What happens to ticks after they become engorged with blood? - briefly
After a female tick reaches full engorgement, it detaches from the host, seeks a protected location, and quickly molts into the subsequent life stage, subsequently depositing thousands of eggs.
What happens to ticks after they become engorged with blood? - in detail
After a tick has fully swollen with blood, its body weight may increase several hundredfold. The cuticle stretches to accommodate the meal, and the midgut expands to store the ingested plasma and erythrocytes. Enzymes break down proteins and lipids, providing nutrients for the upcoming developmental stage.
The tick then seeks a secure location, often on vegetation or in leaf litter, to detach from the host. Detachment is triggered by reduced host movement and the tick’s own physiological cues. Once free, the tick remains motionless while digestion continues for several days to weeks, depending on species and ambient temperature.
During this period, hormonal signals, primarily ecdysteroids, rise and initiate the molting process. The tick synthesizes a new exoskeleton beneath the stretched cuticle. After the old cuticle is shed, the newly formed one hardens, and the tick progresses to the next life stage (larva → nymph → adult). For females, successful engorgement also triggers vitellogenesis: yolk proteins are produced, and the reproductive system matures.
Mature females then lay thousands of eggs on the ground, each egg containing a proportion of the nutrients acquired from the blood meal. Egg development proceeds over days, culminating in hatching of larvae that will seek new hosts, restarting the cycle.
If environmental conditions are unfavorable—low humidity, extreme temperatures—the engorged tick may enter a dormant diapause or succumb to desiccation. Survival strategies, such as seeking microhabitats with higher moisture, are employed to mitigate these risks.