Mites on a Russian tortoise

[zovick]

I guess my question is can tortoises get the diseases spread by ticks. Here in Finland ticks spread Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE).

Off the top of my head, I think those two diseases need a warm-blooded host, but would have to do some research to be positive.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Okay, I will try to do some research on my own. To be honest those are my biggest fears with ticks, whether it is me or one of my pets. Ticks are said to be the most dangerous animals in Finland.

 

[zovick]

Okay, I will try to do some research on my own. To be honest those are my biggest fears with ticks, whether it is me or one of my pets. Ticks are said to be the most dangerous animals in Finland.

Found these tidbits:

"Pretty much, ticks are built to find warm blooded animals. A female adult tick will feed off its host for about 10 days. Once that is done, it will drop off your body and use your blood as the energy it needs to create thousands of eggs."

"Ticks feed on the blood of people and warm-blooded animals. There are many types of ticks in the United States, and they live in different parts of the country. Ticks can be different colors and sizes. They can be light-colored, reddish brown, or dark brown."

Personally, I think they are more of a threat to you than the tortoise.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Yeah definitely, they are dangerous to us humans. Most sources seem to say that only warm-blooded animals. The ticks here are generalistic and a few sources state that they sometimes attach on frogs or our native reptiles. As said, they climb on Edwards shell, but hopefully they just think that they are on a moving rock! 😂