What do ticks do in summer? - briefly
During warm months ticks actively quest for blood meals, climbing vegetation and attaching to passing mammals, birds, or reptiles; after feeding they drop off to digest, develop, and lay eggs, sustaining their life cycle.
What do ticks do in summer? - in detail
Ticks become most active when temperatures rise above 10 °C and relative humidity stays above 70 %. The combination triggers questing behavior, during which they climb onto grass blades or low vegetation and wait for a passing host.
During the warm period, ticks:
- climb to the upper side of foliage to increase contact with passing mammals, birds, or reptiles;
- respond to carbon‑dioxide and heat plumes emitted by potential hosts;
- extend their forelegs to detect vibrations and chemical cues;
- attach within seconds to a suitable skin area, usually in moist regions such as the scalp, armpits, or groin;
- ingest blood for several days (larvae: 2–4 days, nymphs: 3–7 days, adults: up to 10 days);
- detach once fully engorged, drop to the ground, and seek a sheltered microhabitat for molting or egg laying.
After detachment, engorged females lay thousands of eggs in the leaf litter. Eggs hatch into larvae, which must obtain a first blood meal before molting into nymphs. The accelerated development cycle in summer leads to a rapid increase in population density.
The heightened questing activity also raises the probability of pathogen transmission. In regions where Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, or other tick‑borne illnesses are endemic, the summer months represent the peak risk period for human and animal exposure.