The mammalian host during grooming ingests the flea and thus becomes infected. Ectoparasites of birds and mammals, incl. The hypostome is covered in rows of backward pointing teeth to maintain a fast grip on the host. Both sexes feed on blood and are usually nocturnal feeders. Soft ticks can engorge several times their own body weight.
Ticks can remain alive for many months in the absence of a blood meal.
The tick Ornithodoros is a vector for the spirochaete Borrelia duttoni and the plague-like bacterium Francisella tularensis that causes tularemia. Ixodid ticks are more specialized, produce more progeny and are more often attached to the host itself. When away from the host they infest the ground and shrubs associated with the presence of the hosts. Hard ticks are distinguished by the presence of a scutum and an easily visible forward projecting capitulum containing a hypostome and chelicerae. Both sexes are bloodsuckers but feed less often than the soft ticks.