Tick Identification & Info

The District can identify resident-submitted ticks but DOES NOT perform disease testing on resident-submitted ticks.

Learn more about why CDC does not recommend testing individual ticks as part of tick-borne disease prevention risk. Learn more about what to do after a tick bite.

The District laboratory conducts surveillance for tick-borne pathogens at parks and open spaces throughout San Mateo County. These results are available on the Tick Surveillance page.

A computer-generated image of a zoomed-in view of someone's skin and hair. There is a black and brown tick attached to the skin. A pair of fine-tipped tweezers grabs the tick very close to the skin to pull the tick up and out of the skin.

Tick Identification

If you've found a tick on yourself or your pet and want to have it identified, you can submit a service request or stop by our office (Mon-Fri, 8-4:30) to arrange for the tick identification.

May contain: tick, animal, food, invertebrate, lobster, sea life, seafood, and insectGraphic that includes photos of 6 different ticks - males and females of three different species. Text lists the names of each of the species: Western blacklegged tick (Ixodes pacificus), Pacific Coast tick (Dermacentor occidentalis), American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis)

Common Ticks of San Mateo County

Although there are 21 species of hard ticks in San Mateo County, the list below are the three most common ticks that people and pets contact in the environment. These three species of ticks can and do bite humans.

Tick Biology

There are about 50 different species of ticks in California, but only a few species transmit diseases to humans in California.

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