{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Insect Minute","title":"Ticks","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":75,"description":"This may be the “Insect Minute,” but a tick is no insect! Ticks are a part of the subclass Acari making them close relatives of mites and distantly related to spiders. Ticks have four life stages, beginning as an egg that hatches into a six-legged larva. The six-legged larva immediately sets out to look for an appropriate host to find a blood meal. Ticks, both male and female, need blood to continue to the next stage of development. Once the larva has fed it will molt into an eight-legged nymph which, after feeding, will molt into a reproductive adult.\n\nTicks find their hosts through detecting the breath, body odor or body heat of an animal or through questing. When a tick is questing for a host it will climb to the end of a leaf or tip of a blade of grass and hold on tightly with the last two sets of legs and stretch the fore legs out, holding this position until an animal comes by to climb on to. Once the tick is “aboard” it will begin looking for a place of attachment, preferably a location with thinner skin. Location found, they cut the skin’s surface and insert the feeding tube. Ticks maintain attachment either by having a barbed feeding tube or secreting an adhesive like substance that sticks the tick in place.\nThe most common ticks found in NC are the American Dog tick, the brown dog tick, the Lone star tick and the black-legged or deer tick. The American dog tick and brown dog tick both carry Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The brown dog tick is entirely dark brown and the American dog tick is brown with white markings on the body and legs. The lonestar tick is named for the single white mark in the center of its otherwise brown body and carries the disease Ehrliciosis. The black-legged or deer tick is easily recognized by its black legs and is a carrier of Lyme disease.\n\nTicks can be difficult to avoid, but there are methods of prevention that can be employed to protect you. If you are going into an area where you would expect to find ticks, like a wooded...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/8OaF3V3IZzKm9OHNjuA9S-PlY7LHo87IqmV0JvkqyA0/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzI0NTkvMTYyMjEz/NTE4NS1hcnR3b3Jr/LmpwZw.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}