YouTuber Rusty Cage has released the Lone Star tick he named Irradimus after nearly seven weeks of documented survival tests that began when he found the parasite attached to his body.
Cage, whose real name is Benjamin Stuart Steele, extracted the female tick in late June 2026 and began filming daily updates on TikTok, X, and YouTube. The series quickly drew millions of views as the arachnid endured submersion, freezing, laser exposure, and radioactive water without dying.
Steele, 36, is a Gainesville, Florida, musician, comic book creator, and longtime YouTuber best known for the viral Knife Game Song series that launched his online career in 2013. He has released multiple albums and the graphic novel Requiem of the Crazies while maintaining channels that mix music, rants, and the kind of experimental stunts that turn into multi-month viral arcs. His X account @RSTYCG and site tickbioweapons.com became hubs for the tick updates and related merchandise.
The experiment started simply. Cage placed Irradimus in a glass of water to test how long it would last. After five days the tick was still moving. By day seven it appeared still, but a poke with tweezers brought it back to life. Fibers tangled around its legs were carefully removed. It remained in water for roughly two weeks total before transfer to a dry petri dish, where it again showed the classic death curl only to revive when Cage blew carbon dioxide toward it.
On day 16 he froze the specimen for 24 hours. No movement followed when it was removed, yet Cage told viewers that death was a gift the tick had not earned and one that could be revoked. Days later he staged a revival ritual with aluminum foil, mirrors, and a green laser, declaring the resilience inspiring and announcing that more tests were needed. The tick walked again.
Subsequent trials included ultrasonic sound, a drill to wake it from apparent sleep, and exposure to uranium glass plates that produced measurable radiation. Cage placed it in radioactive water for six days. The tick continued to move. Maze tests with garlic puree and peppermint oil barriers followed; Irradimus crossed both. On day 43 he fed it his own blood to strengthen it further.
Throughout the series Cage framed the work as curiosity about biological limits rather than an attempt to kill the parasite. He repeatedly noted that lone star ticks are known for extreme cold and submersion tolerance, and he documented each recovery in deadpan narration that mixed scientific language with dark humor. The videos accumulated millions of views across platforms, with individual clips exceeding one million plays and sparking widespread discussion of the species’ hardiness and its link to alpha-gal syndrome.
By early August the experiment had passed the 40-day mark. Cage announced that Irradimus had completed its final mission and was being set free. Reports confirming the release circulated on August 8, 2026, roughly seven weeks after the first water test. The tick that had survived two weeks submerged, a full day in a freezer, focused laser energy, and days in radioactive water was returned to the outdoors.
Cage continues to sell patches and stickers tied to the series through tickbioweapons.com and has referred to himself, with characteristic irony, as “the tick guy.” The body of short videos remains online as a complete record of one of the more unusual endurance experiments to reach a mass audience in 2026, sitting alongside other unusual viral-creator arcs that turned short videos into weeks-long public events.
