When adult ticks climb aboard a host animal, the males mate whilst the females feed.
 

Engorged with blood, females then fall to the ground and lay their eggs.
 

Female ticks lay around 2000 eggs in shaded, humid leaf litter, in the spring. They are very small (0.7mm long); there are probably about 500 in the picture below right.
 

After laying their eggs, female ticks shrivel and die.