Symptoms include high fever, chills, muscle aches, headaches, and sometimes a rash spread across the extremities 2-4 days after the fever begins. Mating occurs on the host and the female engorges within six to 13 days after which she drops from the host to lay her eggs and then she dies, thus completing the cycle.Īmerican Dog Ticks are carriers of the bacteria that causes Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, a serious tick-borne illness with a mortality rate of over 20% if not treated early. Questing adult ticks climb onto a grass blade or other low vegetation, cling to it with their third pair of legs, and wave its legs as a potential host approaches.Īs the hosts brush the vegetation, the ticks grab onto the passing animal. This process can take anywhere from three weeks to several months.Īdults can survive two years without feeding, but readily feed on dogs or other larger animals when available. ![]() After engorging, they fall off the host, digest their blood meal and molt into an adult. After successfully questing for their second host, which is normally a slightly larger mammal (such as a raccoon or opossum), the nymphs will blood feed over a three to 10-day period. Nymphs can survive six months without a blood meal. This process can take as little as a week, although this period is often prolonged. After feeding, larvae detach from their host and fall to the ground where they digest their blood meal and molt into the nymphal stage. Under favorable conditions, larvae can survive up to 11 months without feeding.Īfter contacting and attaching to a host, larvae require from two to 14 days to complete blood feeding. This host location behavior is called questing. About 26 to 40 days later, depending on the temperature, the eggs hatch into larvae.Īfter hatching, larvae remain on the ground or climb growing vegetation where they wait for small mammals, such as mice, to serve as hosts for their first blood meal. She then lays anywhere from 4,000 to 6,500 eggs on the ground. She digests the blood meal and develops her egg clutch over the next four to 10 days. This cycle also requires three different hosts and requires at least 54 days to complete, but can take up to two years depending on the host availability, host location and the temperature.Īfter five to 14 days of blood feeding, a fully engorged female D. The cycle requires a blood meal before progression from larva to nymph, from nymph to adult and by the adult for egg production. Gravid females may lay from 4,000–6,500 eggs.Īmerican Dog Ticks develop from the egg stage, to the 6-legged larva, to the 8-legged nymph, and finally to the adult. In northern regions, larvae and nymphs are active spring to autumn while adult questing appears to be highest in spring. In warmer regions of its southern range all three stages may be active on hosts throughout the year with a pronounced increase of occurrence during spring. The American Dog Tick exhibits a three-host tick life cycle.
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