Stuff Like This Didn’t Happen in Alaska

WC recently concluded a delightful trip up the South Fork of the Payette River, enjoying beautiful weather, lovely mountains and crystal clear streams.

On returning home, enjoying a nice shower, WC discovered he had acquired a passenger in his sojourn into the very nearly wilderness, lodged at the hairline on the back of his neck.

Rocky Mountain Wood Tick (Dermacentor andersoni) (Adult)

Stuff like this doesn’t happen in Alaska, or at least wasn’t happening when WC left. You might get your blood sucked dry by vast hordes of unrelenting mosquitoes, or covered in welts by no-see-um bites, or chased around a bit by a bear. But ticks?

This is a Rocky Mountain Wood Tick (Dermacentor andersoni)  (Adult), identification confirmed by the good folks at Ticksafety.com. Probably a female.

This wood tick is a vector for Colorado tick fever and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, although neither is common in Idaho. There are also reported cases of tularemia (Francisella tularensis) being transmitted by wood ticks in Idaho. Cases of Lyme Disease are pretty rare, at least in Idaho.

WC broke out his macro lens for this photo. It’s about 75 times life size. An adult is about 1.5 millimeters long. About half the magnification is with the 100mm macro lens with a 2.5 multiplier; the balance is by a tight crop. Interestingly, to the naked eye it appears black, and a little smaller than the “o” in Idaho in this blog. The background is a paper towel, with a dog hair at two o-clock.

The dog hair is appropriate because there’s a pretty good chance WC acquired this pest cuddling with the dog.

Wood ticks have a fairly complicated life cycle.

Wood tick life cycle, courtesy of Ticksafety.com

The campground WC was at had abundant and very cute Least Chipmunks and Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels, perfect hosts for the larval and nymph stages of these little buggers. See what “cute” will get you?

Use DEET or Permethrin to protect yourself in the woods. Picking up tocks from pets is more problematic. Tali, WC’s and Mrs. WC’s pup, take medication to discourage ticks, but only if they bite her. If they drop off her and bite WC instead, you’re going to find ticks on the back of your neck when showering.