Rocky Mountain ticks or wood ticks are blood-sucking parasites. They are active in the spring from when the snow begins to melt up to about late June. Wood ticks do not drop from trees as their name might suggest. In fact, ticks are usually found on blades of grass waiting for suitable hosts such as sheep, deer, cattle and humans.
Adult ticks are small, approximately 5 to 6 mm in length, and have a flat, reddish-brown body. They can attach almost anywhere on their host. On humans, the back of the neck Is a common attachment point. Ticks painlessly insert their mouthparts through the host's skin and then secrete an adhesive substance that glues the tick to their host.
Both male and female ticks suck blood. The females can draw enough blood to expand their bodies up to 100 times their original weight. A fully engorged female resembles a large, brownish-grey kernel of corn.
Diseases:
Ticks produce a toxin that can cause paralysis in humans. Symptoms of tick paralysis are loss of coordination, severe drowsiness, and eventually, paralysis. Removal of the tick should result in spontaneous recovery from tick paralysis.
Ticks may also transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever. This disease is characterized by severe headaches, fever and a peculiar skin rash. Antibiotics are effective against Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Both disease may be fatal, but in Alberta they are rare. There is no need to forego outdoor activities for fear of ticks as long as a few simple precautions are taken.
Prevention:
To reduce the possibility of picking up ticks, tuck your pants inside your socks. Repellents containing DEET (e.g. tradename OFF) can be sprayed or rubbed on clothing likely to come in contact with grass and low shrubs. Don't sit or lie down in meadow areas where elk and other animals have been grazing. Stay off rocky areas where bighorn sheep and mountain goats are likely to have been feeding.
After an outing, you should carefully inspect yourself and your companions, especially around the head and neck. Pets should also be checked, par1icularly around the neck and ears.
If a tick has attached itself to your skin, the whole body, including the mouthparts, must be removed. Grasp it firmly near the head with tweezers or fingers and pull steadily so that the mouthparts do not break off in your skin. Once the tick is removed, treat the bite area with an antiseptic to avoid infection. If the tick is attached too firmly to be removed without breaking, if inflammation occurs after removal, or if you experience a fever or headache, see a medical doctor.
More About Wood Ticks
Although the Rocky Mountain wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni Stiles) resembles a small insect, it is more closely related to the spider or mite. Ticks have eight legs. Curved hooks at the end of each leg enable the tick to fasten itself to clothing or hair, and a cementing ring secreted through the mouthparts fastens the tick to its host. Ticks inject an anticoagulant into the host's bloodstream.
Under ideal conditions the life cycle of the Rocky Mountain wood tick is completed in one year. Mating takes place on the host when the female is partially full of blood. She then engorges with blood, drops to the ground, and over the next month lays about 5,000 to 10,000 eggs, usually in one large mass, under stones or other debris. The eggs hatch during June and July, and the larvae crawl around on the soil or up on low vegetation. Before developing into nymphs, the larvae require a blood meal, usually from small rodents such as ground squirrels or chipmunks. Nymphs either overwinter on the ground or obtain another blood meal and change into adults. In the spring, young adults climb onto grass or shrubs and wait for larger hosts on which to feed. After this feeding the adults mate, continuing the tick life cycle. Adults that do not draw blood from a host will eventually die, although they have been known to survive as long as 413 days without food.
Alberta Recreation and Parks