These ticks drop off and reattach to a new host during each life stage, until finally the adult females lay their batch of eggs. In each case, the fed adult stage is terminal, that is, after laying one batch of eggs the female dies, and after the male has reproduced, he dies as well. The life stages of soft ticks are not readily distinguishable. The first life stage to come out of the egg, a six legged larva, takes a blood meal from a host, and molts to the first nymphal stage. Unlike hard ticks, many soft ticks go through multiple nymphal stages, gradually increasing in size until the final molt to the adult stage.
Some soft ticks pass through up to seven nymphal molts before they become adults.
Soft ticks feed several times during each life stage, and females lay multiple small batches of eggs between blood meals during their lives. The time to completion of the entire life cycle is generally much longer than that of hard ticks, lasting over several years. The mouthparts of soft ticks are are not readily visible from above. The palps move laterally while the tick is feeding and do not enter the skin of the host. The rough hypostome has many beak-like projections on it.