Ticks are arthropod creatures. More than twenty thousand of their species are distributed in the world. Many of them are blood-sucking. They cling to animals and people. There are mites - plant pests. They threaten crops, houseplants, completely destroying them.
Types and distribution of ticks
The most interesting thing is that the tick is not an insect. It is an animal belonging to the arachnid family. Every year, scientists record a different number of these individuals. Ticks mainly live in forests, but are also found in city centers, houses and apartments. For them, the main thing is that it is relatively humid and dark. Ticks avoid direct exposure to the sun's rays by hiding from them in foliage and crevices.
Getting on a person or animal, ticks try to quickly hide under clothes and wool. Therefore, they are difficult to detect immediately. Ticks are extremely immobile creatures. During their entire life cycle, they can independently move only a few meters. There are ticks that feed on the blood of humans and animals. But most species are herbivores. They eat mushrooms andleaves. There are ticks that eat other arthropods much larger than themselves.
Ixodid tick
This is a parasitic mite. It adapts well to any climatic conditions. These creatures are found even in the Arctic, parasitizing penguins and other birds. There are about six hundred and fifty species of ixodid ticks in the world. Many of them are blood-sucking, capable of carrying dangerous diseases - tick-borne encephalitis and borreliosis (Lyme disease).
The virus enters the blood of a person or animal with the saliva of a tick during a bite. Infected with such diseases, a person can die. If recovered, then consequences may appear - visual impairment (up to blindness), paralysis, weight loss and others. These are mainly dog and taiga ticks. Reproduction and development of these species occurs by laying eggs.
Reproduction
To increase the population, these creatures lay eggs. Reproduction of ixodid ticks also occurs using this method. Females lay up to seventeen thousand eggs in the ground. But a small number of babies survive to the adult stage - only a few. These eggs hatch into larvae, waiting for the moment when they can eat enough.
They feed on the blood of mice, various birds and animals that are within reach. Having eaten, the larva again returns to the ground, falls asleep and develops into a nymph. At this stage, nutrition is again required, after which an imago grows out of it - this isadult stage. Reproduction of ticks occurs in the warm season. During the entire life cycle, these creatures feed three times: at the stage of larva, nymph and adult. People are their rare food, most often they prefer cattle and forest animals.
Spider mite
This type of mite is a real thunderstorm for indoor plant lovers. After the plant is populated by such tenants, you can forget about the flower. It is easier to throw it away than to cure it. These are small arachnids, reaching a size of just a millimeter. It can only be viewed under a magnifying glass. The most common spider mite has a yellowish color. Its body is covered with bristles and has four pairs of limbs.
They are very tenacious, getting rid of them is difficult, but possible. When such animals appear on plants, you can try treatment with alcohol diluted in water. Garden stores sell special products that can help get rid of mites and save the plant. These creatures live in colonies, entangle the flower with cobwebs, hiding on the back of the foliage, in the soil and in various crevices. They love warmth and relative humidity.
Spider mite breeding
Female spider mites live for about a month. During this time, they produce hundreds of eggs. They mature for about three days, the entire period of generation development is about twenty days - the exact time depends on climatic conditions.
Spider mites breed all year round on home flowers. Even if you decide to get rid of the affected plant, do notrush to put a new one in its place. It is necessary to process all the pots, the places where they stood, the cracks and recesses with special means that can affect the eggs.
Reproduction of ticks is protected by nature itself, which ensures the safety of future offspring - the shell of the eggs is very dense. These eggs can stay alive for up to five years! Females carefully hide them in the cracks of window sills and furniture. Therefore, these places should be given special attention when processing.
Ticks in nature
Reproduction of ticks in nature occurs only in the summer season. From May to July, females lay eggs so that the cubs have time to grow up before the cold weather. Many factors influence the reproduction of ticks - terrain, weather conditions and nutrition. The male dies after fertilization of several females. Conception itself occurs before nutrition. After this process and before laying, you need to have time to drink blood - this is about ten days.
Females, having eaten, lay eggs. Some types of ticks hide them in the ground, and some, for more productive development, put them in grass and bushes so that the hatched larvae can easily catch on a passing animal. On an animal that they managed to cling to, they feed from two to five days, after which they return to the soil or grass to molt and become a nymph. After another meal, they become adults.
If the larvae were without food for a long time and did not have time to become nymphs by autumn, then they survive without much difficulty until spring, enduring frosts and snowstorms. in the spring,when it gets warmer, they wake up and start looking for prey. The highest tick activity is from May to June. When going to the forest, do not forget to treat both yourself and your animal with a special anti-tick agent. Clothing must be well tucked in.
