I would try to post a pic, but with my camera it wouldn't look like anything but a small black dot. Lately while grooming the dogs for ticks, we've
been finding another "tick-like" parasite. Black and about the size of a small grain of rice, but with no legs that I can make out with my strongest
reading glasses. Placed on a flat surface, they won't crawl off. They are never flat like a loose dog tick, never embedded in the skin and they
don't swell up as much as a well-established tick. But when squeezed they do burst open and are full of blood. Sometimes they seem harder than the
usual tick. Any clues?Taco de Baja - 5-18-2007 at 07:56 AM
I'd guess an insect larva
or maybe a plant seed????....
put some in a sealed jar with small air holes, and see if they hatchBajalero - 5-18-2007 at 09:01 AM
Probably a larval tick , OsoBajalero - 5-18-2007 at 09:04 AM
Nope, they don't look anything like that. I'll try keeping some in a jar and maybe I can find a big magnifying glass.Bob and Susan - 5-18-2007 at 05:23 PM
termite poopbackninedan - 5-18-2007 at 06:11 PM
My wife works in a dog clinic here in Loreto and she says they are an early stage tick. I will take her word for it til I find out different.
[Edited on 5-19-2007 by backninedan]Marie-Rose - 5-19-2007 at 07:15 AM
Oso, I believe these little guys are a type of tick. We brought a puppy home last spring and as far as the eye could tell she had no fleas or ticks.
She was small, probably not more than 8weeks old so we did not get her tested for erlichea. After she went to her new home she became quite ill. As
it turned out, her other 2 litter mates died. She had erlichea. Her owner notices "freckles" on her body and just by chance was able to pry one
loose. When they put it under their sons microscope they were horrified to see that it was indeed a type of bug (apprently a tick). The vets in
Canada had never seen anything like it.
The word here is that they are becoming more common, and they were very difficult to get rid of. That poor puppy had more Frontline, Program, and
flea baths...
Happy to say that she is now healthy and tick freeOso - 5-19-2007 at 01:51 PM
That's sounding closer. Also my wife has corrected me about the "embedded" part. They are a bit hard to pull off, and sometimes leave a "bump".
I'm having a hard time finding Frontline around here. The Hartz version is very greasy and doesn't seem to work as well. The spray seems next to
useless.Bob H - 5-19-2007 at 02:04 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by Bob and Susan
termite poop
That is hilarious!
Bob HBob and Susan - 5-19-2007 at 06:06 PM
susan get FRONTLINE online from austraila http://www.petshed.com
then you don't have to go to the expensive vet
Mystery solved
Oso - 5-31-2007 at 07:30 AM
Well I put some in a jar for a few weeks but they didn't turn into anything else, so they didn't seem to be a larval stage of anything.
Yesterday, I attended a lecture on desert safety by an AZGFD agent and brought up the question.
Guess what? They're ticks. I knew about dog ticks and deer ticks but I didn't know that there are maybe 100 varieties of ticks. I don't know the
right name for this kind, so I guess I'll just call them "short legged ticks".
