The obvious difference is that hard ticks have a hard shell, and soft ticks have a soft shell. The more significant difference relates to the diseases each tick carries. Hard ticks can carry any tick-borne disease, whereas soft ticks mostly carry Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever pathogens. Learn more about tick basics.
Ticks are eight-legged creatures without wings or antennae that feed on host animals’ blood in order to survive to the next stage in their life cycle.
No, ticks do not fly. Ticks belong to the arachnid class – the same class as spiders.
Along with other arachnids, as well as insects, myriapods (centipedes and millipedes), and crustaceans, ticks belong to the larger group known as arthropods – invertebrates with exoskeletons, segmented bodies, and paired jointed appendages.
Most ticks feed on mammals, though some ticks can feed on reptiles such as lizards at young stages.
As mentioned above, some ticks prefer to feed on a different type of host at each stage. For example, the Eastern blacklegged tick (a.k.a. deer tick) typically feeds on something small such as a bird or rodent at the larval stage; mammals such as dogs or humans at the nymphal stage; and larger mammals such as deer or moose at the adult stage.
There are many tick-borne diseases in the U.S. besides Lyme disease. Many types of ticks, including blacklegged ticks, can spread more than one type of disease. Below are the most common diseases spread by certain types of ticks:
For more information on ticks that cause Lyme and other diseases, check out the blog A Closer Look at the Different Types of Ticks.
In North America, Lyme disease is spread by ticks from the Ixodes family. In the Northeastern, Upper Midwest, and Southern states, the tick that spreads Lyme is Ixodes scapularis, also known as the Eastern blacklegged tick or deer tick. On the west coast and in the Pacific Northwest, Lyme is spread by Ixodes pacificus, or the Western blacklegged tick.
To learn more, check out the blog A Closer Look at the Different Types of Ticks.
No, ticks do not necessarily attach right away. More often, ticks will crawl around until they find a spot on the body with thin skin. Ticks often prefer warm, hidden places on the body such as the groin, armpits, or backs of knees. It’s crucial to check yourself for ticks as soon as you come indoors because you may be able to catch a tick that hasn’t attached yet.
Tick eggs are reddish-brown in color and extremely small in size. In fact, according to one entomologist, an entire batch of tick eggs is usually “only as big as two adult female ticks.” The average adult female tick measures less than 10 mm across. That means a batch of tick eggs is difficult for humans to see, especially in the wild.
It depends on the tick’s final host.
In the final, adult stage of the tick life cycle, after taking a blood meal from a large mammal such as a deer or cow, the adult female tick detaches from the host, locates a male tick while still on the host, then falls off to overwinter before laying eggs in the spring. Where she lays the eggs, thus depends on where she falls off her animal host. This often happens outdoors in typical tick and host habitats – i.e., grassy or wooded areas.
However, if the adult tick takes its final meal on a human or a pet, it can be taken indoors, and the tick can lay eggs in your home. And as suburbanization brings humans deeper into former wildlife habitats, ticks can lay eggs on recreational trails, in parks, or home gardens and backyards.
Like other arachnids, ticks reproduce sexually. Female ticks lay eggs, which hatch into larvae, then move into the nymph and eventually adult stages by feeding on animal hosts.
Ticks can die during the winter, but many survive until the next spring when they come out to feed and then mold into the next stage of the life cycle.
However, ticks of multiple species – including disease-carrying ticks mentioned in this article – can remain active during winter months. For example, the Eastern blacklegged tick can remain active as long as temperatures are above freezing.
Ticks must eat a blood meal at every life stage in order to survive to the next stage. As with their general lifespan, the amount of time a tick can remain alive without a host also depends on environmental conditions, the species of tick, and the stage of their lifecycle.
Some species of ticks will die in a year or less without feeding, while other species can survive for several hundreds of days without feeding, depending on their stage of life.
Tick lifespans vary by species and host availability. Ticks must go through several life cycle stages from egg to adulthood, eating a blood meal at every stage in order to move on to the next stage. If a tick does not find a host, it dies. Ticks can also die while overwintering (lying dormant during the winter months).
The life cycle of the Eastern black-legged tick, or deer tick, lasts for two years, while that of the Western black-legged tick lasts three years.
At the larval stage, ticks have six legs. At the nymph and adult stages, ticks have eight legs, just like spiders and other members of the arachnid class (such as scorpions and mites).
No, ticks do not jump. Instead, they climb onto animals or humans and look for a place to bite. For some species, this happens via a behavior called “questing,” when ticks will wait on the tip of a branch, leaf, or blade of grass and hold their two forelegs out, waiting for a host to brush against them.
Most ticks have a life cycle consisting of three stages: larval, nymphal, and adult. Ticks typically need to consume a blood meal from an animal in order to mold into the next stage of the life cycle, though some species of ticks can survive longer without feeding than others.
Some ticks feed on the same type of host at every stage of life, while others – such as the deer tick – prefer to feed on a different type of host at each stage.
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For the most up to date and accurate information and articles about ticks and tick-borne diseases, please visit Tick Talk Resource.
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