This is an area I'd be very interested in. We had some left over retaining blocks from some work done here. The contractors dumped them on the side of our driveway. I was going to have them hauled away until I realized there was a snake sunning itself. From time to time I've seen other snakes there on those blocks. I've also found salamanders scrunched in and around those retaining blocks. These retaining blocks are an eyesore. They are also huge at about 80 lbs a piece. Sooner or later, I am going to have to remove them. Probably after the snakes hibernate sometime in early winter. I'm going to need ideas of materials that are less offensive to the eye than what is currently dumped in that spot. I'd love to see photos of other people's rock piles or snake habitat.
Anyone out there providing rock piles for snakes?
I don't like snakes, and I figure on our newly contracted 19 acres with maybe 1,000 feet of creekside, they can find lodging on their own. Probably have some living in the old barn. That's good as then we won't have mice.
Why darius, howdy do! I've missed you. Congratulations on the new 19 acre "estate" complete with a creek. I suppose with that much land there must be places for your slithery friends! Congratulations to the new "not so humble" digs. It sounds like this property couldn't have a better owner than you!
Hi all, Darius keep us posted on your progress. Glad for you and your new property. Love the bridge also the barn. Black snakes would help with rodents. I dont like snakes but my father in law always kept a black snake in is shop for that purpose. He would be in there tinkering and the snake would be up in the rafters. When I wanted to talk to him I would only stick my head in the door. Can still hear him trying to get me in for a cold beer. Dixie
Equilibrium, this has nothing to do with the rocks and snakes. Right now, on my dining room window, there are two mating insects. I have no idea what they are. Kind of like a mosquito hawk. I have searched a few online sources (not very good at it, for sure) I have no camera, so will describe as best I can. only approx. three fourths of an inch long. very long legs. no antenna that I can see. dull orange color. large black eyes. from outside (the backs of them) the colors differ. One is lighter brown with a definite circle with dot in center on thorax, also the smaller of the two. the other may have the same marking on its thorax, but darker, hard to tell. that one is darker brown and a bit larger. I do not know Crane flies and damsel flies, so could it be one or the other? large for what I have always known as mosquito hawks. but smaller than any dragonfly I am familiar with. certainly look like the same type of insect as those. Can you help with such a vague description?
Thanks, BAM
Tee he, I could care less if threads go astray. That's generally when I learn the most.
Nope, I can't help you but maybe the BugMan can. Get a hold of a member named Gerris2. He's an entomologist. I think his wife is also so between the two of them you might get an ID but you don't have a photo so that's tough for even the pros.
Thank you very much Equilibrium. They were still there after dark when I went to bed, but gone when I got up this morning. BAM
You know I've got a little bit more time this morning. I should have taken the time to add that Damselfies are a lot like Dragonflies but generally smaller and more streamlined. They do both have antennae but the antennae are often difficult to see... at least I can't see them unless I enlarge my photos. You can usually tell the difference between the two when they land. Dragonflies have back wings that are larger than the front wings as a rule of thumb. Damselfly wings are generally similar in shape and size. Probably the single greatest telltale feature to help tell the difference between the two is that Damselfly wings are held upright above their bodies and touch when they are at rest. Dragonflies can't do this and therefore their wings are held out to the side when they rest sort of like a B52 bomber. Differences in the eyes exist as well if you can get close enough to get a good look-see. Damselfly eyes never touch. Dragonfly eyes are larger and they come close but don't generally touch. Look for a space between the eyes. Dragonflies mate in the air. Damselflies mate after they land.
Unless it is the most common of Dragonflies or Damselfies, I can't ID them. The males differ from the females which differ from the juveniles. I can always tell Odonata from other insects and I generally can differentiate between whether I'm looking at a Dragonfly or a Damselfly from there but that's the extent of my abilities.
Crane flies to me have always looked like oversized mosquitoes. I doubt I would be able to tell the difference from one to another unless somebody spent some time with me and provided examples where I could get a chance to see side by side comparisons.
Hi Lauren, I was lurking here (love your threads) and was very happy to see the thread take a turn to insects, which I know zip about. Can't wait to take entomology class, I told the prof he has to offer it online w/lab (like soils is taught) since I can't make it at 8 am! And even if I could, with gas at $3 gallon I would rather come only once a week. He requires a bug collection, plus examples of insect damage to plants, which is why the lab would be necessary. That's also where you could get him to do side by side comparisons. He said he would do it, so it will probably be offered next fall. I'm hoping to take it then.
I have a small pile of rocks behind my house, my husband collects them from jobsites. The idea is that we would edge the beds or make a pond or some other project with them someday. I never realized they could have a purpose other than that, duh. I'm not afraid of snakes, but dislike the surprise factor. Once when one slithered out when I was clearing debris from the side of house, to prepare for gardens, I screamed and jumped a mile high! I was so embarrassed, the ever present fire dept got quite a show and prob a good laugh.
Hi PGZ5, if you get to take that class, will you please take lots of photos. I would be very appreciative. I like bugs and ants are some of my favorites but I truly bomb out in identification and particularly in Odonata.
I'm not afraid of snakes in the least any longer. Nothing poisonous around here. I'm pretty much desensitized to the shock value of them because we have so many around here. I used to not be too thrilled with them when a kid would hold one up to within inches of my face. I didn't particularly care for bending over to pull a weed to hear, "Mom" only to turn around and have a snake like 2-3" from my face with some smiling kid all proud at having been able to pick one up. Bully for you kid now get it out of my face. Sorry but those garters will nip you if you don't have a good hold on them and the water snakes seem to go looking for a reason to clip you and they hurt. I do like to watch them when I run across them and I do flick them out of the way before my husband cuts the grass. They come out to soak up the rays and can often be found up on the grassy areas of the lawn.
What are Odonata? Are ants insects? I'm really ignorant. I don't even know if ants will be one of the bugs studied, unless they damage ornamentals. Or maybe they would be, since they can mar turfgrass. That is the approach and emphasis of the classes offered at the junior college level. Must be directly applicable to the trade.
I caught a garter snake once when I was ten. Had it in a coffee can on the front porch (with grass and air holes poked in the lid) when I was called into supper. Dismayed that "my friend" who was visiting the prairie for a week that summer, took it upon themself to take it out and kill it. I don't think it would bother me to this day, if they had only released it, as I intended to do so anyway.
I never knew they bit, but of course that makes sense, they're just not poisonous.
Odonata = Dragonflies and Damselflies
Ants are insects.
If the classes you will be taking must be "directly applicable to the trade", you won't be studying Odonata but you'll probably get your fill of Sod Webworms, Mole Crickets, Japanese Beetle Grubs, and Armyworms as well as a host of others. I hope they include integrated pest management for you.
Garter snakes bite. They hurt. Ouch. Sorry about your buddy in the coffee can.
Yeah, that sounds right. But I'm hoping they confine most of that stuff to Turf II (which I don't plan on taking). I had enough of that in Turf I, not interested. I noticed a few grubs when I was turning my soil in front, since we had to remove the sod to widen the bed. Love the thrill of squishing them underfoot.
IPM is the main emphasis of entomology. I snagged the directions for the kill jar and counting with the sheet. They do that in the prairie restoration group too. Sounds like fun.
Maybe your snakes don't like being squeezed. Try petting them instead. LOL
They do pet them. My kids were curious about the snakes yet leery of them until I went and grabbed one and held it for them to pet. I think they were surprised at how soft the scales were. That act, and that act alone de-mystified snakes over here particularly when they saw one nail me leaving nothing but a little scratch and a red mark. I really do flick them out of the path of the lawnmower and they see that too. Then one of the boys got bit and experienced it himself and shared that with the others so now none of them are afraid of them, hence... snakes 2-3" from my face. Your son will grow up and probably stick them in your face too! Isn't being a Mom rewarding? Give em a little bit of knowledge and what do they do... stick it in your face.
It is so different for me now, my little girl just graduated from HS. Little boys are from Mars!
My niece knows how to grab one too. I taught her ;) My brother was aghast. My SIL laughed.
LOL My daughter liked bugs, and mice. I'd tell you a mouse story but it might gross some people out.
Semd me a D-Mail!
Me too!! I really want to hear that story!!
well I'll just tell it hear then, if you don't like mice don't read this.
Once, when she was 8 years old, she spent the night with her cousins at her Grandpa's house. The house is an older, rambling home with many rooms that were not used regularly, then the grand-kids descended. (There are 15 kids in my husband's family, he has 7 brothers and 7 sisters!) So they were piled up in the living room, she was sleeping on Grandpa's old divan, when she felt a wiggle under her pillow. It was a cute little mousey! She wasn't at all scared (she had a pet hamster at home), and didn't even realize that she might have wondered why there was a mouse in the couch! Her mother was not amused, but rather alarmed.
Cute. What was so bad about that!
We get them in our house mostly in fall. I pick the babies up by the tails and toss them outside. The adults are too hard to get.
That wasn't gross that was cute!!! Mice are usually cute until they turn into rats. Our house sat empty for a year before we bought it and there were some REALLY big rats in here. Their dropping were almost the size of what horses drop. We bombed the house several times before we could get rid of them. We had a hard time getting rid of all of the critters in the house!! They were like, "This is our house, we were here first, get lost!!!"
Ummm, I'm offended. Our pet rat Rosie says to let you know that rats are beautiful! Just kidding but we did used to have a pet rat named Rosie. She's long gone but she was really cute and she was really affectionate.
Try this for your rat issues-
http://www.ratzapper.com/
The Classic works fine. This is one of the products that truly does as is advertised. No fuss no muss and no poisoned rats wandering off to end up in the food chain or get eaten by somebody's dog. Poisoned animals do have a tendency of ending up eaten by other animals and then those animals die whether it be a hawk or a coyote. Horse people have been using them for quite a while.
Pet rats are ok but the wild rats? UH UH! NO WAY!
Yes, we really loved the pet rats we have had. The Norway Rats are another story. We certainly don't want those around. Seriously, try the RatZapper2000. It works.
will do.
It will kill chipmunks so only bait it with things like left over chicken and milk.
Pepper, as far as I know, mice are mice and remain mice. Rats are different and stay rats. Two different, but related animals. I used to have a pet white mouse, named Mortimer. He was a sweetie. But, they live such a short time. I never got another one because it is hard to see one die so soon. They are cute, but boy, can the wild ones cause damage! and the voles have been making me crazy in the flower border. Not so bad now with summer, but burrows everywhere last winter.
Thanks for the info, Equilibrium. I believe they would be Craneflies, because they looked like mosquito hawks to me. Will have to look it up, but not this morning. Going on a plant search with a friend, and also to lunch. BAM
Bring your camera on your plant search! Photos are always welcome.
Sorry to say that I do not have a camera. I am actually a very poor person (financially) although rich in my surroundings. I love my simple life. Have no TV. Just a radio and this computer. I live for summer to be outside in the yard. Tons of projects in mind, and only enough time and energy for two or three per season. Winter is time to do housekeeping, painting of ceilings, walls, whatever. My life is good, but would love to have a digital camera, and take photos. As you mentioned before, I always wish I had a camera with me, because when a great photo opportunity happens it is right then, right there! A missed opportunity. Well, time will tell about all the things I would love to have. My wish list grows. LOL! BAM
I certainly could easily live without a tv and when I got my very first apartment, I did just that.
ty Lauren.
bam - When my husband was courting me, he decided to bring over a movie to watch (VHS). He sure was surprised that not only did I not have a VCR, I had a 13" BW T.V. My brother & sister are always saying how small my current (16 yr old) color T.V. is. I guess I just don't care. My Dad bought me the computer, so I could take classes online without going to the library (across the street), mostly so I don't have to hire a sitter. My car is old but well-cared for, and I cherish the things I do have, furniture that's been given to me, Gramma's old oil lamps, etc. Believe me you're not missing anything on T.V.!
Thank you, Prairie. There are many more important things in life than sitting in front of a TV. And to have things from your grandmother is a blessing. Keeping safe the threads of your personal history. That is important. Preserving the earth in your little section, that is very important. Keep on doing the same. You are doing just fine if you are content, and fulfilled. Also very important.
BAM
ty bam.
We have resident black rat snake(s) on the property: they love the wood pile, the brush pile we created thinking of other wildlife, and one large guy lives in the well house; that would be fine except that he pulls down the insulation when he goes behind it, and kept turning off the well pump until we taped it open (lol). Makes for an interesting domestic situation, since I quite like snakes but my partner is phobic - especially one day last summer when the babies found the front porch all at once.
I have rock piles everyone warns me will contain either snakes or scorpions. I do not doubt them, but I have only seen one snake and it was a Desert King that tried to make me think it was a rattler. It just rattled its tail in the leaves as it hurried away. Very good mimic of sound. I nearly stepped on it - the best way to get bit!
Now I live in rattler, cottonmouth, copperhead and coral country. The general consensus is fear. I am trying to teach my kids not to be fearful, but to be smart about their exploring....
Prairiegirl- do you have a boy? I am pretty sure that God put ears on boys just so they would look "normal". I haven't found them to be useful for anything else - except, perhaps, gathering dirt!
We have lots of lizards. Skinks, Texas Spiny and Prairie Racerunner.
The skinks are difficult to identify specifically - they are so fast they look like snakes.
I played with snakes growing up - my brother would bring them home and keep them over summer and let them go in time to hibernate. I never got bit, but I think he did.
Sudden movement can scare as easily as squeezing, although, they don't generally have good eyesight. I get excited about seeing one in the wild and don't mind "petting" one b/c they feel cool, I don't like them as pets b/c they can never be "friendly". I've seen lizards be nearly "friendly", but never a snake.
No big rock piles here, sadly. I love rocks, and managed to load several into our U-Haul when we moved here from Texas...but not many as many as I wanted. As it was, we did blow a tire on the U-Haul trailer outside of El Paso! Still, rocks are worth it.
We've only seen one snake here so far, a gopher snake. I'm trying to learn the lizards, but as you said, indirt, the fast ones are hard to ID! Here's a fellow that was kind enough to hold still for me last week. I tried to ID him on the internet, and I think he's a male desert spiny lizard (Sceloporus magister). He was 8 or 9" long overall, a fat beefy guy.
A close up of his pretty face. Kind of out of focus, sorry. I have not figured out how to stand on a ladder and use the zoom without getting the wobbles. The blue scales on his chin and tummy indicate he's a male, I think.
I'll post one more even though it has the same focus problem, I'm sorry. I wanted to show you the really cool bright yellow scales on his sides. It looked like someone had sewn little golden seed beads onto his skin.
I have to either get a better camera, or get steadier hands.
