this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2024
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What Is This Bug?

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Tiniest little bug. I only saw 4 legs, but it probably has more. Adding more pics in the comments, can only upload one. Phone wouldn't really focus on it.

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[–] Pronell 8 points 4 months ago (2 children)

My wife is a vet tech, there's a chance that's a very tiny tick. But it is also really hard to tell from that photo.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Depending on the area OP is, that really looks like a tick.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I agree with this, could also be tick larva (really young ticks, they go through a multihost lifecycle). If you're finding a bunch of those extra tiny ones, I suspect you walked through a nest and picked them up (good news is I believe that nymphs are less likely to carry any diseases (key term is less)). Good luck, those are a pain to spot, I'd spend a bunch of time checking everyone over throughly, the diseases that ticks can cary are no joke (then be extra alert for a while to make sure no weird rashes show up, such as the traditional lyme disease bullseye).

A site that provides some useful info: https://www.tickcheck.com/info/tick-identification

[–] nieminen 1 points 4 months ago

Thanks!

I think the consensus is tick larva or nymph. Must have found a nest.

[–] nieminen 2 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Yeah I don't think they're ticks. But they could be. I've found like 4 more on me just now. From googling, I suspect they MIGHT be bird mites....

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 2 points 4 months ago

I'm guessing either bird mites or predatory mites

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Deleted my previous comment as it was cursed somehow and inserted constant spaces....

The middle one here looks a lot like a tick to me, likely in the nymph phase; also a quick search for 'bird mite' also included a good number of images of ticks as well (I had included a screenshot with some circled). You might be able to send them to your local agriculture department to be formally identified if you wanted to.