A beautiful California Ground Toad Serenade. This is also an update to my previous post on raising California Ground Toads I found in our fountain. The above video was taken tonight in my front yard. Pretty cool…
I think we’re going to have more toad eggs in our fountain. I heard and saw two young toads in the water and heard several others in the horsetail fern. I guess our little toads hung around from last years…
Home Coyote protection has been on my mind since reading several stories in our local newspaper about Coyotes jumping 6 foot fences and attacking family pets. Not just small dogs either, one was a Rottweiler that was killed! I had previously felt that my 3 large dogs were safe from attack but now I’m worried!
I personally lost a cat to a Coyote attack. She was a stray that called our property home and would sleep on our front porch. From the evidence, this brazen animal jumped our front yard chain link fence and snatched her while she was sleeping by our front door. That’s too close for comfort.
Then I saw the news cast below that really struck home. They interviewed some people who have experienced their pets being attacked and their reactions were the same as mine.
Coyote Roller states they’re the worlds best pet protection system! The Coyote Rollers are a patented ribbed roller that mounts to the top of your fence. When a coyote or other predator tries to jump your fence to attack your pets, it requires them to grab hold of the top of a fence. With Coyote Rollers in place, the animals will fall right off of your fence and will not be able to jump over.
Years ago we had a male cockapoo dog that loved to jump our back fence. We ended up stringing a double row of electric fence wire, no electricity used, along the top of our wood fence to stop him. So if you own a dog that likes to jump fences then this will keep them in too!
Coyote Rollers are manufactured here in the USA of the highest quality materials which will withstand the elements for a lifetime. The Coyote Roller is constructed of specially designed aluminum tubing, UV resistant polymeric materials, and stainless steel components. The system requires no power source, and needs practically no maintenance.
Here are a few important notes taken from their website FAQ’s :
Definitely a great option to consider if you live in Coyote country or have dogs who love to escape!
You have to be creative in finding a solution to keep bee’s from drowning in fountains and bird baths. I was guilt ridden while scooping dead honey bees from my fountain and bird bath. I have an easy, attractive and fairly cheap solution to keep our local honey bees from drowning.
I used 1 bag of river rock purchased from Home Depot to create a beach entry inside the fountain. Wash the rocks before starting, then just pile them up in the lower sections of the fountain so they reach the edge. I completely filled the second tier of the fountain with rock, but left the top-tier for the birds.
For my solar bird bath, I put a few of the larger sized rocks around the edge only. This insures a dry landing spot for the bees and the birds still have room to do their bathing.
I recently read an article that suggested adding pieces of cork. They float and it gives somewhere for the bee’s land and sip. The bee’s haven’t tried it for 3 weeks…maybe cork smells?
You can get creative by choosing what ever rocks or glass marbles you like. Note that bigger is easier to remove when it comes time to clean the fountain and use less rock than you think. My husband got carried away and added more bags, it took me an hour to remove them before cleaning.
Now I don’t have to witness Bee suicides as often. They have a safer way of getting a drink by crawling on the wet rocks that are sticking out of the water. I haven’t been able to save all of them, but it’s much better than before.
California Ground Toads are large. I could hear toads in our yard, but never seen one until now. One day I found a long string of slimy stuff floating in my fountain and it looked like there were eggs inside. After researching the above picture, I was able to identify it as a California ground toads and her eggs.
The eggs hatched into tadpoles in about 2 weeks. I knew I had to move them from the fountain because it sits inline to where my lawn sprinklers hit it and some were dying due to the chlorine in the water. Plus, there’s no shade and wide open to predators.
First thing was to run down to our local fish store to purchase water conditioner and tadpole food. I then chose my first of several holding containers, a Rubbermaid container used for soaking feet.
After a couple weeks I thought maybe they would rather have a room with a view. So my second choice was a Pyrex casserole dish. Easy to clean, but not very habitat friendly.
So then I moved on to my third and final home which became is much more elaborate and habitat friendly.
I laid a small piece of plywood to cover half the top opening of the plastic bin. Giving them an area that was somewhat protected.
It’s comprised of a casserole sized glass dish inside a 6″ shallow plastic tub and a fish tank aerator for putting oxygen into the water. Also note the gravel beach entry and granite rock in the water. Once the tadpoles morph into toads they must be able to get out of the water or they’ll drown.
Changing the water weekly is very important. They need clean water to stay healthy!
Their back legs sprouted first, in about 3 months. Then came the front legs, about a month later. Some were slower to morph than others. Once their tails started to absorb or shrink was when they were close to leaving the water. It was fast after that point. I was able to observe and feed the little toads for a few days then they started to leave, one by one.
I went a step further and installed a small pre-fab pond for future generations. Why not?
I stopped using chemicals on my lawn, garden and plantings years ago. My reasons were and still are for the health of my pets, me and the wildlife.
When I first started weeding by hand I have to admit it was hard work. Our soil can be very hard. I learned it’s all about timing. You have to pull them before they go to seed and preferably after a good rain. Most years I can catch them and it sure pays off the next year! Now my 2 acre property is very low maintenance when it comes to weeds.
Another benefit of having a weed free property is that I don’t get weeds popping-up in the cracks of the driveway or the paver walkways. No more digging my knife around those darn pavers.
The next thing was to purchase a mulching lawn mower. I haven’t fertilized my lawn’s in 8 years! They are green, thick and more drought tolerant than before. I also have less urine burn spots from my 3 dogs.
There is one pesticide I haven’t been able to quit…ant spray. I don’t use it on ants but black widow spiders. My area is loaded with them. I had one dog get bit by something one year that caused her face to swell terribly. The vet thought it was a spider bite. So now I make sure the area’s where my dogs hang-out are as black widow free as possible. I make sure my dogs are the house before using. I noticed years ago that dogs try to lick it!
When it comes to fleas, I don’t seem to have many. My house has wood floors which helps tremendously! Carpeting is just gross when you have a lot of pets and allergies. I made the switch to wood 4 years ago and love it. It’s warmer and softer on the feet than tile. No grout to clean either.
So those are my main areas where I could avoid using pesticides around my pets. I’m more conscience now about cleaning products that I use in the home as well. I’ll save that for another day.