I haven't tried ticks, but as a student I worked with fleas and head lice,
and since then I have had occasion to image caterpillars, bugs, termites and
assorted crustacea.

One problem with arthropods is getting fixative through their very resistant
cuticles, especially if the morphology of soft tissues is of interest.  I
found alcoholic Bouin heated to 60 degrees C was very good for preserving
tissues for subsequent histological study.  The picric acid renders most
tissues fluorescent (if they aren't already) and can be excited with the blue
488 line.  Emission is fairly broad, so a 515 longpass might be the best
choice.

The other difficulty with fleas is their outer cuticle is so dark that the
taxanomically important spermatheca and male genitalia cannot be seen in
whole mounts.  This can be overcome by soaking them in KOH for several hours,
which chews away most of the innards until the insects are straw colored and
translucent.

If you are interested, I will dig out the protocols and send them.  If others
are interested, I will post the protocols to the list.

Good luck

David Carter
oQQQQQ@

Meridian Instruments Inc
2310 Science Pkwy
Okemos MI 48864

Tel 517 349-7200
Fax 517 349 5967