My entire population of gold fish died overnight, only one survivor found so far

[Relic]

Our next door neighbor has a mosquito control service that comes to their house every week and sprays for mosquitos. It's the wildest contraption for spraying I ever saw. They start off with a large, backpack model leaf blower. They add a reservoir of mosquito killing chemicals up on top with a spray nozzle inside the leaf blower air nozzle. He revs up the engine and it blasts a cloud of insecticide into grass, bushes, trees, and every nook and cranny of their yard. Luckily the wind is out of the south this time of year and any residual airborne chemicals drift away from my little pond. So far, so good...and no, it hasn't helped with MY mosquitoes in the least.

Chemicals are a double-edged sword.

 

[GBBUDD]

i love when they spray for black ants early spring late fall they are just going doubletime looking for food and a home

 

[poconojoe]

Our next door neighbor has a mosquito control service that comes to their house every week and sprays for mosquitos. It's the wildest contraption for spraying I ever saw. They start off with a large, backpack model leaf blower. They add a reservoir of mosquito killing chemicals up on top with a spray nozzle inside the leaf blower air nozzle. He revs up the engine and it blasts a cloud of insecticide into grass, bushes, trees, and every nook and cranny of their yard. Luckily the wind is out of the south this time of year and any residual airborne chemicals drift away from my little pond. So far, so good...and no, it hasn't helped with MY mosquitoes in the least.

Chemicals are a double-edged sword.

That's terrible.
Some people are just unbelievable.
Spray chemicals all over their yard.
Yeah, that's a good idea.
They are probably killing off many beneficial critters in the process and who knows how safe that crap is for young children, pets and wildlife.

 

[GBBUDD]

Careful you sound like me and you'll get black listed.

 

[poconojoe]

There are other ways to combat mosquitoes without spraying toxic chemicals all over the place.

There's preventative methods too. Make sure there's no stagnant water sitting in anything that will hold water. Bird baths, old flower pots, tires, etc. We are constantly spilling out and refilling bird baths. It's amazing how quickly you see mosquito larvae swimming in bird baths.

 

[GBBUDD]

There are other ways to combat mosquitoes without spraying toxic chemicals all over the place.

There's preventative methods too. Make sure there's no stagnant water sitting in anything that will hold water. Bird baths, old flower pots, tires, etc. We are constantly spilling out and refilling bird baths. It's amazing how quickly you see mosquito larvae swimming in bird baths.

Bat houses are a favorite of mine, they can eat a whole lot of blood suckered in a night.

Dragon flies hanging out around the pond. When they are nymphs they to do serious damage to blood suckered population.

A leaf blower can remove little puddles around the yard. All Bird baths should have the little boy peeing or the wine jug tipping into the bird bath just that little pump is enough to do damage to the stagnant water that they need

 

[poconojoe]

Bat houses are a favorite of mine, they can eat a whole lot of blood suckered in a night.

Dragon flies hanging out around the pond. When they are nymphs they to do serious damage to blood suckered population.

A leaf blower can remove little puddles around the yard. All Bird baths should have the little boy peeing or the wine jug tipping into the bird bath just that little pump is enough to do damage to the stagnant water that they need

Yeah, I have a bat house, but didn't mention that because most people freak out over bats!

If I remember correctly, bats eat something like 1,000 - 1,500 bugs per hour!

I bought a bat house kit from the Bat Conservancy about 5 or 6 years ago. It's a pretty nice one.
I followed all the instructions for building and hanging it, but no bats so far.
I think maybe it's the altitude, I'm almost 2,000 feet above sea level. I can't figure out what else it could be.

 

[addy1]

We have a empty bat house, but see bats flying every night. Swooping around grabbing bugs. Love it!

I have a pot with some plants that need standing water, I put the mosquito dunk stuff in, granular, so far no larvae.

 

[SarahT]

I've got lizards, frogs and toads, and birds eating mosquitoes and their larvae, undoubtedly bats, too (I like bats). I've never seen mosquito larvae in my birdbaths, and I check them daily. One is in the (Florida) sun much of the day. Maybe the larvae are broiled or poached?

 

[GBBUDD]

Yeah, I have a bat house, but didn't mention that because most people freak out over bats!

If I remember correctly, bats eat something like 1,000 - 1,500 bugs per hour!

I bought a bat house kit from the Bat Conservancy about 5 or 6 years ago. It's a pretty nice one.
I followed all the instructions for building and hanging it, but no bats so far.
I think maybe it's the altitude, I'm almost 2,000 feet above sea level. I can't figure out what else it could be.

I think it's more Height off the ground and an open flight path.

The type of wood used and the size of the opening and interior opening


I do know every time I found bats in buildings they were on rough sawn lumber with old buildings. So I would venture to dare to say they like the rough-sawn lumber for traction.

 

[poconojoe]

I think it's more Height off the ground and an open flight path.

The type of wood used and the size of the opening and interior opening


I do know every time I found bats in buildings they were on rough sawn lumber with old buildings. So I would venture to dare to say they like the rough-sawn lumber for traction.

Yep. All those "rules" were taken into account.
I bought the kit from The Bat Conservancy. All the wood was precut. I just had to put it together and paint it black for maximum heat absorption. Bats need warmth. I only painted the outside.

I mounted it high enough according to the instructions.

It's also mounted within the reach of my pond for a water source, as suggested.

It has two chambers with rough wood for them to grab onto.

I don't see any bats around anywhere here. They must not like the area for some reason. As I said, maybe our altitude is too high, I don't know.

 

[GBBUDD]

I wouldn't have painted it . But that may or may not be an issue.

I know I made a very fancy bird house for an old client years ago in the shape of a Japanese koboda. On a 250 brass pole with bamboo frame bent sloped roof with clay tile that I made. This wasn't so much my idea as the woman has some mo mo money and directed me how crazy she wanted to get . I forget now how many thousand I charged but I do know not one bird used it four years latter at the perch or no perch size of the key hole everything fir what type of bird and the lol at the house. Wish I had a pic

 

[poconojoe]

I wouldn't have painted it . But that may or may not be an issue.

I know I made a very fancy bird house for an old client years ago in the shape of a Japanese koboda. On a 250 brass pole with bamboo frame bent sloped roof with clay tile that I made. This wasn't so much my idea as the woman has some mo mo money and directed me how crazy she wanted to get . I forget now how many thousand I charged but I do know not one bird used it four years latter at the perch or no perch size of the key hole everything fir what type of bird and the lol at the house. Wish I had a pic

The instructions stated that in my area of the country the bat house should be painted black for the best sun (heat) absorption.
There was a color chart for different parts of the country.

Bats need a certain temperature inside their house.

 

[GBBUDD]

The instructions stated that in my area of the country the bat house should be painted black for the best sun (heat) absorption.
There was a color chart for different parts of the country.

Bats need a certain temperature inside their house.

sounds like there were absolutely batty about their bats