Tick Life Cycle

tick life cycle




The tick life cycle consists of four stages including...


1. Egg
2. Larva - six legged seed
3. Nymph - eight legged nymph
4. Adult


Did you know that the most common cause of lyme disease is from the deer tick during the nymph stage. This can leave the common red bumpy bullseye bite rash that is sometimes one of the early symptoms of lyme disease.


tick life cycle


  • The female can lay up to 10,000 eggs but the eggs are not normally laid on the the host.
  • The larva or seed ticks will hatch from it's egg between 2 weeks to 3 months.
  • The larva or seed will feed on a host and after feeding it will moult into a nymph.
  • The nymph will then feed on another host before moulting again into it's adult form.
  • Females and males are both capable of feeding on a host with with the female starting to lay eggs after feeding.
The Deer Tick Life Cycle.
  • The deer tick has three developmental stages (four if you include the egg), larva, nymph and then adult.
  • The larva or seed is the size of a pin head.
  • The nymph is translucent - see the photo above and is the size of a poppy seed. The nymph's feed from the middle of May through until August, but the peek feeding time is late May through to June.
  • The adult deer tick is about the size of a sesame seed. The female is red/ brown in color with the male colored black. These types of ticks primarily feed on deer but they also feed on horses, dogs, cattle and other large animals.
  • This variety are also known as the black legged tick with bites on humans normally due to accidental contact.
  • Peak feeding times are October, November and April.

We would like to say thanks to jim wilson from www.canlyme.com for the use of the picture and also John moran for his excellent photo and website.




Go from the tick life cycle back to free vet advice or back to dog obedience training home-page