When attempting to remove a tick, to prevent the mouth part from coming off and remaining embedded in the skin, grasp the mouth close to the skin with tweezers and pull gently. Ticks are not insects like fleas, but arachnids like mites, spiders and scorpions. Adult females of some species lay about 100 eggs at a time. Others lay 3,000 to 6,000 eggs per batch. Six-legged larvae hatch from the eggs.
Final nymphs molt into adult males or females, also with eight legs.
Depending on its species, a tick may take less than a year or up to several years to go through its four-stage life cycle. While ticks need a blood meal at each stage after hatching, some species can survive years without feeding. The United States has about 200 tick species. Habitats include woods, beach grass, lawns, forests, and even urban areas. In June 1992, USDA licensed a vaccine to prevent Lyme disease in dogs.