It's more their reputation as a disease vector that scares me. We don't have very many ticks in NZ, and currently (let's see what climate change brings) no inse

It's more their reputation as a disease vector that scares me. We don't have very many ticks in NZ, and currently (let's see what climate change brings) no insect disease vectors, so not at all used to them. I suspect you're not worried about them for the same reason I'm not worried about bovine TB - you know how to handle it.