Tick ​​bite

Do you know that there are ticks in Crimea? Surely you know. So what next? What to do if you are going into nature (to the mountains, to the wild on the beach, etc.)? How to protect yourself from creeping bloodsuckers?

I won’t say that I have the most complete information on this issue, but I can suggest something. Moreover, I tested all my advice on myself personally.

So let's get started:

How to recognize a tick?

Ticks are relatives of spiders. They have 8 legs and no wings. The body is very, very flat, usually dark brown or black, sometimes with a red border. I came across two types of ticks: giant (about 4 millimeters) and miniature (less than a millimeter). You understand that small ones are much more dangerous, since it is very difficult to notice them.

You understand that small ones are much more dangerous, since it is very difficult to notice them. After reading the literature, I found out that these are mite larvae. They are in size no larger than a poppy seed and have only three pairs of legs. And fortunately, these little ones cannot infect encephalitis (unlike adults).

The larvae attack small forest animals and birds, sucking blood for 3-4 days, then leave their hosts and go to the forest floor. There they molt, turning into the next phase of development - nymphs, which are larger and already have four pairs of limbs.

Having overwintered, the nymphs go out to “hunt” in the same way, but choose larger victims: squirrels, chipmunks, hares, hedgehogs. After a year, the engorged nymph turns into either a female or a male, who can infect us with the virus.

 Males can suckle for a short time in order to replenish the supply of nutrients and water in the body, but females normally suck blood for 6-10 days. A well-fed female becomes the size of the phalanx of the little finger and her integument acquires a dirty gray color with a metallic tint. 

Having eaten, the female goes into the forest floor and, having digested the blood, begins oviposition, laying 1.5 - 2.5 thousand eggs.

Thus, the development cycle of the taiga tick lasts at least three years, and can drag on for four to five years. During this time, ticks feed only three times, and out of thousands of larvae, only a few dozen adult individuals emerge; the rest fail to survive.

How dangerous are ticks?

Ticks burrow into the skin and drink blood. And everything would be fine if at the same time they were not carriers of any infection. Namely tick-borne encephalitis – a terribly nasty disease.

How to protect yourself from ticks?

Firstly, ticks are only active twice a year. In Crimea, their peak activity occurs at the end of May. Then all summer they sleep in an unknown place and only in September they go out hunting for fresh blood once again.

Secondly, ticks are not found everywhere. There are areas where you can’t find them during the day, and on the contrary, in some places they pour out from everywhere. They say that there are a lot of ticks where horses used to be bred and where there are a lot of wild animals. I can’t say that this would be confirmed by my observations, but nevertheless. I encountered a prevalence of ticks in the area of ​​​​the Devil's Staircase (Uzundzha, Karadag forest, Shaitan-Merdven), and almost never saw them on Chatyr-Dag and Karabi.

Thirdly, ticks are very predictable, and this is their weakness.

According to the common myth, ticks sit on trees and fall on your head. In Crimea, ticks much more often sit not on tall trees, but on the grass and cling to the legs of those passing by. Clinging to the pant leg, the tick crawls upward in search of a convenient place to bite. Unlike mosquitoes, they cannot bite through clothing. They need soft skin. Favorite places for bites are at waist level, under the elastic band of pants, under the knees, on the neck. In order to find such a tasty morsel, the tick needs about 20 minutes. This is your chance. If you look around every 20 minutes (at least your legs), not a single tick is scary to you. This is why I prefer not to hide my legs under my pants, but to wear shorts. It is much easier to spot a tick on white skin or light fabric than on a dark background.

It is impossible to feel a tick, especially a small one, so once it gets under your clothes (in your pant leg) it can act with impunity. 

What should you do if a tick does bite you?

First, read how to remove a tick.