The way ticks develop and interact with their environment is complicated, but it is important to understand how ticks develop and search for hosts. Any information about how ticks live is the basis for understanding the epidemiology of tick-borne diseases, meaning how these diseases spread and how we can control them. Since ticks are blood feeders, they must ingest large amounts of blood to completely develop. An adult female I. solitarius may ingest as much as 5–10 times their weight in blood in one feeding. After the female feeds on a host and mates, she drops to the ground and finds shelter in leaves or other natural material to lay thousands of eggs. Temperature controls egg development. The higher the temperature, the faster the eggs develop. There is an optimal temperature that varies among tick species, but 20°C is a good average temperature for egg development. Temperatures higher than 20°C increase the chance that the eggs will die. The immature tick that hatches out of the egg is called a larva. The larvae must then find a host.

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