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Posted 6/11/2024 12:08 PM (GMT 0)
Hi everyone, I’m currently convinced that some wood ticks are falling from the trees in our area…On two separate occasions yesterday I had a tick on me…one crawling on my neck…and then when I took my dog for a walk I felt one fall on the top of my head (but I didn’t realize it at the time) I thought it was the wind or my sun glasses on my head…then I found it later. (Not attached)

However, when I did a search online this is a so called “myth.” What are your views on this?
Posted 6/11/2024 12:39 PM (GMT 0)
Ticks can sort of "fly" through static electricity. So I think it's possible. This article came out last year about it:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/flying-ticks-static-electricity-diseases
Posted 6/11/2024 12:49 PM (GMT 0)
its not their usual mode of operation -
generally they mainly like lowish undergrowth in mixed woodland / grassland or borders
this where tick concentrations are normally highest

here they climb to the tops of tall grass or low shrubs and wait for something to pass by so they can grab them with there forelegs - usually a small mammal.

but we do know the same ticks do inhabit ground feeding birds like blackbirds, thrushes etc - which then also perch in trees
so its not impossible for ticks to be in trees

that said i would think it an uncommon occurrence for ticks to be raining down in such numbers that you would get several on you that way though.

they also do not jump or fly - and to my knowledge need to grasp the host with their hooked forelegs before letting go of their perch - so unless you brushed against a low hanging branch with one on - it seems unlikely they would jump or fall on person

its worth knowing that they do not tend to bite immediately on finding a host - they most often walk around unnoticed trying to find an obscure spot where they are less likely to be discovered - this can take hours after they initially get onboard.

dogs can also pick up ticks easily while they run through undergrowth - and later transfer them to their unknowing owners - even hours later when at home.

i have had the sensation of some creepy crawly or other falling on me while walking in woodland
little caterpillars hanging on silk threads do this in summer here
or sometimes is just a bit of leaf or bark or flower of something - but being a bit Tick phobic i instantly feel skin crawly sensations

perhaps its possible something like that could have made you super aware of anything crawling on your skin and caused you to find something that hopped aboard some other way

regardless of where exactly they came from - if there are ticks in the area its worth taking all the usual precautions when walking the dog
-pale coloured clothes
-long trousers tucked in
-treated with repellents
-stay on the path - away from long grass / undergrowth
-dog treated regularly


i hope its of some help
Posted 6/11/2024 4:39 PM (GMT 0)
Good find Rainy

i was remembering that study while i was writing the above post

but in that study the researchers did some slightly misleading things in the way they did their experiments -

rather than trying to measure how far a tick could actually "jump" using this effect in the wild, they charged up objects like a bit of fur and a plastic sheet with static electrical charge by rubbing them, much as you would a party balloon, and tested how far they could attract a tick with those charged objects.

so while it might be considered a proof of principle - they were charging the target - not the tick - and in the wild its tick that they are proposing is generating a charge on its body by crawling over things - but that's not what they replicated in the lab - and they did not demonstrate that a tick can generate anything like that much charge on itself to allow it to jump any distance in the wild.

as an analogy - we can rub a party balloon on our sweater and use it to cause peoples hair to stand on end, or pick up bits of paper with it - but their hair doesn't normally do that - its happening because of a property of the balloon when you rub it on a another insulating material, more than their hair or the paper.

the same kind of thing is done in GCSE physics classes with charged rulers and bits of paper
the explanation given is:
"When the negatively charged ruler is brought near to the paper pieces, they are attracted to the ruler as the the electrons move around on the paper because of the large charge on the ruler. Electrons will move away from the ruler leaving a positive charge on the paper near the ruler, so they are attracted."

i think it was largely a tactic used by the researchers to get a paper published - ie say something shocking or that might make people feel alarmed - and you are more likely to get the paper picked up by a Journal

in practice i would guess that maybe the real effect in the wild might cause a small increase in efficiency of transfer from tick to host when they brush together or maybe even from a few millimetres apart.
Posted 6/11/2024 8:52 PM (GMT 0)

MyJourney101 said...
Hi everyone, I’m currently convinced that some wood ticks are falling from the trees in our area…On two separate occasions yesterday I had a tick on me…one crawling on my neck…and then when I took my dog for a walk I felt one fall on the top of my head (but I didn’t realize it at the time) I thought it was the wind or my sun glasses on my head…then I found it later. (Not attached)

However, when I did a search online this is a so called “myth.” What are your views on this?

I had a tick on the top of my head soon after I walked under some maple tree branches. It hadn’t bit me - so far as I know…
I think I had some leftover abx and took them for a week
Posted 6/11/2024 11:00 PM (GMT 0)

Girlie said...

I had a tick on the top of my head soon after I walked under some maple tree branches. It hadn’t bit me - so far as I know…
I think I had some leftover abx and took them for a week

Thanks for all replies,

Yes Girlie, it was under deciduous trees….such as a maple or popular…I distinctly felt something on the top of my head but didn’t realize it at the time.

I also know ticks climb up on other trees like arborvitae…my husband brushed against one and then had a tick up higher on his body where he had touched the tree.

Maybe it happens more in certain areas than others.
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