Rocky Mountain Wood Tick

What it does

Rocky Mountain wood ticks quest on shrubs and grasses along trails and rangeland, latching onto hosts that pass by. Adults are most active in spring and early summer at mid to higher elevations. A feeding female's saliva can, in rare cases, cause an ascending paralysis in people and animals that reverses within hours once the tick is detached.

Where it lives

They live in shrublands, foothills, open woodland, and rangeland of the Rocky Mountain region, typically between about 4,000 and 10,000 feet. Immature stages feed on small rodents in burrows and brush, while adults seek larger mammals like deer, livestock, dogs, and hikers along trails and grassy slopes.

How it breeds

The three-host life cycle can stretch across one to three years, longer than many ticks, because activity is limited to a short seasonal window at elevation. A fed female drops off and lays several thousand eggs in leaf litter or soil, then dies. Unfed adults can survive over a year waiting for a host.

What it eats

This tick feeds solely on blood. Larvae and nymphs feed on small mammals such as ground squirrels, chipmunks, and voles; adults feed on deer, elk, cattle, horses, dogs, and people during the spring and early-summer season.

Identification

Adults are brown with a pale, silvery-gray ornate shield; males show a mottled gray pattern over most of the back, while females have the pattern mainly on the front shield. Unfed adults are 3-5 mm and engorged females swell to a gray, bean-like 15 mm. They closely resemble the American dog tick but occupy the mountain West.

Signs of an infestation

• A tick attached to the scalp, neck, or skin after hiking or camping
• Ticks found on dogs after trips into foothills or mountains
• Fever, headache, or a spotted rash days after a bite
• Unusual muscle weakness that could signal tick paralysis
• Ticks questing on brush and grass along mountain trails

Prevention tips

• Wear long pants tucked into socks and use EPA-registered repellent on trails
• Treat hiking clothing and gear with permethrin
• Check your whole body, including the scalp, after time in tick habitat
• Check and treat dogs with vet-approved tick preventives after outings
• Stay on cleared trails and avoid brushing through tall grass and shrubs

Professional solutions

Tick exposure here is mostly recreational and rangeland-based, so prevention centers on repellents, permethrin-treated clothing, and prompt tick checks rather than home spraying. On rural properties bordering shrubland, professionals can treat transitional zones and advise on rodent and vegetation management. Remove any attached tick immediately with fine tweezers.