Today we went tick hunting out in the forest. Some things that we did wrong... first off, we need to use smaller flags. Like a sqare foot and half, ahem.. about a square half meter. Secondly, we should have looked in a habitat hospitable to ticks. This is the proper way to look for ticks.
Or in tall bushes...
Ok, ok, I lied. Low lying grasses are best. We at least had that right on our expeditions.
Michelle and I caught about 20 ticks each. Although I think Michelle lied and actually collected less. Here's a tick on the flag. You have to look sort of closely.
4 comments:
How inefficient. Big flags should be better! That way you are more assured of your rate of failure.
Seriously, good hunting.
I'm sure Michelle was stealing your ticks too.
Nice photos of tick hunting, you look like you are waving a "I surrender" flag. Any luck getting them to feed on the artificial feeder?
I just started a feeding experiment today. They don't start engorging until they've fed for a few days so I won't be able to see with the naked eye that they fed until later this week. So far it looks like they're just trying to escape though...
Actually, you're right--I did lie about the number of ticks I trapped... I actually caught 46, but didn't want to hurt your feelings.
MCB Sr. "the natural tick hunter" I
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