03 Apr What you need to know about Ticks
Hard Ticks (Ixodidae)
Hard ticks (Ixodidae) begin as an egg that is laid by an adult female tick. Once the egg hatches a larva emerges that must then find and feed on a small mammal or bird (host). After feeding it drops to the ground from the host and goes through a molting process, emerging as a nymph.
Nymphal hard ticks then seek larger hosts, and after feeding drop off and molt into adults. The life cycle of hard ticks lasts one to two years depending on the species. The bite of a hard tick is generally painless, with a feeding process lasting several hours, to days, even weeks.
There are 700 species of hard ticks.
Types of Ticks (with pictures of ticks) | Lymedisease.org
Soft Ticks (Argasidae)
Soft ticks (Argasidae), like hard ticks begin as an egg, hatch into a larva, feed and then molt into a nymph. Nymphal soft ticks may go through as many as seven phases as nymphs, requiring a blood meal at each stage.
Soft ticks’ life cycle lasts from months to years depending on the species. The bite is typically painless and only lasts 15-30 minutes, making it harder to detect.
While both hard and soft adult ticks are easiest to identify, it is important to note that nymphal ticks are equally capable of transmitting disease. In some areas the nymphal tick infection rate is actually higher than the adult tick infection rate.
There are 200 species of soft ticks.
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