Lyme Disease

KIDS

What’s the Big Deal?

Ticks have to eat the blood of mammals, like dogs, deer, and people.  Ticks hang out on plants, like grasses and bushes, then grab on to animals as they walk through the plants.  Like mosquitoes, ticks crawl on your skin, bite you, and suck out a little of your blood.  Unlike mosquitoes, ticks will keep sucking your blood for days.  If you see a tick after it has been eating, you will notice it gets very fat!

An unfed Lone Star Tick next to a fed (engorged) tick

(Source: University of Nebraska Dept of Entomology)

Tick bites usually don’t hurt, but they might make you sick.  Three kinds of ticks (Deer Ticks, Western Black-Legged Ticks, and Lone Star Ticks) sometimes carry around bacteria that cause Lyme disease.

What are Ticks?
What’s the Big Deal?
How do I Avoid Ticks?
What if a Tick Bites Me?
What is Lyme Disease?
Learn More About Lyme Disease

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