I initially thought about having ticks as a random event type thing but saw a post that poo-pooed parasites as it was suggested (last year?). So, I thought why not have ticks as a decor item? That way, people who don't want it don't have to have it and people who like the idea can have ticks a plenty. Obviously, as a decor item, it wouldn't effect anything so there's no downsides to game play. Perhaps it could be like the Common Raven [1], Stag Beetle [1], and similar in that you can craft more groups of ticks if you want your poor lion to have a larger infestation. Ticks [1] could be a group of four or five randomly attached to the lion. Then Ticks [2] and Ticks [3] would have more, eight to twelve or so.

After all, there is that nasty little problem in Africa called African Tick Bite fever. I'll be honest, I don't know if lions can actually get a form of ATB fever but we have several aspects in the game that aren't realistic. Perhaps with Ticks [2] and Ticks [3] they can develop spots in addition to more ticks so that it mimics ATB fever. Again, no affect to the game play as it's a decor.

What do you think?