Tick surprises Norwegian family in unusual living room encounter

A tick unexpectedly appeared in the living room of a family. “It was my wife who found it. It was moving across the floor, which is quite unsettling,” said Sindre Nakken. He believes the tick didn’t come from a human but was likely brought in by their cat. “Whether the cat managed to scratch it off or if it jumped off on its own because it was full, we don’t know,” he added.

To document its size, Nakken placed the tick next to a coin for comparison. “It was big enough that I had to take a picture and film it. I was surprised to see it move with that large blood bag attached. Yet, it moved relatively quickly,” he noted. After capturing it on camera, he disposed of the tick by placing it in a napkin and crushing it.

Ticks can grow significantly; Harald Reiso, a doctor at the Tick Center, explains that a tick can reach up to 1.5 cm in diameter after feeding. “That’s quite large,” he remarked, adding that the tick likely poses no threat to humans, as once it’s full, it loses interest in feeding.

Reiso also shared that if the tick has mated with a male tick, it is ready to lay eggs, and a male tick might be found attached beneath the female. His advice is simply to toss it outside. “It’s not dangerous at all, so I would just take a dustpan and return it to nature,” he said.