By Marcia Bonta Although large-eyed, big-eared white-footed mice can be comical and interesting, they also can be covered with the larvae and nymphs of black-legged ticks and build up huge concentrations of the Lyme disease bacteria. "I White-footed Mice THINK MICE are rather nice." So began the children's poem by Rose Amy Fyleman that I read to my three sons when they were young. Fyleman was an English writer who lived in earlier times (1877-1957), and her mice were not principal reservoirs for Lyme-disease bacteria, nor the possible carriers of the potentially deadly hantavirus. SEPTEMBER 2014 Unfortunately, our large-eyed, bigeared white-footed mice are. As primary hosts for black-legged ticks, they can be covered with tick larvae and nymphs and build up huge concentrations of the Lyme-disease bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, which doesn't sicken them. They also enjoy life in our old farmhouse, and we are compelled to 51