What are blacklegged ticks?
Blacklegged ticks are commonly called “deer ticks” because of their affinity to feeding on white-tailed deer. However, these parasitic pests will also happily feed on livestock, other wildlife, people, and even amphibians.
The adult tick has an oval broad shaped body and is orangish-brown in color; the “blacklegged tick” has much darker colored legs as compared to the rest of their body. After feeding they will become a rust brown color and increase in size. Before feeding adult ticks are about the size of a sesame seed or about 1/8th of an inch in length.
Why do I have them?
Blacklegged deer ticks require a humid environment to live in, because of this they are usually found hiding in tall grasses, dense vegetation, along wooded areas, and along fence lines. Like other species of ticks, because they cannot fly or jump they tend to hide in dense vegetation waiting for a new host to happen along and brush up against them.
When these ticks are found living and resting on your property there is a good chance that you, your kids, or pets will come into contact with these, dangerous blood feeding pests. At first sight of these pests living on your property you should contact a professional tick control expert.