Castor bean tick
The castor bean tick is a tiny tick that waits on grass and twigs for an animal or person to walk past. Then it climbs on and drinks blood. A hungry tick is as small as a sesame seed, but after a big meal it swells up like a little bean.
Ticks: how to stay safe
- In Estonia, the castor bean tick and the taiga tick can carry Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis.
- Ticks wait on grass stems, from ankle to knee height. Long trousers tucked into socks and light clothes help you spot them.
- After playing outside, check your body, your hair and your pets for ticks.
- Found a tick? A grown-up should take it out quickly with fine tweezers or a tick tool: hold it close to the skin and pull slowly. No oil or alcohol on it. Then wash the spot.
- There is a vaccine against tick-borne encephalitis, for children too from one year old. Ask your doctor.
- If in the weeks after a bite you get a fever, feel ill or see a red patch that grows, go to a doctor.
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Fun facts
It has no eyes at all. It finds animals by clinging to grass and leaves and waiting for one to brush past.
A grown-up tick may hang on and feed for up to two weeks before it drops off.
One full female lays several thousand eggs.
Its whole life, from egg to grown-up, usually takes two or three years.
Ticks love damp places and dry out easily, so they climb down to the moist ground to rest.
Most asked questions about Castor bean tick
?Where do castor bean ticks live?
In woods, forests and tall grass in Europe, especially in damp places.
?How big is a castor bean tick?
A hungry one is about 1 to 4 millimetres long. A female full of blood can grow to 11 millimetres.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Ixodes ricinus
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Scorpions, ticks and friends
- Family
- Ixodidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Ixodida > Ixodidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, Asia
- Also known as
- Sheep tick
Where the facts come from
- Ixodes ricinus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by W.alter. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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