Diet. The Mountain, or Rocky Mountain, goat, when living in the wild or in the cold grasslands or cliffs of North America, has been observed to thrive rather well upon a mostly green diet consisting of lichens, shrubs, sedges, grasses, herbs, fern mosses and leaves.
The usual incubation time between tick bite and symptom onset is 5-10 days. Only about half of patients recall a preceding tick bite. Initial symptoms of Rocky Mountain spotted fever are usually non-specific, consisting of fever, severe headache, myalgias, nausea and loss of appetite. Many patients will present to physicians before the hallmark rash develops, which complicates diagnosis and increases the diseaseâs potential deadliness.
Tick species that transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever: Rocky mountain wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni), American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis), Brown dog tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus).