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• Method 1 of 2: Examining the tick
• Method 2 of 2: Distinguish deer ticks from other ticks
• Warnings

Of the approximately 820 species of ticks known worldwide, approximately 100 species can transmit disease to humans through a bite. The deer tick, or black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) can transmit Lyme disease and other diseases to its host. Ticks are easiest to spot when they are adults, but diseases can be transmitted even when they are young. If a tick bites you or clings to your clothing, you should be able to determine whether it is a deer tick or not so that you can seek immediate medical attention if necessary.

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Method 1 of 2: Examining the tick

1. Remove the tick from its host, if necessary. The best way to remove a tick is to use pointed tweezers and tilt the tip so that the head of the tick is removed with the body. Old-fashioned methods, such as covering the tick with petroleum paste or covering the area with nail polish, should be avoided as they can traumatize the tick and throw up the contents of its stomach (including bacteria) right into your dog's circulation.
   • Did you remove the entire tick? If you made a sudden movement when removing the tick, its head may have broken off and remained in the skin. You may be able to remove this part separately with clean tweezers. You should also be able to identify the tick without its head.
   • Put the tick in a bottle or jar with a lid, or place it on a piece of white paper and use a piece of clear tape to cover it.
2. Confirm it's a tick. How many legs does it have? Ticks, like other arachnids, have 8 legs in both the nymph and adult stages, but have only 6 legs in the larval stage.
   • If you put the tick in a bottle or jar, watch how it moves. If it is a tick, it will crawl, but it cannot fly or jump.
   • Ticks have flat, teardrop-shaped bodies at all stages of their lives. When it feeds, the tick's body will become round and its color will lighten.
   • Deer ticks are smaller than other ticks, such as the dog ticks Amblyomma Americanum and Dermacentor variabilis. The nymphs of deer ticks are about the size of a poppy seed, 1 to 2 mm in diameter, while adult ticks can be 2 to 3.5 mm in size and about the size of a sesame seed. A tick that has eaten can be as long as 10 mm.
   • Hard ticks, such as the deer tick, have a shell covering their body. Soft ticks do not have this.
3. Examine it shield. A magnifying glass can be useful here as young ticks are quite small.
   • The shield is the hard part behind the tick's head. A deer tick has a single-colored shield, while the shield of other ticks has a pattern.
   • The shield can also provide information about the tick's age. The shell of an adult male will cover almost the entire body while that of the female is much smaller.
   • If the tick is large (after eating) it can be difficult to identify by other characteristics. An enlarged deer tick will be rusty or brownish red in color, while the color of other ticks will be light gray or greenish gray after they have eaten. However, the shield remains unchanged.

Method 2 of 2: Distinguish deer ticks from other ticks

1. Identify ticks by their pattern. Adult, female deer ticks that have not fed have a unique, bright orange-red body surrounding the black carapace. Adult males are dark brown or black in color.
   • The term woodstick is often used for different types of ticks, including the deer tick and the aforementioned dog tick. All of these ticks generally live in forested or recently deforested areas and climb up from the ground. You will have to look at the patterns to distinguish them from each other.
   • Dog ticks have a brown and white pattern on their carapace which deer ticks do not have. The Ablyomma Americanum has a distinctive white, star-like marking on its carapace.
   • The deer tick is about half the size of a dog tick, both fed and unfed.
   • Dog ticks very rarely bite a human. However, they are one of the few ticks that can become a nuisance in your home. As the name implies, they often sit on dogs. They can therefore often be found in kennels, veterinary clinics and outdoor areas where infected animals often come.
2. Check out the length of the tick's head, or be capitulum. It looks like a head, but it is actually the part of the tick that attaches to the host to feed. It consists of two leg-like antennae that detect the presence of a host, a set of knife-like appendages that allow the tick to cut through the skin, and a single prickly part (the hypstoma) entering through the opening.
   • The deer tick's capitulum is much longer than that of other common ticks, such as the dog tick. The capitulum is in the front and is visible from above.
   • The female deer tick has a larger capitulum that the male. Adult male deer ticks do not feed.
3. Remember that deer ticks can be found almost all over the world.
   • Deer ticks are most active in the spring, summer and fall. However, they can be active as long as the temperature is above freezing. Other ticks, such as the dog tick, are usually only active in the spring and summer.
   • Adult deer ticks live in woody or shrubby environments. They prefer to sit on low shrubs, not trees.
   • There are types of deer ticks, such as the Ixodes Pacificus, which very rarely bite humans.

Warnings

• If you suspect you've been bitten by a deer tick, see a doctor right away for treatment. Treatment for Lyme disease is usually successful if you are treated within two weeks.
• Diseases are most often transmitted by deer ticks in the nymph stage. Since nymphs are much smaller than adult ticks, they are less likely to be noticed and removed quickly.