Ticks Around Your Home Ticks are closely related to scorpions, spiders and mites. They are not insects. They are external parasites that need a blood meal to survive and reproduce.
Ticks can feed on humans and other mammals, reptiles, birds or even frogs.
All life stages of ticks feed on blood. Ticks can transmit several diseases, such as Lyme disease, rocky mountain spotted fever, tick paralysis and others, but most tick bites do not result in illness. Depending on the kind of tick, the larva can be extremely active or lay in wait for a host to come. Once on the host, the larva will begin feeding. After the tick is full of blood, it will either fall off the host or stay on, depending on the type of tick.