How do ticks reproduce on a dog? - briefly
Female ticks feed on the dog, become engorged, detach, and lay thousands of eggs in the environment; the eggs hatch into larvae that seek new hosts. The life cycle then proceeds through nymph and adult stages, each requiring a blood meal from a host.
How do ticks reproduce on a dog? - in detail
Ticks locate a dog by detecting body heat, carbon‑dioxide exhalation, and movement. Once an unfed adult or nymph attaches to the skin, it inserts its hypostome and begins a prolonged blood meal. The feeding process triggers hormonal changes that initiate reproductive development in the female.
During the engorgement phase, the female expands dramatically, increasing her weight up to 100 times. After the blood meal is complete, she drops off the host, seeks a protected microhabitat (e.g., leaf litter or cracks in the floor), and begins oviposition. A single engorged female can lay from 1,000 to 5,000 eggs over several days, depending on species and blood volume ingested.
Key steps of the reproductive cycle on a canine host:
- Attachment: Female or nymph attaches to a suitable site, usually in warm, moist areas such as ears, neck, or between toes.
- Feeding: Blood intake lasts from several days (soft‑tick species) to over a week (hard‑tick species).
- Engorgement: Female’s abdomen expands; internal glands produce vitellogenin for egg development.
- Detachment: After reaching repletion, the tick releases its grip and falls to the ground.
- Egg laying: In a sheltered environment, the female deposits eggs in clusters; she dies shortly after completing oviposition.
- Hatching: Eggs hatch into larvae within 2–4 weeks, depending on temperature and humidity.
- Larval questing: Newly hatched larvae climb vegetation, wait for a host, and may attach to the same dog or another animal, continuing the cycle.
Environmental conditions such as temperature above 10 °C and relative humidity of 80 % accelerate development. Control measures that remove engorged females promptly and treat the dog’s coat reduce the number of eggs deposited in the environment, interrupting the life cycle.