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Ixodes ricinus
Pumped up with it's host's blood and satisfied. This year ('11) there are unusual many ticks to be found...unfortunately on our own skin or in the fur of our pets. Which is a surprise since we had an extremely cold and long winter (up to -25°C and snow until mid March)
Spotted on Jul 25, 2011
Submitted on Jul 25, 2011
6 Comments
Reminds me of the 'about to burst' balloons I pick out from my dog's skin!
La aplastaste después de tomar las fotos ?
Wow & gross!
Hahahah! That is a lot of blood.
It must have been on our dog (poor mate...).
The ticks seem to be extremely aggressive and nearly not vulnerable - the dog just got it's fresh potion of Frontline (anti-tick-liquid)...doesn't seem to help much.
And yes, ticks are able to swallow blood up to ten times than their body-size/-weight.
That would mean that Vlad Dracul must have sucked up to 70 litres of blood each meal - what proves: Human Vampires do not exist :D
It's amazing how much blood they can feed on. I remember watching a show on Discovery a while back about all the blood sucking creatures out there. In the end it was the tick, who sucked the most blood as compared to its body size for any of the animals. I hope this was on a dog or something and not you.