BothCourage9285 t1_j4upvjt wrote on January 18, 2023 at 11:45 AM

Reply to comment by NothingToSeeHere1670 in Vermont listed as possible future habitat for mountain lions by willynillyslide

That's a myth. Tick population is most directly tied to the mouse population.

weareami t1_j4v4e14 wrote on January 18, 2023 at 1:59 PM

Its all connected! Ticks feed on many mammals

NothingToSeeHere1670 t1_j4v23lo wrote on January 18, 2023 at 1:41 PM

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25118409/

BothCourage9285 t1_j4vpfen wrote on January 18, 2023 at 4:21 PM

Hate to point out the obvious, but VT is not CT. Our deer density is completely different along with our residential development.

Technically, the tick population is tied to drought and the nut crop. Bumper crop for nuts equals a high survival rate of all mammals, but the mice and small ground mammals are where the tick larvae feed. Only ticks surviving to adulthood feed on deer and larger mammals.

They're considering vaccinating mice against lyme to reduce the spread-

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vaccinating-mice-may-finally-slow-lyme-disease/

NothingToSeeHere1670 t1_j4weqrd wrote on January 18, 2023 at 6:56 PM

“VT is not CT” … proceeds to link another study in CT. Anyways, you’re not wrong! We’re just looking at it from different views. Mice provide the host for young ticks, but deer provide hosts for breeding age ticks. Any effort to tackle the issue is worth it in my opinion, and I do wish we had more data to see what’s going on here in VT.