Ticks make-up an important group of parasites of wild and domestic animals.
Hard ticks, such as the American dog tick, attach to their hosts and feed continuously for several days. Although most hard ticks live in fields and woods, the brown dog tick is a household pest. Soft ticks differ from hard ticks by feeding and carrying on their developmental life cycles in the home or nest of the host rather than in the woods and fields. Ticks are found worldwide, but the gulf coast tick and the dog tick are prevalent in the southeastern United States. Ticks are significant carriers of serious human and animal diseases.