Ticks are relentless, dangerous pests, and are present almost anywhere they can find a host they can latch on to.
These are infectious and difficult to remove, once a tick finds its way to your home (by way of pets) it will attach itself to a host and lay eggs. Now, the question is, can ticks lay eggs in your skin?
Fortunately, no, they don’t. Ticks are not able to lay their eggs on human skin, but they will lay them in areas where they think you’ll be spending a lot of time, such as in your bedding or on clothing.
One might say that it is good news indeed! These pesky ticks can’t lay eggs on human skin but they can latch onto you and fill up on your blood or your pet’s blood. Once they are filled up, they will detach themselves from their host.
It may seem that the problem is solved once the tick has detached itself. Well, let me tell you the bad news – the tick is just starting to do some serious problems.
The moment they detach from the host’s skin, it means that they are ready to lay their eggs. If the tick detached from you or your pet’s skin inside your home, then it will lay its eggs on your carpet or furniture.
This is where the infestation starts because a single tick can lay up to 3,000 eggs at a time! When these eggs hatch, it only means that thousands of larvae will be out looking for hosts.
How Does a Baby Tick Look?
Baby ticks are much harder to spot compared to the mother tick. A larva looks like a poppy seed, making it almost impossible for humans to spot them.
Due to their small size tick larvae are barely visible. But if you look at them under a microscope, you will see six legs connected into a round body.
Where Do Ticks Lay Eggs?
A mother tick can virtually lay its eggs anywhere but they are usually found outdoors. Half the time, ticks may latch on to your pet or your skin and find their way to your house, where they will lay their eggs.
Ticks prefer to lay their eggs on the ground but if they find their way into your home, they will start looking for other places where they can drop their eggs.
It can be in any part of your house such as your rugs, baseboards, window, curtains, and other furniture. These pests can live up to three years as long as t hey have a host to feed on.
What Do Tick Nest Looks Like?
Tick nests may not look like what you are thinking right now. A mother tick will not use any material to safely lay her eggs.
Together the nest looks like a clump of small brown circles stuck together into a big cluster. The eggs will remain attached to each other between two weeks to two months after being laid.
What To Do with a Tick Nest?
Tick nests look like small glassy circles stuck together and are usually amber or brown. If you ever see the nest outdoors, you must stay away from it.
If it is in your house, garage or garden then you must not try to drown the nest with water or stomp on it. This is because there is a big chance that these eggs can still survive those kinds of attacks.
What you need to do is, get a pair of gloves, get the nest, and put it in alcohol – this is one way of killing the eggs. It is also worth noting, that you should never touch the eggs as it can also carry disease.
Things to Do When You Find Ticks in Your Body
If by any chance, you find a tick crawling or attached to your body, you have to remove it as soon as possible. Don’t just pull it off your skin, as it can do more damage to you. To be able to remove the rick safely in your body all you need is a pair of tweezers. Here’s what to do.
Sanitize
Using rubbing alcohol and clean cotton balls, sanitize the area surrounding the tick. If rubbing alcohol is not available, you can use water and soap for cleaning.
Use Pointed Tweezers
Get your tweezers as closely as possible into your skin so you can grab the tick’s head. It is important to use pointed tweezers – not the typical kind that you use for plucking your eyebrows.
This is because ticks can be as small as a poppy seed. You will need the point of the tweezer to get close to the head.
Pull it up
As stated earlier, do not just yank the tick from your skin. You also don’t need to jerk it or twist it – a nice and steady upward pull will do.
Sanitize Again
After successfully removing the tick from your skin, you need to clean the bitten area again as well as your hands with soap and water or alcohol.
What to Do with the Tick?
You have two major options on what to do with the tick.
Send the tick for a test
This is an important step as the test will tell you whether the tick is carrying a life-threatening disease. You need to put the pest in a sealed container with food (grass will do) Take it to the lab for testing.
Get Rid of the Tick
You can drown it in rubbing alcohol or with soapy water if you want to get rid of it completely. You can also flush it down the toilet or wrap it tightly in tape and throw it out.
Why Do Ticks Attach to Human Skin
A tick bite can cause severe damage to humans. They are carriers of several diseases that can turn your life upside down. But why do ticks bite human skin?
They Need a Host for Survival
Ticks exclusively feed on blood at all stages of their life that is why it is crucial for their diet to be able to find a live host.
Ticks will look for a host to be able to feed on the blood as early as the larvae hatched from the egg to survive.
Even if mother ticks can lay more than a thousand eggs, there is a high chance that most of them will die if they cannot find a host to feed on.
They Need the Nutrients From the Blood
Another good reason why ticks attach to human skin is because it is where they can get human blood. Our blood is warm and full of nutrients that they need in order for them to go through all the stages of their life cycle.
To Reproduce
Ticks reproduce sexually. Most of the ticks that carry diseases can mate while they are feeding on their host. After reproducing, the female tick will detach from the host and lay eggs on the ground.
Final Thoughts
Ticks can lay their eggs anywhere, from grass blades to the edge of your carpet but they don’t lay eggs on human skin. After they bite and feed on you, they will detach from your skin and lay their eggs.
Never touch a tick’s egg with bare hands as it can still give you disease, dispose of them properly.
Cleaning your space is a good way to lessen the chance of tick-borne disease as it can destroy the nest and will make it harder for them to survive.
