Late Stage Life Cycle of the Blacklegged Tick
by
Steve Maczuga

Penn State Email: sam21@psu.edu

This was our dog, Murphy. Murphy enjoyed eating, sleeping, eating, sleeping and wandering around our yard looking for things to eat.

One summer Murphy wandered his way into an area where ticks are present. Without us noticing, a blacklegged tick had bitten Murphy and had fed for several days before falling off. I found the engorged tick on the floor of our garage and thought that this huge tick should be raised until 'something happens'. We named the tick Tammy. Click Here for Hi-Res photo. An adult, but non engorged tick and a ruler are shown as reference to Tammy's size.

After about 30 days of being confined in a small plastic container, Tammy exploded (technical term) one night. Hundreds of eggs appeared out of her ruptured abdomen. Click here for Hi-Res photo.

About 30 days after Tammy exploded, our little tick eggs hatched in the plastic container, on the kitchen counter. Hundred of little ticks roamed the container until someone else in the household politely asked me to dispose of them quickly. Click here for Hi-Res photo.

This circle of life ended in a microwave shortly after the above picture was taken.