Tick Life Cycle
Facts About The Tick Life Cycle
The tick life cycle can vary greatly, but is generally anywhere from two months to three years long. Most ticks will need three blood feedings within their lifetime, which consists of the egg, larvae, nymph, and adult stages. Most adult female ticks will engorge after mating, and then fall off of the host animal to deposit her eggs. Some tick, however, will deposit their eggs directly within the coat of the host animal, causing big problems for the unlucky infested one. The deer tick life cycle is a three year one, and it is during the nymph stage that they are most likely to collect the dreaded Lyme Disease bacteria. This disease is horribly hazardous to humans and dogs, and prevention is key during the spring and early summer months.
The tick life cycle usually begins in the moist ground cover beneath leaves and grass, where the larvae that have hatched from their eggs will immediately begin feeding on the blood of insects and small mammals such as rodents and chipmunks. This first taste of blood can last for up to two weeks, depending on the blood density of his host or hosts. When the larva has gained his fill, he will retire to the safety of the low lying foliage and await his transformation the following spring.
The next phase of the tick life cycle is the much feared nymph. This miniscule arachnid will spend this phase of his life wallowing through blood supplies known to occasionally carry the Lyme Disease bacteria. He will feed on the blood of small animals and birds that aren’t affected by the bacteria themselves, but this bacterium will lay in wait to be distributed to animals which are highly incapable of fighting it off. Humans and dogs, namely, are prone to symptoms which can, and are, fatal.
The fourth stage in the tick life cycle is the adult stage. Once the nymph has engorged for three to eight days, he falls from the host and begins his long molt over the winter season. Come spring, the nymph is a slightly larger adult deer tick of either male or female gender. The female will be larger, and will live until the end of fall. The smaller male, whose job is merely to fertilize the female, will gorge himself on a host for about five days and then fall off just in time to die. The female will gorge for up to seven days, and then fall off of the host animal and deposit her eggs below dense ground cover. This will again begin the tick life cycle, as the eggs hatch into larvae and begin their journeys.