this time they produce hundreds of eggs. They ripen for about three days, the entire period of development of the generation is about twenty days - the exact time depends on climatic conditions.
Reproduction of spider mites occurs year round on home flowers. Even if you decide to get rid of the affected plant, do not rush to put a new one in its place. We need all the pots, the places where they stood, the cracks and ditches to handle with special means that can affect the eggs.
Tick propagation is protected by nature itself, which ensures the safety of future offspring - the egg shell is very dense. These eggs can remain alive for up to five years! Females carefully hide them in the crevices of window sills and furniture. Therefore, these places should be given special attention when processing.
Ticks in the nature
Tick reproduction in nature occurs only in the summer season. From May to July, females lay their eggs so that the cubs can grow to colds. The multiplication of ticks is influenced by many factors - the terrain, weather conditions and nutrition. The male after fertilization of several females dies. Conception itself occurs before nutrition. After this process, and before the deposition, you need to have time to get drunk blood - this is about ten days.
Females, after eating, lay eggs. Some species of ticks hide them in the ground, and some for more productive development, they are placed in grass and bushes so that the hatched larvae can easily catch on an animal passing by. On the beast, for which they managed to catch, they feed on from two to five days, after which they return to the soil or grass to shed and become a nymph. After the next meal, they become adults.
If the larvae were without food for a long time and by the fall did not have time to become nymphs, then they survive without any difficulties until spring, suffering frosts and blizzards. In the spring, when it gets warmer, they wake up and start looking for prey. The highest tick activity is from May to June. When going to the forest, do not forget to treat yourself and your animal with a special anti-mite agent. Clothing should be well dressed.