to kill or not to kill? that is the question.

[Marc]

A couple of posts ago I mentioned the pond in my backyard. The javelina started it by digging dirt out around the water dish, and we began calling it "Javie Hollow." After a while it got bigger. We have a great well, and I let the water drip into the water dish throughout the very hot summer for the animals (whose local watering hole was built over by some developers). So Javie Hollow became a tiny pond.

My partner was worried about mosquitoes around the pond, which we occasionally get in our area. But the opposite came true. Frogs were attracted to the water, and they spawned in the little pond. We heard them singing at night, and it was so beautiful, calling to a mate. I had the sensation that the frogs were "singing" their progeny alive. We have had NO mosquitoes at all. What we do have are the cutest tiny frogs hiding under rocks.

That's beautiful! I hurt for all of the animals that are left homeless by human invasion. The friends were trying to recreate their habitat and you let them!

Nature is smarter than we think. In my house in IN we had a pond and lots of mosquitoes, but the reason for it was we put chemicals to kill them in the water and it did kill them that year while killing off much of our bull-frog, turtle and all crayfish population. The next year it was worse than ever. If we had never interfered in nature, there would've been a boost of frogs and turtles to take advantage of the abundance of excess food and in the coming years there would be no mosquito problem. My neighbor's pond was lively with fish, frogs, turtles, and other aquatic life and he never used chemicals and encouraged habitat for wildlife in his yard.

Everyone, please encourage habitat for wildlife in your yards! There are millions of animals without a home because people took over thier land without sharing any space with the native inhabitants. Plant native plants (or just let them grow) and find out how you can encourage biodiversity in your living space.