[nonbel]

>"up to 5000 per opossum in a season"

It looks like a single tick may produce 500 - 15,000 ticks per "ovipostion" (egg-laying session).

LABORATORY STUDIES ON THE OVIPOSITION, EGG-SIZES AND SHAPES AND EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT OF DERMACENTOR VA RIA BILlS, RHIPICEPHALUS SANGUINEUS AND AMBLYOMMA MACULATUM http://www1.montpellier.inra.fr/cbgp/acarologia/export_pdf.p...

[wilsonnb]

We're going to need a lot of opossums then!

I'd be curious to know how long the average life span of each tick is. I wonder exactly how many opossums I would need per square foot to ensure that my yard is 99.99% tick free.