Laboratory Rearing Procedures and Equipment for Multi.Host Ticks (Acarina: Ixodidae)1

Sacktor et al. (1948, J. Econ. Ent. 41: 296–301), Lancaster (1955, J. Econ. Ent. 48: 295–97), and Loomis (1961, J. Parasitol. 47: 91–99) reported on laboratory rearing methods for ixodid ticks. These methods are apparently without the capacity for producing large numbers of ticks economically. The following procedures are currently used at our laboratory to rear large numbers of uniformly aged ticks of the following species: Amblyomma americanum (L.), A. maculatum Koch, A. cajennense (Fabricius), Dermacentor variabilis (Say), D. parumapertus (Neuman), HaemaPhysalis leporispalustris (Packard), and Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille). We assume that these techniques are applicable to numerous other multi-host species.