How long can ticks survive without a host?

With most tick-related emergency room visits rising in the spring and fall, it makes you wonder: how long can they survive without feeding? For adult ticks, they can survive for an average of 1-3 years without a blood meal under ideal conditions. Ticks live longer in higher humidity levels, moderate temperatures of 70-80°, and can survive for up to several weeks indoors. Although the indoors isn’t their ideal ecological environment, the controlled climate is beneficial to their survival. Imagine sitting in your yard enjoying the beautiful spring weather and bringing an uninvited guest into your home that can live there for weeks. 

Vermont Emergency Room & Urgent Care Visits for Human Tick Encounters

Ticks are obligate hematophages, which means their diet is exclusively blood. They do not eat anything else! Tick eggs live for 2-3 months, larva for 8 months, nymphs for 1 year, and adults for 1-3 years without a host. For larva to molt to the next life stage, they must have a blood meal in 8 months. Ticks are dependent on their blood meals to mature so they need blood to grow and reproduce. After feeding, ticks fall off their host, find a safe hiding spot near a trail or where they can easily find a host, and molt into their next stage. If it’s an adult female, she will lay between 2,000-18,000 eggs depending on the species. 

Tick bites are preventable through integrative pest management techniques. Conduct daily tick checks, wear light-colored clothing, keep grass short, and if you find a tick, remove it with tweezers, and put your clothes in the dryer for 10 minutes.