Development and mortality of Ornithodoros moubata after feeding through an artificial membrane.

High mortality rates have often been observed when artificial feeding techniques are used for colony maintenance of Ornithodoros moubata. Such fatalities can be readily controlled by addition of antibiotics to the feeding medium without apparent toxicity to ticks. Comparative results show that for maintaining colonies of O. moubata artificial feeding techniques can be as efficient as direct feeding on swine--the primary hosts of these argasids.