tick tock tick tock

I hate ticks. I've pretty had enough of them the last time when I worked as a pet groomer. I've always taken care of Choko but I'm not so sure about the 'other-side'. I'm getting tired of checking Choko everyday for ticks and I'm living constantly in a paranoia of ticks. Man, sooner or later, if this goes on, I'm gonna develop a phobia for ticks. So much so that I wouldn't be able to pluck and kill the tick myself. Just came back from work. Worked the entire day from 10.30am to 10.30pm. Thought that I could relax at home and focus on editing the video for project but holy crap, came home to find out that there were friggin' four ticks on my bed and so I had to check Choko for ticks. Found one dead tick. Went up to my room, put my bag down, took a casual glance at meimei's blanket. Alas, one live tick crawling about. Grabbed it, put it in a tissue and killed that monster-of-a-creation.

Currently, googling about ticks and wth, this is what I've found out so far:

"Egg-laying begins about three days after the engorged adult female drops from the dog. She may deposit as many as 5,000 eggs in places such as between boards, under plaster or carpeting, or in other cracks and crevices. The eggs usually hatch in about two - three weeks, although up to several months may be required under extremely cool or dry conditions."


FIVE THOUSAND EGGS? 5000 EGGS FROM A BUG THAT IS LIKE THE SIZE OF A MOLE? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?


This whole tick situation has been bugging my family for about a week or so, and considering that Singapore is a pretty warm country, the eggs could probably be hatching now?? I'm am seriously going bonkers. Another thing, 'engorged' - means or in other words is 'full with blood'. So when the female tick is FULL, it FRIGGIN' LAYS EGGS.


And then, another article pops up:


"Ticks cannot reproduce in your house.
First of all, a complete life-cycle of a tick takes two years.
Second, they are very susceptible to temperature, requiring highs and lows to trigger life-cycle changes. Hypothetically, a tick might be able to take it's first blood-meal in the larval stage, but is unlikely, as they are not very mobile, and prefer rodents.
The nymph stage requires hibernation.
Advantix should be a repellant. If you are finding engorged ticks with heads, then they have already spent days taking a blood meal, and have fallen off.
Hypothetically, your dog could have brought it in, "repelled" it into the house (the downside of Advantix) and it was picked up by your cat. Advantage does not have tick-repellant properties, and Advantix isn't marketed for cats.
I would HIGHLY doubt your ticks would reproduce within the house - the environment is just too unfavorable. Of course, you should be treating all the pets in the house. I would stick with Frontline Plus, as it can be used with dogs & cats, and does not repel. That just means you'll have to keep an eye out, and may have to pull out the occasional deady."


Is this a good thing? Is this true? Is it true that ticks can't reproduce in a house?


On a last note, guess what? Males die immediately after mating. Well, I guess that's one good thing to this whole horror tick drama.


I pray for a miracle. For God to rid what is not pleasant in this house. He has control over everything and over the ticks too.