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[[Image:Ticks mating.jpg|thumb|right|150px|''Ixodes ricinus'' mating - Wikimedia Commons]]

[[Image:Ticks mating.jpg|thumb|right|150px|''Ixodes ricinus'' mating - Wikimedia Commons]]

[[Image:Ixodidae life cycle.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Life cycle of Ixodidae family ticks - CDC, Wikimedia Commons]]

[[Image:Ixodidae life cycle.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Life cycle of Ixodidae family ticks - CDC, Wikimedia Commons]]

The soft ticks life cycle almost always involves multiple hosts. They feed once as larvae before moulting to become a nymph, this is followed by several more nymphal stages each involving a blood meal before moulting. Moulting takes place off the host, therefore it is common for each feed to take place on a different host. As adults the females lay multiple small batches of eggs off the host after each feed. The amount of time the soft ticks take for each blood meal is considerably shorter than that of the hard ticks and so they do not engorge to as great an extent.  

The soft ticks life cycle almost always involves multiple hosts. They feed once as larvae before moulting to become a nymph, this is followed by several more nymphal stages each involving a blood meal before moulting. Moulting takes place off the host, therefore it is common for each feed to take place on a different host. As adults the females lay multiple small batches of eggs off the host after each feed. The amount of time the soft ticks take for each blood meal is considerably shorter than that of the hard ticks and so they do not engorge to as great an extent.  

==Test yourself with the Ticks Flashcards==

|flashcards = [[Ticks_Flashcards|Ticks Flashcards]]

|literature search = [http://www.cabdirect.org/search.html?q=title:(%22tick%22)+AND+title:(%22life+cycle%22)&fq=subject_facet:%22Acari%22 Tick life cycle publications]