American Dog Tick

American dog ticks, also called wood ticks, can be found on the East Coast. From the egg stage, they become six-legged larvae, then eight-legged nymphs, and finally, eight-legged adults. They are reddish-brown, and the female American dog ticks are slightly larger than the male. This species prefers to “quest” for its hosts, meaning it will wait on blades of grass or vegetation for its host to brush by and then climb onto the host. It lives in areas with little to no tree cover. They prefer to feed on dogs and other small animals, when they are engorged, they can be almost fifteen millimeters long! If no food source is available, they can still live for up to two to three years. American dog ticks can cause diseases like ehrlichiosis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

https://tickencounter.org/tick_identification/dog_tick

https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/geographic_distribution.html