Post by LymeEnigma on Oct 21, 2008 18:11:09 GMT -8
I was in my bedroom the other night, when I saw something tiny crawling on my computer screen. I moved to swipe it off, only to find the thing had an extremely hard shell. It was literally the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Two possibilities came to mind: 1) bedbugs, which is pretty much out, given the fact that hubby and I have not gotten any bug bites in bed, and we checked the mattress and sheets thoroughly, finding no traces of anything, and 2) a larval or nymph hard-bodied tick.
Unfortunately, I slightly crushed the thing in my rashness, but I put it in a baggie and looked at it under a magnifying glass ... VERY tiny, difficult to see, but I'm pretty sure it was a tick. I dropped it off at my local department of agriculture; hopefully they will be able to identify it. The last time I had a question in my mind (found a desert recluse - loxoceles deserta - in the bathroom) they were very good about getting back to me with confirmation on the taxonomy.
If this was a larval or nymph-stage Ixodes tick, however, that will mean that I have personally encountered two life stages in my region - which is the criteria for "endemic" status. We shall see....
Unfortunately, I slightly crushed the thing in my rashness, but I put it in a baggie and looked at it under a magnifying glass ... VERY tiny, difficult to see, but I'm pretty sure it was a tick. I dropped it off at my local department of agriculture; hopefully they will be able to identify it. The last time I had a question in my mind (found a desert recluse - loxoceles deserta - in the bathroom) they were very good about getting back to me with confirmation on the taxonomy.
If this was a larval or nymph-stage Ixodes tick, however, that will mean that I have personally encountered two life stages in my region - which is the criteria for "endemic" status. We shall see....
