Adult female hard ticks lay a single batch of thousands of eggs and then die. Adult male ticks also die after a single mating. As parasites go, ticks can be very nasty. They transmit more disease than any other blood-sucking parasite, including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and relapsing fever. They can also cause excessive blood loss.
Some ticks secrete nerve poisons that can potentially cause death.
A tick can be removed from skin by grasping it with a tweezer or a special tick-removing device as close to the skin as possible, and pulling in one steady motion. Do not squeeze the tick. Immediately flush it down the toilet or place it in a sealed container and hold onto it for one month, in case you develop symptoms of a disease.