1FlewOver
Chirping
I mentioned my ponds in another thread....sooo....a little musing/ rambling about them and the fact that pretty much everything has it's plus and minus qualities......
So....My pond serves as a hatchery for toads and dragonflies.....and contains mosquito fish...all of which help control mosquitoes....
It also serves as a drinking water source for all sorts of critters.....and I get a lot of enjoyment watching the antics of the toads when mating...It also attracts some fun critters like the red eared slider turtle that now lives in an aquarium and is named "Vin Diesel "...(as in the fast and furious) ..
Now....the downside: They are leaf and trash magnets, algae factories, and cleaning them is a real chore....
In addition to the desirable critters, they occasionally attract undesirable (at least to me) ....critters...namely snakes....
I'm actually a snake lover and currently have two approximately 5' long Texas rat snakes....one of which I caught full grown, and isn't tamed yet...(bit me on the side of my head about a week ago....I also love the little rough earth snakes...(which most people mis-identify as "garter snakes" or "grass snakes.....(no such animal ).....
But the two I get that aren't welcome at all are blotched water snakes...(usually babies) ....and yellow bellied water snakes.....(usually full grown) ....
Now, I used to capture and relocate them.......but it's such a PITA to capture them....the nearby lake has a thriving population and to me they aren't really beneficial creatures IMO....
Especially yellow bellied water snakes.....whose main diet is frogs and toads.....no thank you....I don't feel guilty in the least about killing something that kills such benificial creatures that seem to be struggling for some reason....( I'm pretty sure one species that breeds in my ponds is endangered.....)
I guess you could say the same about gardens....produce food for the table....but also weeds and a lot of labor to maintain....
So....My pond serves as a hatchery for toads and dragonflies.....and contains mosquito fish...all of which help control mosquitoes....
It also serves as a drinking water source for all sorts of critters.....and I get a lot of enjoyment watching the antics of the toads when mating...It also attracts some fun critters like the red eared slider turtle that now lives in an aquarium and is named "Vin Diesel "...(as in the fast and furious) ..
Now....the downside: They are leaf and trash magnets, algae factories, and cleaning them is a real chore....
In addition to the desirable critters, they occasionally attract undesirable (at least to me) ....critters...namely snakes....
I'm actually a snake lover and currently have two approximately 5' long Texas rat snakes....one of which I caught full grown, and isn't tamed yet...(bit me on the side of my head about a week ago....I also love the little rough earth snakes...(which most people mis-identify as "garter snakes" or "grass snakes.....(no such animal ).....
But the two I get that aren't welcome at all are blotched water snakes...(usually babies) ....and yellow bellied water snakes.....(usually full grown) ....
Now, I used to capture and relocate them.......but it's such a PITA to capture them....the nearby lake has a thriving population and to me they aren't really beneficial creatures IMO....
Especially yellow bellied water snakes.....whose main diet is frogs and toads.....no thank you....I don't feel guilty in the least about killing something that kills such benificial creatures that seem to be struggling for some reason....( I'm pretty sure one species that breeds in my ponds is endangered.....)
I guess you could say the same about gardens....produce food for the table....but also weeds and a lot of labor to maintain....
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