There is considerable variation between species, and the different life stages of some species, in the height at which they quest.
Many soft ticks, in contrast, inhabit caves, dens, stables, and other places used by potential hosts. They typically secrete themselves in loose soil or cracks and crevices by day and attack their host at night, usually while it is asleep. They crawl to the host, engorge in a few minutes or hours, and return to their hiding place.

All ticks orient to potential hosts in response to products of respiration. Carbon dioxide, in particular, is attractive at a distance. This characteristic is helpful in surveillance studies because many species can be collected using traps baited with dry ice.

When feeding, the tick uses its cheliceras (teeth) to cut the victim's skin and then inserts its mouth parts. The hypostome (feeding tube) has many rows of recurved barbs that become cemented in and anchor the tick to its host, making it very hard to withdraw by pulling on the tick. Blood is pumped by a muscular pharynx and the salivary glands produce an anticoagulant that allows long periods of feeding without the host blood coagulating. The tick usually moves to the highest part of the host to attach and feed on the head or ears.