Ticks go from eggs to adult in different stages depending on what kind of tick it is. Some ticks only have a couple of stages, while others go through as many as eight stages. The length of time it takes to go through the stages varies as well, and that partly depends on factors such as temperature, humidity, availability of food, etc. A young tick will have six legs, but an adult tick will have eight and in general, there are two main kinds of ticks the hard and soft varieties.