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Sticker of Rocky Mountain wood tick
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Rocky Mountain wood tick

Dermacentor andersoni
Eats: BloodScorpions, ticks and friendsForests and woods8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The Rocky Mountain wood tick is a small, flat, brown tick shaped like a pear. It waits on plants and climbs onto animals and people that brush past, then drinks their blood. It lives in the Rocky Mountains of North America.

Fun fact: this one is not an insect. It is an arachnid with eight legs, a cousin of the spiders.
Lives in
The Rocky Mountains in the north-west of the United States and south-west Canada
Length
2 to 5.3 mm (0.08 to 0.21 in)
Top speed
about 0.03 km/h (0.02 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Dangerous: look, do not touch
What does it eat?
It drinks blood. The babies feed on small animals like mice, and the grown-ups feed on bigger animals and sometimes people.
For real!Photo of Rocky Mountain wood tick
Picture by Daktaridudu. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Rocky Mountain wood tick about 5.3 mm long (0.21 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)
small enough to sit on your fingernailneeds 2 minutes to cross a dinner table

How big is Rocky Mountain wood tick compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It finds animals by sensing the breath they breathe out, plus warmth, light and damp air.

2

A female can stay attached and drink blood for 5 to 15 days.

3

When she is full, she can grow almost three times bigger.

4

One female lays about 2500 to 4000 eggs.

you asked

Most asked questions about Rocky Mountain wood tick

?How can I keep ticks away?

Wear long clothes in the woods and tall grass, and check yourself carefully when you get home.

?How big is the Rocky Mountain wood tick?

It is only about 2 to 5 mm long before it feeds.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Dermacentor andersoni
Group
Scorpions, ticks and friends
Family
Ixodidae
Classification
Arachnida > Ixodida > Ixodidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Dermacentor andersoni (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Daktaridudu. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same 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.

More from the same group: Scorpions, ticks and friends

Also at home here: Forests and woods