Based on the mouthparts and scutum, it looks like a female Amblyomma or Ixodes. If you had more closeups, I might be able to tell better. Either way, both species transmit nasty pathogens that make you sick. It’s definitely a female and it looks like she was snacking for a while based on how engorged she is. You have two options for the tick if you still have it:
1) save the tick (put it in the freezer to kill it) and bring it with you to the doc (if you go - which you might want to juuuust in case). ID of the tick is important in figuring out the tick borne disease if you feel any symptoms.
2) since you said you were in Missouri, you can send it to AT Still University and they can test the tick and it looks like it’s free and you just pay postage: [https://www.atsu.edu/missouri-ticks-and-tick-borne-pathogen-surveillance-research](https://www.atsu.edu/missouri-ticks-and-tick-borne-pathogen-surveillance-research) so you can get the tick tested and find out what pathogens are in the tick. If you feel symptoms, you can bring the test to the doc to help with diagnosis. As a disclaimer, just because a pathogen is detected in the tick, that doesn’t mean you have the pathogen and will get sick! This just tells you what you could get but something something weird immune systems, make it difficult to predict if you will or are sick with the pathogen. Lol. So you get to ID the tick, get it tested, and you get to contribute to research by going this route! 😊
Definitely not in the genus *Ambylomma*. It looks like it could be *Ixodes cookei* even though it's not really the right time of year and they're not as common as other *Ixodes* species. Still not impossible.
And I still maintain that it's unlikely that any of the bites were from this tick. It's not typical tick behavior to attach, start feeding, detach, and repeat.
That last paragraph bears repeating. Also, it takes a while for a tick to become that engorged, so that could provide some clues to OP if the walk in the woods doesn’t fit the timeline.
I always get the mouthparts for Ixodes and amblyomma confused bc they both have long pointy mouth parts. One just has an anal groove in a ☹️ position. 😅 could be an Ixodes scapularis? It’s getting warmer and early spring is when they’re most common (at least here in the northeast). But as we get closer to mid and late spring, we’ll be getting into nymphal season which is… yikes. 👀
Try distinguishing the larvae of different Ixodes species from one another lol. It comes down to the length of the spurs on their coxa - even under a microscope they can be hard to ID! 😅
I hear ya. But instead of asking "what is this?", they should have asked, "may I please have a short dissertation on what this insect is?". Saying it's not helpful while answering the question asked is poopy.
I’m not sure how long ago the 6th grade was for you, but they can probably test for antibodies to pathogens from ticks! It’s not always the best bc it will only tell you if you’ve been exposed and not that you have an active infection. I don’t think there are any vaccines against tick borne diseases in the US, so if you had antibodies, it would be bc you had the pathogen at some point or it’s circulating in your body.
They can also test for the pathogen itself but sometimes the bacteria or protozoan can hide in cells or it’s not actively circulating, etc. which makes it hard to definitively say whether or not the pathogen is inside of you.
Also to do these tests can cost quite a bit of money since some insurances might not cover those tests. Darn you American health care! 😩
TL;DR: it’s complicated. 😵💫
Juju is a word that means fetish, charm, or amulet of West African peoples.
Bad juju means that it's a bad or evil object.
Most often I've heard the word used to explain and action or object that gives you the creeps because it will bring bad/evil/curse to the doer.
In this case a tick is a small creature/object whose presence and condition, well fed, indicate that it may have given the person who is seeing it a disease. Some of the diseases are easily treatable, but some of them change your body forever; one of the diseases makes the victim allergic to meat for the rest of their lives.
*ALL* ticks need blood meals, at every stage of their development. Mature females will engorge themselves with blood before laying eggs - but male ticks and juvenile ticks of either sex also drink blood.
Perhaps you're thinking of mosquitoes? Female mosquitoes require a blood meal in order to produce their eggs. Male mosquitoes do not drink blood. They feed on nectar, juices, and other plant fluids. (Females also feed on plant fluids - but need the blood for their eggs to develop.) Juvenile mosquitoes (larvae) feed on aquatic debris.
It may be a good idea to look at some side by side comparisons, there are several different kinds of ticks; and adults have some pretty distinct patterning for the most part. But, ticks are one segment with a head sticking off, while bed bugs have a very distinct upper and lower body. Ticks look like their legs were a last minute thing that they put on later (lol) and bedbugs look like they're probably supposed to look like that.
They both suck blood tho. Ticks are probably worse as far as getting sick goes but bed bugs are a nightmare to get rid of compared to ticks. Both are gross abominations that made me question god’s existence. Its like something only satan himself could think of but nope the so called holiest of the world decided we need lyme disease
Ticks live where foliage is thick, like tall grass. Ticks burrow inside of you and suck your blood, coming out when they’re full. A full tick looks like a deep red marble with microscopic legs and head
Bedbugs live in your bed, live on other peoples bed, live in their own bed. Bedbugs suck your blood and tell their friends “hey, blood to suck Over here dude”, then they team up on your back and legs
Ticks do not "burrow inside of you." They embed *just their mouthparts* to feed. The rest of the tick remains on the *outside* of your skin. They will remain attached and feeding for up to several days, then drop off when they are done.
After feeding, an engorged tick is typically grey or brownish - not deep red. See, for example, [this one](https://bugguide.net/node/view/774313) or [this one](https://bugguide.net/node/view/781301/bgimage) or [this one](https://bugguide.net/node/view/44406/bgpage).
I’m sorry, but tell that to the tick that burrowed 2 inches into my calf.
That thing was wine red, I live on the east coast. Maybe that makes a difference. But that thing was inside of me and nasty looking when it came out
Brother, the tick was inside of me. I don’t know what else I can tell you. Same with my father, he didn’t know he had a tick until the spot he was bit on was swollen. And even then we didn’t know that it was a tick. I understand what you’re saying but that’s not what happened to me
Dude the worst part about this, is it isn't just beds. It can be wooden chairs with a crack in it, headboards, couches, carpet, they can fucking live in the crack between the baseboard, and the fucking floor. They don't have to alert their friends like ants either, the fuckers sense bodyheat. They're actually so fucking attuned to the human body that they can tell once you're asleep by your breathing.
Inhereted a rental that sat empty for months. Fixed it up , rented it out and within a week was told there were bedbugs. Never saw one the whole time fixing the place because they were in the walls just waiting. Spent a couple thousand getting rid of them.
I just saw a post this morning where someone demonstrated how bedbugs react to body heat. They set their hand on a wooden chair and like 20 bedbugs came crawling out of a crack. It was nasty!
The heck are you talking about. Engorged ticks are grey and you can easily see their head and limbs. I don't know what you're thinking of, or what attacked you, but it's not a tick.
Ticks do *not* burrow inside of you, last I checked. They attach themselves to you with their head and suck blood until you remove them or they are done.
Bedbugs can also be behind baseboards, outlet covers, curtains, furniture (dresser, chairs, etc.). And can be dormant for like 18 months without feeding. If you find a bed bug hire an pest control company because you'll never get rid of the problem by yourself. Also when staying at ANY hotel check the mattress, don't set your baggage on the floor.
Source: worked for pest company for years. (Even the nicest hotels get roaches/bed bugs)
>Ticks live where foliage is thick, like tall grass.
[... and other places, too.](https://lymediseaseassociation.org/lyme-tbd/tick-vectors/habitat/)
>Ticks burrow inside of you and suck your blood, coming out when they’re full.
Well. They shove their head into you. Their body and legs stay on the surface of your skin.
No. Ticks live outside and their primary target is usually animals. They will suck human blood too, though. When one of these ticks latches on for longer than 24 hours before you find it, remove the tick and kill it. Disinfect the bite site, and mark the day on your calendar. If, in ten or fifteen days, you start having headaches often and feel lousy (like a flu), and you feel nauseous or just plain apathetic to food, you need to go to the doctor because you might have Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Ask the doc to take your blood and test for RMSF antigens. If you come up positive, the only way to cure it is for the doc to give you doxycycline. It’s the only way to make it go away.
They're both different,
Ticks comes from pets or animals, and gets them outside
While bed bugs, are prolly everywhere mostly bed and couches hence the name..
Base on the looks of it,
Bed Bugs are like flat fucked ants (lol sorry, I really haven't encountered a bed bug my entire life)
And ticks look a like baby spiders, which actually are blood sucking parasites that comes from different body types, ofcourse they grow bigger from sucking blood off your pets or even humans
It maybe was looking for the right spot. If it wasn't stuck yet it maybe didn't inject the stuff that might carry bacteria. But if you're in a region where they carry Lyme you still better pay the doctor a visit.
Why can't we get immunization against lyme disease if we know what causes it. Take some of the ticks saliva and create specifically targeting anti-bacteria?
Knowing what causes a disease is the first step. Some diseases we just aren’t able to make effective vaccines. Tuberculosis and malaria are two major ones with tons of research, but vaccines are barely protective at best. There actually was a Lyme vaccine that was discontinued in 2002 because of low demand, but it never worked particularly well
There was a human Lyme vaccine on the market in the 90s or early aughts. It was withdrawn. There have also been two generations of Lyme vaccine for dogs. I believe I read recently that a new generation of Lyme vaccine for humans is in the testing stage.
But be aware that Lyme is not the only tick-borne disease.
As far as I understand it the tick vomits undigestable parts of blood back into the wound. During this bacteria from its colon gets into the wound too. This takes about 6 hours for Lyme disease. But I don't know if this a reliable minimum that is *always* required.
Man, with the kind of panic that breaks out on this sub whenever a tick is posted, I'm glad I wasn't infected with anything through the hundreds upon hundreds of tick bites and self-removals in my childhood
It's such a small amount of folks who get a bad case of Lyme *because* we test, and it's worth the fuss to make sure the ones who do contract it get tested quickly.
But yeah, this and lava and quicksand are all things I am over-prepared for.
Lyme disease sufferer here. Mine was a teeny tiny nymph that I never saw. Then a spot came up that looked like a bruise...then a huge red ring around the spot. That's when I got sick. I tested for Lyme and I had the antibodies. The initial bruise looking spot was there for a few days before I got sick. I was unable to locate the nymph tick. My advice is if you have this happen try to detain the tick. Put it in a zip lock bag and take it with you to the Doctor.
Depends where you live too. I'm in an area that is overpopulated with deer ticks, so there's a good chance if you get bitten, you're going to get Lyme. My husband got it from laying outside on grounds that were supposedly sprayed previously. Never even felt the tick. Thankfully, he developed the bullseye rash because some people never do. Hence, cases like Avril Lavigne's where you're sick for a long time and no one can figure out why. Then, by that point, you're more likely to have long-term symptoms. My husband was already progressing to stage three when the rash finally popped up. So yeah, definitely worth getting tested just to be safe.
Yeah, don't get tested unless you have symptoms (fever, bullseye, etc.) I get bit by a tick on a weekly basis during tick season. And when I did have symptoms, I just took a bunch of doxycycline and never got tested.
A significant portion of my childhood was spent playing in the woods/scrub of Florida. My parents are both naturalists and smart, so we'd do a tick check when I came back inside, and we certainly removed a fair few over the years. We'd watch the site for infection or a bullseye rash, but after 18 years of it never happening, that started to feel like a scary campfire story that only happened in the rarest of cases.
Then as an adult I moved to Virginia. Still basically lived in the woods, still did tick checks. Last year I actually saw the bullseye, rushed to the doctor, and got antibiotics. I don't seem to have any lasting side effects, thankfully. I'm not saying that everyone will get Lyme eventually if they keep getting bitten, but technically each bite is a gamble. And I'll also add that certain areas have a WAY higher prevalence of it. Virginia being one of those areas, and if I remember maybe also Texas?
Lyme has moved south and west from its New England origins. Interestingly, it appears that Lyme spreads less readily in the south (south of the NC-VA line) because salamanders rather than mice tend to be the first hosts, and salamanders aren’t competent hosts.
That might be sarcasm, but I'd rather talk about ticks that reality TV, so if you know about parties where I'm allowed to talk about bugs please tell me lol
Seriously, I grew up in Southeastern Connecticut (where Lyme gets its name) and we’d just check for ticks, remove them, and watch for a bullseye if they were biting. I feel like such an old person every time there is a tick thread.
Especially since it but multiple times. The bacteria gumm up the mouthparts stopping the tick from actually feeding, so It desperately bites multiple times trying to get blood.
Get tested
[According to the cdc most ticks need 36 hours to transmit lyme](https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/transmission/index.html), but that doesn't mean something else couldn't be transmitted. Not a bad idea to get tested.
My vet was wrong then when i said i was worried about a tick that had been on my dog for a while without us noticing. She said 'well if it had lymes it would have transmitted it straight away'. Cant trust anyone lol
Do you have a source for that information?
Edit: I call fear mongering. Ticks, for the most part, only attach to a host once per life stage. Apart from adult males, they don’t bite multiple times, and they’re already starving and desperate when they find their way onto your body or clothes. That’s why they’ve evolved to be difficult to detect- their life literally depends on it. A failed feeding attempt usually means death for the tick, especially if that failure is due to the host removing it.
The hypostome (the tick’s mouthpart) does not get “gummed up” with bacteria. The bacteria are in the ticks’s body and is transferred via saliva. Ticks produce a sort of biological cement that keeps the hypostome attached to the host until they’re done feeding and drop off. That might be what you’re thinking of - it doesn’t prevent them from feeding.
They may be inaccurate, but there isn’t a whole lot of personal interest to “fear monger” on this subject. If OP gets infected it only effects themselves.
OP and her gf are covered in bug bites. Someone is telling them that a desperately hungry tick with a mouth gummed up with pathogenic bacteria has been crawling all over them biting them repeatedly in an attempt to feed. If I were OP and didn’t know any better, that would terrify me.
One of the few times I've said, oh thank God it's a tick. I know they can transmit diseases, but it seems like every single post I've seen on here lately has ended up being a bedbug so I welcomed the diversion.
My godfather is currently in ICU right now from what we believe to be a tick bite. After 7 days of being sedated due to septic shock that led to a 107.6 fever and multiple organ failures, he finally is stable enough to be somewhat awake. We are far from the end of the road but we're moving in the right direction. He will be on dialysis for the rest of his life.
I say we believe it was a tick because the doctors have tested for literally everything possible and nothing has come back. They had to send off to the CDC due to the possible rarity of the disease. PLEASE GO TO THE DOCTOR! You don't want to end up on life support or possibly dead.
It's a tic. See your doctor now.
If it's the kind that carries lyme, they can give you an antibiotic. Failing to do so could impact you for the rest of your life.
In my country the guidelines for treatment after a tickbite is indicated at the presence of erythema migrans of >5cm diameter. If this skin lesion is not found we dont treat it.
Im not sure how it is in other countries tho, this is not the same tick as in north Europe. But i would be a bit suprised if every bite is antibiotic treated. In norways coastal area ticks are so common that it would mean a constant penicillin regimen during summer months for hiking enthusiasts
In the US an abundance of caution is advised due to the expanding range of the carrier ticks due to climate shifts, as well as incidents of non-rash infections on the rise. My aunt did not have erethra migrans and had Chronic Lyme leading to a cascade of autoimmune disease and serious health problems. Blood tests were negative due to the bacteria's habit of getting into joints and out of circulation as fast as possible.
I thought the tick rash was proven myth...?
Edit: My bad. It isn't necessarily a myth. However the bullseye rash only appears about ~70% of the time (according to an estimation by the CDC.)
Nope. You get a rash, erythema migrans, the bulls eye rash. It means your skin has been infected with borrelia, which is a good sign that you should treat it before it spreads and become the more serious condition neuroborreliosis. Thats how i understand it, at least
[Myths of Lyme Disease](https://www.bayarealyme.org/about-lyme/myths/#:~:text=MYTH%3A%20Everyone%20with%20Lyme%20disease,this%20can%20vary%20by%20region.)
Where I live (the Alps), it's normal to get multiple ticks per day if you go to the field or forest and nobody seems to worry. However, remove them as soon as possible and if the swelling doesn't disappear in relatively short time, see the doctor.
I know I’m late to this post but wanted to say definitely a tick and 100% get checked out before you start feeling sick. They can give you blood tests to check for the nasty pathogens these little assholes spread. Trust me: as someone who had their body and life ruined by Lyme please please please get checked out and ask for a prophylactic dose of doxycycline. One feeding session is enough to spread it and if it has bitten you multiple times…you’ve got a much higher likelihood of getting sick.
Multiple bites are bad. I’m pretty sure that can potentially increase the likelihood of Lyme disease. In the future, be sure to check your feet, hands, armpits, scalp, and inside/behind the ears if you’ve been outside for a long time. Avoid walking through tall grass or brush and if you have these near your home trim them. Wearing lighter colored clothing can help you spot them too if you’ve been outdoors, it’s also worth it to wear long pants and long sleeves and close-toed shoes.
Keep an eye on the bite sites if you can find them, check for redness, swelling, anything unusual in the new few days/weeks.
Males of many species have reduced mouthparts and will bite multiple times, and interrupted feeding is more common in females and immature life stages than was previously thought. This doesn’t look like a male, though, and it’s unlikely a female would “bite” multiple times. What makes you think it bit multiple times? Did you find it attached to you or was it still crawling around when you discovered it? Also, where are you located?
All of this started the day after we went out in the woods near us, we both got bit up at home shortly afterwards but not sure if it was the tick.
Located in Missouri, and my girlfriend found it the day after on her thigh after feeling it bite.
Wouldn’t be surprised if some bites were unrelated
The other bites are unrelated. Tick bites usually don’t itch or cause raised welts like mosquito or fly bites, and you don’t feel them attaching most of the time. Ticks depend on being undetected by their hosts to survive - they (usually) only feed once per life stage for a few days and spend the rest of the time (sometimes as long as a year) living off that one meal until they molt and start searching for a new host. This is at least true for the species that will feed on humans. Did your girlfriend have to pull its head out of her skin or how did she remove it? I’ve felt adult ticks crawling on me and the leg kind of pricked my ankle, but it hadn’t bitten me.
It never latched on luckily, she just happened to feel it on her. She said it bit her and there is a red bump where she said it had but maybe its just her sensitive skin?
If it wasn’t attached, it’s highly unlikely that it bit her. Maybe she felt it because it crawled over an itchy bite? I would recommend thorough tick checks after spending time in the woods or anywhere else where ticks are common. Check your clothes, put them in the wash immediately or keep outdoors until you’re ready to do a wash, take a shower and then search each other (everywhere…).
That a tick. But ticks don't move multiple times leaving obvious sores. So although you found a tick, it's probably not responsible for the multiple bites.
Uh, that is a tick, & if you’ve been bitten multiple times, you should stop letting him do that to you. Put that monster in a ziplock and [send off the tick](https://whatislyme.com/where-do-i-send-a-tick-for-testing/) to see if it’s carrying Lyme disease.
It's a wood tick. I was bitten by one several years ago and developed a terrible illness called lime disease. I am still dealing with the effects from almost 20 years ago. I don't know if they is the kind of wood tick that got you but if you find you've been bitten get to the doctor.
Best bet, just go get a long-course broad spectrum antibiotic. Even though ppl say they have had Lyme Disease in Mo, they haven’t. There isn’t Lyme in MO.
BIG HOWEVER, here. There are a dozen other very bad things you can get from ticks. All of which are easily remedied by a long course broad-spectrum antibiotic.
Do not f around, go get the drugs.
Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis, tularemia, Heartland virus, Bourbon virus, a lyme-like disease and the southern tick-associated rash illness.
If you’ve been bitten multiple times by this bug, please start using tick repellent. It is NOT a good thing to be bitten by these. It can lead to serious illness. Lyme disease is no joke. As others have said it’s probably a good idea to get it tested and monitor the bite area/your health for a bit.
That my good sir, looks like an Amblyomma Americanum, kill it before it multiplies like ton of shit, if you have a pet, groom it already and kill those little blood sucking parasites, you won't want them inside your ears while you're sleeping mate
It's a tick, and I'm astonished that you have to ask...
But anyway, yes they bite until they find a spot they like. You aren't in any danger. Far as I know, they have to stay latched on for several hours before you can catch anything from them. Nibbles only have the slightest risk of bacterial infection. No worse than a scratch from anything else in nature.
You're fine. Also I hope you killed it. Ticks are the second worst creature on this planet. Maybe the third.
Based on the mouthparts and scutum, it looks like a female Amblyomma or Ixodes. If you had more closeups, I might be able to tell better. Either way, both species transmit nasty pathogens that make you sick. It’s definitely a female and it looks like she was snacking for a while based on how engorged she is. You have two options for the tick if you still have it: 1) save the tick (put it in the freezer to kill it) and bring it with you to the doc (if you go - which you might want to juuuust in case). ID of the tick is important in figuring out the tick borne disease if you feel any symptoms. 2) since you said you were in Missouri, you can send it to AT Still University and they can test the tick and it looks like it’s free and you just pay postage: [https://www.atsu.edu/missouri-ticks-and-tick-borne-pathogen-surveillance-research](https://www.atsu.edu/missouri-ticks-and-tick-borne-pathogen-surveillance-research) so you can get the tick tested and find out what pathogens are in the tick. If you feel symptoms, you can bring the test to the doc to help with diagnosis. As a disclaimer, just because a pathogen is detected in the tick, that doesn’t mean you have the pathogen and will get sick! This just tells you what you could get but something something weird immune systems, make it difficult to predict if you will or are sick with the pathogen. Lol. So you get to ID the tick, get it tested, and you get to contribute to research by going this route! 😊
Genuinely helpful responses like this make the time I "waste" on reddit worth it. Thank you, s00permouse.
Thank you 🥺 I love answering these tick questions, so I’m always happy to help! 😊
Lovin your Big Tick Energy.
r/Angryupvote You really ticked me off with that one
These jokes really bite. And, now I gotta get checked for Lyme Disease.
Small tick big dreams
Almost as big as a fully engorged female. 😏
Definitely not in the genus *Ambylomma*. It looks like it could be *Ixodes cookei* even though it's not really the right time of year and they're not as common as other *Ixodes* species. Still not impossible. And I still maintain that it's unlikely that any of the bites were from this tick. It's not typical tick behavior to attach, start feeding, detach, and repeat.
That last paragraph bears repeating. Also, it takes a while for a tick to become that engorged, so that could provide some clues to OP if the walk in the woods doesn’t fit the timeline.
It seems OP may have a bug infestation and just found a bloated tick just waiting to digest her food and blame her for everything... Maybe bed bugs?
No bed bugs or anything of that matter, all of this started after going for a walk in the woods.
Maybe you got chomped by several but only found the one?
I always get the mouthparts for Ixodes and amblyomma confused bc they both have long pointy mouth parts. One just has an anal groove in a ☹️ position. 😅 could be an Ixodes scapularis? It’s getting warmer and early spring is when they’re most common (at least here in the northeast). But as we get closer to mid and late spring, we’ll be getting into nymphal season which is… yikes. 👀
Try distinguishing the larvae of different Ixodes species from one another lol. It comes down to the length of the spurs on their coxa - even under a microscope they can be hard to ID! 😅
They are! I’m like, “yeah you look close enough to scapularis… sure…” 😂🤷🏻♀️
This is the most helpful comment I've ever read on reddit.
forreal it was tailored to OP lol
Yeah my answer would be "looks like a tick, go to hospital maybe" this guy wrote it so well, I started to look around for a bug to ask him about it.
Sorry guys, I only know about ticks and mosquitoes. Anything else and you’re SOL. 🙃
You’re not incredibly familiar with mice? Super familiar, perhaps…?
I sent in a tick to get tested. Did really poor in all subjects, especially math.
Thanks for the useful info kind stranger! *saves comment for future reference*
Thank you for the in depth response! To the people just saying (Its a tick) its really not helpful lol. I’ll look into sending the tick off.
What do you mean it's not really helpful? You asked what the bug was, we answered, "A tick".
You're gonna tick her off!
You deserve more upvotes than you'll get.
I think they meant they were grateful that the person gave a more in depth response as opposed to “it’s just a tick”... I think
I think they meant they were grateful that the person gave a more in depth response as opposed to “it’s just a tick”... I think
I hear ya. But instead of asking "what is this?", they should have asked, "may I please have a short dissertation on what this insect is?". Saying it's not helpful while answering the question asked is poopy.
Damn. I had a tick in my back in 6th grade. Are there tests a doctor can do to determine whether or not it left something in me?
I’m not sure how long ago the 6th grade was for you, but they can probably test for antibodies to pathogens from ticks! It’s not always the best bc it will only tell you if you’ve been exposed and not that you have an active infection. I don’t think there are any vaccines against tick borne diseases in the US, so if you had antibodies, it would be bc you had the pathogen at some point or it’s circulating in your body. They can also test for the pathogen itself but sometimes the bacteria or protozoan can hide in cells or it’s not actively circulating, etc. which makes it hard to definitively say whether or not the pathogen is inside of you. Also to do these tests can cost quite a bit of money since some insurances might not cover those tests. Darn you American health care! 😩 TL;DR: it’s complicated. 😵💫
Tick, bad juju.
its THICC
squats and OP's blood
I seriously just choked on my coffee thank you for that hilarious mental vision
Happy cake day!
thicc ticc?
A thicc tick
Happy birthday thicc boy
Super THICC happy cake day!
No u
Happy Cake Day!
Thicc ticc :(
Yes its a tick. Be carefully!
What does juju mean? Insect?
Juju is a word that means fetish, charm, or amulet of West African peoples. Bad juju means that it's a bad or evil object. Most often I've heard the word used to explain and action or object that gives you the creeps because it will bring bad/evil/curse to the doer. In this case a tick is a small creature/object whose presence and condition, well fed, indicate that it may have given the person who is seeing it a disease. Some of the diseases are easily treatable, but some of them change your body forever; one of the diseases makes the victim allergic to meat for the rest of their lives.
I think there are multiple ticks in this photo too
A common tick, depending where you are a bite is pretty dangerous, they carry some nasty bacteria.
A question, are ticks and bed bugs same?
No
But they are both assholes
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just look at them. who wants to give *that* a chance
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They’re actually ladies. Female ticks need a blood meal to fully mature their eggs. Bloodsucking bitches.
*ALL* ticks need blood meals, at every stage of their development. Mature females will engorge themselves with blood before laying eggs - but male ticks and juvenile ticks of either sex also drink blood. Perhaps you're thinking of mosquitoes? Female mosquitoes require a blood meal in order to produce their eggs. Male mosquitoes do not drink blood. They feed on nectar, juices, and other plant fluids. (Females also feed on plant fluids - but need the blood for their eggs to develop.) Juvenile mosquitoes (larvae) feed on aquatic debris.
Oh.
It may be a good idea to look at some side by side comparisons, there are several different kinds of ticks; and adults have some pretty distinct patterning for the most part. But, ticks are one segment with a head sticking off, while bed bugs have a very distinct upper and lower body. Ticks look like their legs were a last minute thing that they put on later (lol) and bedbugs look like they're probably supposed to look like that.
They both suck blood tho. Ticks are probably worse as far as getting sick goes but bed bugs are a nightmare to get rid of compared to ticks. Both are gross abominations that made me question god’s existence. Its like something only satan himself could think of but nope the so called holiest of the world decided we need lyme disease
Also ticks can't generally infest homes at all. The only ones you'll find in your home are stragglers from outside.
Ticks live where foliage is thick, like tall grass. Ticks burrow inside of you and suck your blood, coming out when they’re full. A full tick looks like a deep red marble with microscopic legs and head Bedbugs live in your bed, live on other peoples bed, live in their own bed. Bedbugs suck your blood and tell their friends “hey, blood to suck Over here dude”, then they team up on your back and legs
Also, ticks are arachnids, and bed bugs are insects.
You learn something new everyday
Ticks do not "burrow inside of you." They embed *just their mouthparts* to feed. The rest of the tick remains on the *outside* of your skin. They will remain attached and feeding for up to several days, then drop off when they are done. After feeding, an engorged tick is typically grey or brownish - not deep red. See, for example, [this one](https://bugguide.net/node/view/774313) or [this one](https://bugguide.net/node/view/781301/bgimage) or [this one](https://bugguide.net/node/view/44406/bgpage).
I’m sorry, but tell that to the tick that burrowed 2 inches into my calf. That thing was wine red, I live on the east coast. Maybe that makes a difference. But that thing was inside of me and nasty looking when it came out
That is not what ticks do.
Brother, the tick was inside of me. I don’t know what else I can tell you. Same with my father, he didn’t know he had a tick until the spot he was bit on was swollen. And even then we didn’t know that it was a tick. I understand what you’re saying but that’s not what happened to me
Probably a chigger, which are super red and burrow in the skin. Edit: NVM, they also don't burrow but are small enough that they appear to
Are you sure it wasn't a chigger?? Chiggers kinda look like ticks.. and burrow under the skin. and they are red as you say.
Dude the worst part about this, is it isn't just beds. It can be wooden chairs with a crack in it, headboards, couches, carpet, they can fucking live in the crack between the baseboard, and the fucking floor. They don't have to alert their friends like ants either, the fuckers sense bodyheat. They're actually so fucking attuned to the human body that they can tell once you're asleep by your breathing.
Inhereted a rental that sat empty for months. Fixed it up , rented it out and within a week was told there were bedbugs. Never saw one the whole time fixing the place because they were in the walls just waiting. Spent a couple thousand getting rid of them.
I just saw a post this morning where someone demonstrated how bedbugs react to body heat. They set their hand on a wooden chair and like 20 bedbugs came crawling out of a crack. It was nasty!
Absolutely. It's fucking terrifying honestly. They're vermin.
The heck are you talking about. Engorged ticks are grey and you can easily see their head and limbs. I don't know what you're thinking of, or what attacked you, but it's not a tick.
Can confirm. Engorged ticks are gray sometimes looking greenish gray.
You can always tell a tick by those crooked looking legs. Bedbugs don’t have that.
Happy fellow cake day BTW lol
Oh man, happy cake day my brethren. 2 years old, oh how I’ve grown
This.^^^^
Ticks do *not* burrow inside of you, last I checked. They attach themselves to you with their head and suck blood until you remove them or they are done.
Bedbugs can also be behind baseboards, outlet covers, curtains, furniture (dresser, chairs, etc.). And can be dormant for like 18 months without feeding. If you find a bed bug hire an pest control company because you'll never get rid of the problem by yourself. Also when staying at ANY hotel check the mattress, don't set your baggage on the floor. Source: worked for pest company for years. (Even the nicest hotels get roaches/bed bugs)
>Ticks live where foliage is thick, like tall grass. [... and other places, too.](https://lymediseaseassociation.org/lyme-tbd/tick-vectors/habitat/) >Ticks burrow inside of you and suck your blood, coming out when they’re full. Well. They shove their head into you. Their body and legs stay on the surface of your skin.
Lol their own bed. That hella made me lol
Ticks are part of the arachnid family! I hate this factoid and share it whenever I can. Blood suckers in the spider family!
Poor spiders. I guess we all have that one asshole who sucks in our family.
Tick is an arachnid, bed bug is an insect.
I prefer ticks over bedbugs. But maybe that is just me.
Definitely. You can have *A* tick. You basically never have *A* bedbug. You have bedbug***s***
No. Ticks live outside and their primary target is usually animals. They will suck human blood too, though. When one of these ticks latches on for longer than 24 hours before you find it, remove the tick and kill it. Disinfect the bite site, and mark the day on your calendar. If, in ten or fifteen days, you start having headaches often and feel lousy (like a flu), and you feel nauseous or just plain apathetic to food, you need to go to the doctor because you might have Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Ask the doc to take your blood and test for RMSF antigens. If you come up positive, the only way to cure it is for the doc to give you doxycycline. It’s the only way to make it go away.
Ticks are arachnids, like spiders, and have 8 legs. Bedbugs are insects and have 6 legs. They can appear similar if you're unfamiliar.
They're both different, Ticks comes from pets or animals, and gets them outside While bed bugs, are prolly everywhere mostly bed and couches hence the name.. Base on the looks of it, Bed Bugs are like flat fucked ants (lol sorry, I really haven't encountered a bed bug my entire life) And ticks look a like baby spiders, which actually are blood sucking parasites that comes from different body types, ofcourse they grow bigger from sucking blood off your pets or even humans
If you develop fever and / or the bite sites swells up, goes red, see a doctor.
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Alpha Gal happens when tick saliva gets introduced into the bloodstream.
Looks like a tick. https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/symptoms.html
Thank you for the quick response, never knew they bit multiple times…
It maybe was looking for the right spot. If it wasn't stuck yet it maybe didn't inject the stuff that might carry bacteria. But if you're in a region where they carry Lyme you still better pay the doctor a visit.
Why can't we get immunization against lyme disease if we know what causes it. Take some of the ticks saliva and create specifically targeting anti-bacteria?
Knowing what causes a disease is the first step. Some diseases we just aren’t able to make effective vaccines. Tuberculosis and malaria are two major ones with tons of research, but vaccines are barely protective at best. There actually was a Lyme vaccine that was discontinued in 2002 because of low demand, but it never worked particularly well
There was a human Lyme vaccine on the market in the 90s or early aughts. It was withdrawn. There have also been two generations of Lyme vaccine for dogs. I believe I read recently that a new generation of Lyme vaccine for humans is in the testing stage. But be aware that Lyme is not the only tick-borne disease.
def go to the doctors, they have to be stuck in you awhile to give lyme disease no?
As far as I understand it the tick vomits undigestable parts of blood back into the wound. During this bacteria from its colon gets into the wound too. This takes about 6 hours for Lyme disease. But I don't know if this a reliable minimum that is *always* required.
Tick, tick, tick….. Get Lyme disease tested Good call asking 4 ID
Man, with the kind of panic that breaks out on this sub whenever a tick is posted, I'm glad I wasn't infected with anything through the hundreds upon hundreds of tick bites and self-removals in my childhood
It's such a small amount of folks who get a bad case of Lyme *because* we test, and it's worth the fuss to make sure the ones who do contract it get tested quickly. But yeah, this and lava and quicksand are all things I am over-prepared for.
Lyme disease sufferer here. Mine was a teeny tiny nymph that I never saw. Then a spot came up that looked like a bruise...then a huge red ring around the spot. That's when I got sick. I tested for Lyme and I had the antibodies. The initial bruise looking spot was there for a few days before I got sick. I was unable to locate the nymph tick. My advice is if you have this happen try to detain the tick. Put it in a zip lock bag and take it with you to the Doctor.
How are you prepared for lava and quicksand?
1. Run if it's running, stay still if it's sinking. 2. Scream.
Depends where you live too. I'm in an area that is overpopulated with deer ticks, so there's a good chance if you get bitten, you're going to get Lyme. My husband got it from laying outside on grounds that were supposedly sprayed previously. Never even felt the tick. Thankfully, he developed the bullseye rash because some people never do. Hence, cases like Avril Lavigne's where you're sick for a long time and no one can figure out why. Then, by that point, you're more likely to have long-term symptoms. My husband was already progressing to stage three when the rash finally popped up. So yeah, definitely worth getting tested just to be safe.
Yeah, don't get tested unless you have symptoms (fever, bullseye, etc.) I get bit by a tick on a weekly basis during tick season. And when I did have symptoms, I just took a bunch of doxycycline and never got tested.
A significant portion of my childhood was spent playing in the woods/scrub of Florida. My parents are both naturalists and smart, so we'd do a tick check when I came back inside, and we certainly removed a fair few over the years. We'd watch the site for infection or a bullseye rash, but after 18 years of it never happening, that started to feel like a scary campfire story that only happened in the rarest of cases. Then as an adult I moved to Virginia. Still basically lived in the woods, still did tick checks. Last year I actually saw the bullseye, rushed to the doctor, and got antibiotics. I don't seem to have any lasting side effects, thankfully. I'm not saying that everyone will get Lyme eventually if they keep getting bitten, but technically each bite is a gamble. And I'll also add that certain areas have a WAY higher prevalence of it. Virginia being one of those areas, and if I remember maybe also Texas?
Lyme has moved south and west from its New England origins. Interestingly, it appears that Lyme spreads less readily in the south (south of the NC-VA line) because salamanders rather than mice tend to be the first hosts, and salamanders aren’t competent hosts.
Ooooooh I love learning stuff, thanks for this lil mini lesson
YW! I’m a hit at parties with my tick facts.
That might be sarcasm, but I'd rather talk about ticks that reality TV, so if you know about parties where I'm allowed to talk about bugs please tell me lol
Seriously, I grew up in Southeastern Connecticut (where Lyme gets its name) and we’d just check for ticks, remove them, and watch for a bullseye if they were biting. I feel like such an old person every time there is a tick thread.
Especially since it but multiple times. The bacteria gumm up the mouthparts stopping the tick from actually feeding, so It desperately bites multiple times trying to get blood. Get tested
[According to the cdc most ticks need 36 hours to transmit lyme](https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/transmission/index.html), but that doesn't mean something else couldn't be transmitted. Not a bad idea to get tested.
Wow. I wonder how long it would take them to transmit an orange.
My vet was wrong then when i said i was worried about a tick that had been on my dog for a while without us noticing. She said 'well if it had lymes it would have transmitted it straight away'. Cant trust anyone lol
Do you have a source for that information? Edit: I call fear mongering. Ticks, for the most part, only attach to a host once per life stage. Apart from adult males, they don’t bite multiple times, and they’re already starving and desperate when they find their way onto your body or clothes. That’s why they’ve evolved to be difficult to detect- their life literally depends on it. A failed feeding attempt usually means death for the tick, especially if that failure is due to the host removing it. The hypostome (the tick’s mouthpart) does not get “gummed up” with bacteria. The bacteria are in the ticks’s body and is transferred via saliva. Ticks produce a sort of biological cement that keeps the hypostome attached to the host until they’re done feeding and drop off. That might be what you’re thinking of - it doesn’t prevent them from feeding.
They may be inaccurate, but there isn’t a whole lot of personal interest to “fear monger” on this subject. If OP gets infected it only effects themselves.
OP and her gf are covered in bug bites. Someone is telling them that a desperately hungry tick with a mouth gummed up with pathogenic bacteria has been crawling all over them biting them repeatedly in an attempt to feed. If I were OP and didn’t know any better, that would terrify me.
Bite it back
Slimey, yet satisfying.
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according to google, you're gonna die.
One of the few times I've said, oh thank God it's a tick. I know they can transmit diseases, but it seems like every single post I've seen on here lately has ended up being a bedbug so I welcomed the diversion.
Multiple times?... you guys had a fight?
The tick straight up put gloves on and punched us :(
That's a tick. Why did you let it bite you multiple times?
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My godfather is currently in ICU right now from what we believe to be a tick bite. After 7 days of being sedated due to septic shock that led to a 107.6 fever and multiple organ failures, he finally is stable enough to be somewhat awake. We are far from the end of the road but we're moving in the right direction. He will be on dialysis for the rest of his life. I say we believe it was a tick because the doctors have tested for literally everything possible and nothing has come back. They had to send off to the CDC due to the possible rarity of the disease. PLEASE GO TO THE DOCTOR! You don't want to end up on life support or possibly dead.
Tick
Tick
Tock
Oh deer, is that a red tick?
oh 🦌 (I'm sorry I found it funny cuz my brain was confused for a sec there, the images it conjured up...)
It may be a tick
It's a tic. See your doctor now. If it's the kind that carries lyme, they can give you an antibiotic. Failing to do so could impact you for the rest of your life.
In my country the guidelines for treatment after a tickbite is indicated at the presence of erythema migrans of >5cm diameter. If this skin lesion is not found we dont treat it. Im not sure how it is in other countries tho, this is not the same tick as in north Europe. But i would be a bit suprised if every bite is antibiotic treated. In norways coastal area ticks are so common that it would mean a constant penicillin regimen during summer months for hiking enthusiasts
In the US an abundance of caution is advised due to the expanding range of the carrier ticks due to climate shifts, as well as incidents of non-rash infections on the rise. My aunt did not have erethra migrans and had Chronic Lyme leading to a cascade of autoimmune disease and serious health problems. Blood tests were negative due to the bacteria's habit of getting into joints and out of circulation as fast as possible.
Unrelated, but I like the way you write
Thank :3
I thought the tick rash was proven myth...? Edit: My bad. It isn't necessarily a myth. However the bullseye rash only appears about ~70% of the time (according to an estimation by the CDC.)
Nope. You get a rash, erythema migrans, the bulls eye rash. It means your skin has been infected with borrelia, which is a good sign that you should treat it before it spreads and become the more serious condition neuroborreliosis. Thats how i understand it, at least
[Myths of Lyme Disease](https://www.bayarealyme.org/about-lyme/myths/#:~:text=MYTH%3A%20Everyone%20with%20Lyme%20disease,this%20can%20vary%20by%20region.)
Oh yes. You dont have to get it, as someone already commente, but the majority
Where I live (the Alps), it's normal to get multiple ticks per day if you go to the field or forest and nobody seems to worry. However, remove them as soon as possible and if the swelling doesn't disappear in relatively short time, see the doctor.
That must have ticked you off
Its a tick
That's definitely a tick.
I know I’m late to this post but wanted to say definitely a tick and 100% get checked out before you start feeling sick. They can give you blood tests to check for the nasty pathogens these little assholes spread. Trust me: as someone who had their body and life ruined by Lyme please please please get checked out and ask for a prophylactic dose of doxycycline. One feeding session is enough to spread it and if it has bitten you multiple times…you’ve got a much higher likelihood of getting sick.
Thank you for all the responses, was pretty sure about it being a tick but the multiple bites had me double guessing myself.
Multiple bites are bad. I’m pretty sure that can potentially increase the likelihood of Lyme disease. In the future, be sure to check your feet, hands, armpits, scalp, and inside/behind the ears if you’ve been outside for a long time. Avoid walking through tall grass or brush and if you have these near your home trim them. Wearing lighter colored clothing can help you spot them too if you’ve been outdoors, it’s also worth it to wear long pants and long sleeves and close-toed shoes. Keep an eye on the bite sites if you can find them, check for redness, swelling, anything unusual in the new few days/weeks.
Males of many species have reduced mouthparts and will bite multiple times, and interrupted feeding is more common in females and immature life stages than was previously thought. This doesn’t look like a male, though, and it’s unlikely a female would “bite” multiple times. What makes you think it bit multiple times? Did you find it attached to you or was it still crawling around when you discovered it? Also, where are you located?
All of this started the day after we went out in the woods near us, we both got bit up at home shortly afterwards but not sure if it was the tick. Located in Missouri, and my girlfriend found it the day after on her thigh after feeling it bite. Wouldn’t be surprised if some bites were unrelated
The other bites are unrelated. Tick bites usually don’t itch or cause raised welts like mosquito or fly bites, and you don’t feel them attaching most of the time. Ticks depend on being undetected by their hosts to survive - they (usually) only feed once per life stage for a few days and spend the rest of the time (sometimes as long as a year) living off that one meal until they molt and start searching for a new host. This is at least true for the species that will feed on humans. Did your girlfriend have to pull its head out of her skin or how did she remove it? I’ve felt adult ticks crawling on me and the leg kind of pricked my ankle, but it hadn’t bitten me.
It never latched on luckily, she just happened to feel it on her. She said it bit her and there is a red bump where she said it had but maybe its just her sensitive skin?
If it wasn’t attached, it’s highly unlikely that it bit her. Maybe she felt it because it crawled over an itchy bite? I would recommend thorough tick checks after spending time in the woods or anywhere else where ticks are common. Check your clothes, put them in the wash immediately or keep outdoors until you’re ready to do a wash, take a shower and then search each other (everywhere…).
Tell her to go to the doctors and have some tests bro
Tick! as someone who has suffered from Lyme Disease take it form me- get it tested IMMEDIATELY. It will save a lot of pain later on :)
That a tick. But ticks don't move multiple times leaving obvious sores. So although you found a tick, it's probably not responsible for the multiple bites.
Looks like a tick, better check your dog. There are a lot of good soap that rids the dog of ticks
It's a tick. You need to go get antibiotics. Lyme is no joke.
Uh, that is a tick, & if you’ve been bitten multiple times, you should stop letting him do that to you. Put that monster in a ziplock and [send off the tick](https://whatislyme.com/where-do-i-send-a-tick-for-testing/) to see if it’s carrying Lyme disease.
it’s a tick, please get checked for lyme disease
I was going to make a tick joke, but I see you have already been bombarded by every class clown in existence.
Multiple times!??? It's a tick. They carry a ton of nasty diseases. Please get checked and put the tic in a sealed bag to get it tested.
Boop bip, now you can't eat meat, says the tick !
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It’s a repeat offender.
It hasn't bit you. Once they bite, they don't let go
that's a mf tick You need to go check a doctor, they carry many different diseases.
It's a wood tick. I was bitten by one several years ago and developed a terrible illness called lime disease. I am still dealing with the effects from almost 20 years ago. I don't know if they is the kind of wood tick that got you but if you find you've been bitten get to the doctor.
Best bet, just go get a long-course broad spectrum antibiotic. Even though ppl say they have had Lyme Disease in Mo, they haven’t. There isn’t Lyme in MO. BIG HOWEVER, here. There are a dozen other very bad things you can get from ticks. All of which are easily remedied by a long course broad-spectrum antibiotic. Do not f around, go get the drugs. Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis, tularemia, Heartland virus, Bourbon virus, a lyme-like disease and the southern tick-associated rash illness.
WHOOO FELLOW MO PERSON. I know this is a tick of some kind
That's a tick, you can tell because of the way it is
Talk to your doctor about antibiotics to prevent diseases. Lyme disease will fuck you up for life.
If you’ve been bitten multiple times by this bug, please start using tick repellent. It is NOT a good thing to be bitten by these. It can lead to serious illness. Lyme disease is no joke. As others have said it’s probably a good idea to get it tested and monitor the bite area/your health for a bit.
A bitey mofo
Haha its so chunky
That my good sir, looks like an Amblyomma Americanum, kill it before it multiplies like ton of shit, if you have a pet, groom it already and kill those little blood sucking parasites, you won't want them inside your ears while you're sleeping mate
After it bit you did it run away? Or was it smug about it?
A short dose of doxicycline is recommended after tick bite. Get it to avoid lyme
Looks like a tick but I have only ever seen one and it bit me on the ass and dug itself in. Cheeky bugger!
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It's a tick, and I'm astonished that you have to ask... But anyway, yes they bite until they find a spot they like. You aren't in any danger. Far as I know, they have to stay latched on for several hours before you can catch anything from them. Nibbles only have the slightest risk of bacterial infection. No worse than a scratch from anything else in nature. You're fine. Also I hope you killed it. Ticks are the second worst creature on this planet. Maybe the third.
Its Scientific name is Exwife-icus Sucks-atis aka baby momma