How do ticks arise?

Ticks can transmit diseases, but what exactly is a tick?

Ticks are small flat spider-like creatures and belong to the arthropods. A tick does not mature all at once but has 4 different life stages. All 4 stages are easy to recognise. In the sheep tick, these different stages last about 3 to 4 years, depending on the temperature in winter. If it is a warm winter, the nymphs may hatch earlier than if it is a cold winter.

The life cycle of the tick Ixodes ricinus (Sheep tick).

The first stage of life is, of course, the real beginning and then the tick is still an egg. Tick eggs are not fed during the maturation process and are laid by females in autumn.

The eggs then hatch in spring and become a larva, this stage is easily distinguishable from the later stages because by then the tiny ticks have only 6 legs instead of 8. The larvae feed once on the blood of small rodents and birds and then go into a kind of resting stage to grow. In late summer, the larvae moult into nymphs.

The nymphs have then grown to the point where they have thus gained eight legs. They then enter a period of rest during the winder. They too will then feed once on a blood meal in a wide variety of mammals and birds. After which, at the end of summer, they enter the final phase, growing into adult ticks.

In the following spring, the adult ticks search for a host, usually a large grazer such as deer, deer or wild boar, but sheep, cattle and horses can also serve as a food source. When ticks are mature, they are also able to mate. Ticks generally mate on the host, after which the female immediately sucks blood until she is completely full. This sucked blood is used to develop the eggs into viable eggs. After the female tick is full of blood, the moment comes when she lets herself fall off the host. The female then remains on the ground and will lay 1,000 to 2,000 mature eggs here. The females do not incubate the eggs, but die after laying them.

When you see a fully sucked adult tick sitting on the host, these are the females. The males do not need blood, so do not bite either. In fact, they do not need blood to mate multiple times.

-This is an automated translation-