Invasive Asian tick has made its way to Virginia and Maryland

Maryland is one of the states seeing a bloodsucking tick spreading into the Mid-Atlantic region. 

The Asian tick first landed in New Jersey and since then it's moved to several others states including Virginia. 

Currently, they've been feeding off livestock. The problem is they are overpopulating quickly because these female ticks can reproduce without a male. One female can lay thousands of eggs. 

Another major problem is that they can go from an animal to a person and can pass on several diseases. 

If you're going to be outside gardening or in an area that is heavily populated with ticks, make sure to wear light colored clothing and tuck your pants into boots. 

Extension Educator, Ginny Rosenkranz tells us, "When you come inside if you have been in an area with ticks even if you don't find ticks on you, you should take your clothes put them in the dryer. Not the hamper, in the dryer and turn it high high heat for at least 10 minutes because the heat with kill the ticks."

As for livestock, you should be constantly grooming them to make sure they don't have any ticks on them. 

We're told these ticks are efficient feeders, they can take so much blood that the livestock can die. The best thing you can do is to take tweezers to peel them off.