Hi Skincla76
I know it’s a bit horrid, but ticks do sometimes fall off hogs into food bowls. But although you couldn’t see any other ticks, there may be either tiny ticks (they are not easy to see when very young), or tick eggs in the cracks in the feeding box.
If it’s made of wood, what you really need to do is clean the feeding box out with boiling water as well as just brushing it. (Don’t be tempted to use any chemicals). Ticks do tend to fall off hogs when they reach a certain size, but seem to still be able to lay eggs. If tick or flea eggs aren’t killed using boiling water, the box can become a source of further infestation of hogs. It’s a good idea to clean feeding boxes with boiling water fairly regularly (even if you haven’t seen any ticks) to avoid that happening.
The only good thing is that the hog is better off without all those ticks you found!
Good luck, I hope you manage to get rid of all the ticks.
