"randy" wrote in message
ups.com...
you guessed it, she's a silky terrier. We have an appt at the vet
tomorrow. Right now she seems fine so the wait should be ok I think.
Should I be concerned about ticks that might be lying-in-wait around
the house?

North American ticks go through 3 life stages: larva, nymph, and adult. They
attach on to a mammal host during each of those stages, then drop off, molt,
and finally search for their next host. The whole process takes up to 2
years. The egg mass is pretty sizeable compared to the female tick that lays
it, so you probably would have noticed it when the one got squished.

They're a vector for the transmission of diseases precisely because they go
from one host to another across the life cycle. So, even if any did hatch
out in your house, they'd have to encounter a host animal with a disease
before they could transmit it to your household occupants. The smaller life
stages also typically latch on to smaller hosts, such as mice.