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Re: Opossum Pulling Ticks Off A Deer's Face
[Re: Ray B]
#6702710
12/22/19 03:43 PM
12/22/19 03:43 PM
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 489
TN
TN_Trapper
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 489
TN
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The problem is this is a photo, not a video. Since we cant see a tick being removed, then only an educated guess (or uneducated) can be made. Do we have ticks on our deer in Fall? We do in Tennessee, even in late November (I can attest to that on many of the deer I've shot) but that doesnt mean they are pulling them off deer, and this photo does nothing to add or remove any evidence one way or another. Do possums eat ticks? Yes, but as others have pointed out, possums also raid the nests of birds that also eat ticks. So we dont know if there is any net benefit. In addition, the "million ticks a year" is extrapolated data, which almost always gets strongly skewed.
Brandon
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Re: Opossum Pulling Ticks Off A Deer's Face
[Re: TRADER TUT]
#6702821
12/22/19 06:40 PM
12/22/19 06:40 PM
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Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 7,678
Virginia
52Carl
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 7,678
Virginia
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Anyone interested in a nice " bridge " ???????????????? Only if it goes over swamp land in Florida...
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Re: Opossum Pulling Ticks Off A Deer's Face
[Re: Okie Farmer]
#6702852
12/22/19 07:09 PM
12/22/19 07:09 PM
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Joined: May 2016
Posts: 3,515
Southern Illinois
Foxpaw
trapper
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trapper
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 3,515
Southern Illinois
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If possums eat ticks why do they always have ticks on them in the summer? Back 5 or 6 six years ago we had an old hen settin underneath an old washing machine. Didn't even know she was in there til the racket started about midnight. I got my light and quickly dispatched Mr. possum. Next morning went to drag him off and he was covered in and behind ears and neck with all sizes of ticks. Now why if they are such good tick pickers didn't he have a friend possum help him out. Maybe no friends? I wish I had taken pictures just for this occasion. Maybe we need to start a lonely hearts club for possums, for no other reason than to control lyme disease, lol.
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Re: Opossum Pulling Ticks Off A Deer's Face
[Re: Ray B]
#6703119
12/22/19 10:17 PM
12/22/19 10:17 PM
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 20,316
The Hill Country of Texas
Leftlane
"HOSS"
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"HOSS"
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 20,316
The Hill Country of Texas
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Even if they get fat on ticks, I will still be punting them out of the hay so all the horses don't get EMP
“What’s good for me may not be good for the weak minded.”
Captain Gus McCrae- Texas Rangers
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Re: Opossum Pulling Ticks Off A Deer's Face
[Re: Leary Sink]
#6703859
12/23/19 07:53 PM
12/23/19 07:53 PM
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 604
New York
ponyboy
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 604
New York
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Adam Schiff says he has irrefutable evidence that possums eat their weight in ticks every year!
If the grinners around here ate ticks they would each weigh 200 pounds. Good one!
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Re: Opossum Pulling Ticks Off A Deer's Face
[Re: Ray B]
#6703883
12/23/19 08:20 PM
12/23/19 08:20 PM
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 604
New York
ponyboy
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 604
New York
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Trail Cam Captures Opossum Pulling Ticks Off A Deer's Face Picture at link. [email] https://www.sunnyskyz.com/blog/2945...AtCnn59tfKT1qRI--VnJRA9A6MQa8h7V6Poxg3OA[/email] December 19, 2019 This trail cam photo beautifully demonstrates a symbiotic relationship -- a special interaction between species that provides a balance that can only be achieved by working together. oppossum eating ticks off deer Credit: Vermont Wildlife Coalition The photo, posted by the Vermont Wildlife Coalition, shows an opossum pulling ticks off a deer's face. Tick infestations are serious in the dry months and have even killed young deer. And possums love to eat ticks. "We found that the average opossum kills thousands of ticks every week wandering through the forest," says Felicia Keesing, a biologist at Bard College and an Adjunct Scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. "So, the opossum wanders through the woods and ticks get on them just like they might get on any mammal wandering through the woods. But the opossums groom them off and kill them in the process of the tick wandering around trying to find a place to feed." Opossums are the unsung heroes in curbing Lyme disease. Also " Conditioning". the general public and elevating the Opossum to Legendary status.
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Re: Opossum Pulling Ticks Off A Deer's Face
[Re: Ray B]
#6703923
12/23/19 09:12 PM
12/23/19 09:12 PM
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 18,515
Green County Wisconsin
GREENCOUNTYPETE
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 18,515
Green County Wisconsin
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i researched the tick possum study , every link I followed and all I found linked back to one study they placed a number of different animals in cages that a tick could not escape then they placed a counted number of i think 200 ticks on each one then counted again 24 hours later they took that number of ticks and multiplied by days in a month and came up with 3-5K ticks in a month that number has been exaggerated up as high as 5k from what I saw but some where around 3K was one estimate.
there was no indication that they re-ran the study or took it any further or thought about tick availability or tick habitat or other food availability for the possum , nope their findings said tick smorgasbord was the A #1 favorite meal of possum.
I have don't doubt that a possum in a cage with zero else to do doesn't groom and get a lot of the ticks off and even eat them but does it seek out the tiny arachnid as a primary food source , I don't think so.
America only has one issue, we have a Responsibility crisis and everything else stems from it.
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Re: Opossum Pulling Ticks Off A Deer's Face
[Re: Ray B]
#6703976
12/23/19 10:03 PM
12/23/19 10:03 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,027
SEPA
Lugnut
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,027
SEPA
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Do you have a link to that study Green? I've never been able to find the basis for this myth and would like to see for myself. If nothing else so I could educate some that believe this stuff.
Eh...wot?
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Re: Opossum Pulling Ticks Off A Deer's Face
[Re: Lugnut]
#6997033
09/22/20 09:39 AM
09/22/20 09:39 AM
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Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 849
Washington
wildflights
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 849
Washington
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Do you have a link to that study Green? I've never been able to find the basis for this myth and would like to see for myself. If nothing else so I could educate some that believe this stuff. 6 species afflicted with 100 ticks each. It's a study based on grooming behaviors. It is an intentionally misleading "study" where a couple opossums were put in a glass cage with 100 ticks. The number of ticks removed by grooming was then multiplied and extrapolated out to wildly exaggerate their effectiveness. However possums were more effective at grooming the pests off of themselves than the other test subjects. Government waste, useless grants and fake science all rolled into one. Opossums are known to spread Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis (EPM) disease to horses. Infection causes loss of muscle function and weakness. Mice in particular are important in the life cycle of ticks. Neither mice nor possums are getting a free pass around here.
Last edited by wildflights; 09/22/20 10:00 AM.
Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. -Gustav Mahler
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Re: Opossum Pulling Ticks Off A Deer's Face
[Re: Ray B]
#6997061
09/22/20 10:31 AM
09/22/20 10:31 AM
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Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 7,333
W NY
Turtledale
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 7,333
W NY
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Wait till Petr sees that possum killing that poor defenceless tick. Bad things are coming for Mr. Possum. Karma's gonna get him
NYSTA, NTA, FTA, life member Erie county trappers assn.,life member Catt.county trappers
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Re: Opossum Pulling Ticks Off A Deer's Face
[Re: Ray B]
#6997433
09/22/20 07:15 PM
09/22/20 07:15 PM
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Joined: May 2013
Posts: 5,107
Northern Michigan
J.Morse
trapper
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trapper
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 5,107
Northern Michigan
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It is hooey and horse pucky. Every pseudo outdoorsman-townie out there is deciding opossums are the tick licking champs of the natural world these days. "5000 tick a day, that's whut them 'possum eat". All the Sidewalk Sallies in my state parrot that silliness every time a 'possum is mentioned on any of the wild food, shrooming, foraging FB pages I belong to.
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Re: Opossum Pulling Ticks Off A Deer's Face
[Re: wildflights]
#6997562
09/22/20 09:32 PM
09/22/20 09:32 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 17,606
Rodney,Ohio
SNIPERBBB
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 17,606
Rodney,Ohio
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Do you have a link to that study Green? I've never been able to find the basis for this myth and would like to see for myself. If nothing else so I could educate some that believe this stuff. 6 species afflicted with 100 ticks each. It's a study based on grooming behaviors. It is an intentionally misleading "study" where a couple opossums were put in a glass cage with 100 ticks. The number of ticks removed by grooming was then multiplied and extrapolated out to wildly exaggerate their effectiveness. However possums were more effective at grooming the pests off of themselves than the other test subjects. Government waste, useless grants and fake science all rolled into one. Opossums are known to spread Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis (EPM) disease to horses. Infection causes loss of muscle function and weakness. Mice in particular are important in the life cycle of ticks. Neither mice nor possums are getting a free pass around here. Thats the study I referenced.
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