bloaty the tick and squirmy the ringworm are two parasites who live on and in spunky. certain episodes and both stories in issue 6 of the comic book, "special disgusting parasite issue!", revolve around their odd couple-like relationship. they are introduced in the first-season episode "dirty dog", in which their boss, mr ick, comes over for dinner while rocko tries to give spunky a bath. this episode suggests that more than one parasite is living on spunky, proven in future episodes by huge crowds of insects and even an old-west style town on spunky's body. one of bloaty and squirmy's more well known sayings is "up, work, home, tv, bed!". in the first story of issue 6 of the comic, "bug out!", the two hop between various pets, trying to find the perfect host. in the second story, "lice on the loose", the two again find spunky, prompting rocko to take spunky to a pet store; bloaty and squirmy interact with local parasites at the store.