There are about 800 kinds of ticks in the world. About 100 of these carry diseases of wildlife, livestock or people. Lyme disease is now a major health problem in some areas of the Northeast, Midwest and the Pacific Coast. The disease is carried by at least two kinds of hard ticks, the deer tick, found in the Northeast and upper Midwest, and the western black-legged tick, found in the Pacific Coast states. When not attached to animals, most hard ticks live on the ground in vegetation, such as grassy meadows, woods, brush and weeds.
Most ticks live in the nest and burrows of their hosts.