American Dog Tick

American Dog Tick Behavior

American dog ticks live outside but can ride indoors on a dog or another animal. Keep pets out of dense brush and tall weeds, and on a regular tick check and treatment routine with your vet. If ticks keep turning up, call a pest control professional, since these ticks can spread serious illness.

American Dog Tick Facts

• Adults favor dogs but also bite raccoons, deer and people
• Larvae and nymphs feed mainly on mice, voles and other small mammals
• A main carrier of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in the eastern U.S.
• Widespread across the eastern half of the country

Identifying the American Dog Tick

An unfed adult is about 3/16 inch long, flat and teardrop shaped, with eight legs. The body is reddish brown, and the shield behind the head has off-white or silvery markings. On females that pale patch covers only the front of the back, while males have pale mottling across the whole back. A female that has fed for several days can swell to about 1/2 inch and turn slate gray.

Three other ticks are easy to confuse with it in Florida:

• Brown dog tick: plain reddish brown with no pale markings. This is the tick most likely to be found crawling inside a home.
• Lone star tick: the female has a single white dot in the middle of her back.
• Blacklegged (deer) tick: smaller, with a dark shield and dark legs. It, not the American dog tick, is the main carrier of Lyme disease.

American dog ticks feed only on blood at every stage of life. They live outdoors in grassy fields, overgrown lots, roadsides, and along trail edges and wood lines. Adults climb to the tips of grass and weeds and wait for a passing dog, raccoon, opossum, deer or person to brush by. The species is common across Florida. Adults are most active from spring through summer, though the mild climate means some can turn up in other months too. For what a problem around your property looks like, see American dog tick infestation.