
The use of live animals in tick research is crucial for a variety of experimental purposes including the maintenance of hard tick colonies in the laboratory. In ticks, all developmental stages (except egg) are hematophagous, and acquiring a blood-meal when attached to their vertebrate hosts is essential for the successful completion of their life cycle. Here we demonstrate a simple method that uses easily openable capsules for feeding of hard ticks on rabbits. The advantages of the proposed method include its simplicity, short duration and most importantly versatile adjustment to the needs of specific experimental requirements. The method makes possible the use of multiple chambers (of various sizes) on the same animal, which permits feeding of multiple stages or different experimental groups while reducing the overall animal requirement. The non-irritating and easily accessible materials used minimizes discomfort to the animals, which can be easily recovered from an experiment and offered for adoption or reused if the ethical protocol allows it.
animal recovery, Life Cycle Stages, Sheep, issue 140, Ixodidae, biology, [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio], capsule, rabbit, 600, jacket, 630, ticks, Tick Infestations, [SDV] Life Sciences [q-bio], Animals, Laboratory, Models, Animal, Animals, Rabbits, glue, feeding
animal recovery, Life Cycle Stages, Sheep, issue 140, Ixodidae, biology, [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio], capsule, rabbit, 600, jacket, 630, ticks, Tick Infestations, [SDV] Life Sciences [q-bio], Animals, Laboratory, Models, Animal, Animals, Rabbits, glue, feeding
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 17 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% |
