TICK LIFE CYCLE
Notes:
Life cycle of the ixodid ticks involves 4 stages.
Hatch--1000 to 8000 eggs-incubate 8 to 135 days
6 legged larva hatch-feed on host suitable for a blood meal, engorge for 3 to 9 days, detach from hosts and then molt within 1 week to 8 months into
the nymph-eight legged--they are responsible for nearly 90 percent of cases of Lyme disease as they are active in the spring and summer and people have less clothes on. They are so small--not detected before they can bite.
In endemic areas, 12 to 30 percent of nymphs are infected
28 to 65 percent of adult ticks are infected.
http://www.aafp.org/afp/970700ap/lymedis.html
nymphs feed, engorge for 3 to 11 days, detach and molt from 3 to 291 days.
Adult ticks can be sexually differentiated., seek hosts, attach for 5 to 24 days until engorgement complete. Copulation occus on the host during feeding