As many of you know we are trying for a completely organic property. That being said, there are some creatures we would rather not have on the property like: mosquitos, mice, rabbits (in the garden) and gophers. The organic way to control the pests and balance our ecosystem is to encourage preditors to live on the property.
In the case of bats and owls we are building them homes. Bat boxes and owl boxes are easy to build and you can find the plans for free online. You can also find kits and prebuilt ones as well. We have an owl that lives in the palm tree by the deck and if you sit out there at dusk you might see it leave to hunt. Watch carefully because when they fly they are completely silent.
Here is a link to the Bat Conservation page which has tons of resources including step by step plans to build your own bat box http://www.batconservation.org/
Same for the owl boxes. http://www.owlcam.com/whatever/boxbuild.htm
Here is a link to the Bat Conservation page which has tons of resources including step by step plans to build your own bat box http://www.batconservation.org/
Same for the owl boxes. http://www.owlcam.com/whatever/boxbuild.htm
In our garden, we have a family of gopher snakes that keep the rabbits and gophers at bay. We didn't need to build them a home, we just avoid approching them so they don't get scared away. Since they are completely harmeless they are invaluable to anyone with a garden.
If you give nature a chance it will balance itself out and benefits our guests in the process.
Hi, I read your post about pest control and wanted to mention that I recently launched www.pest-control.com and have been trying to spread the word. If possible, I would like to discuss helping me out with a link to our new site.
ReplyDelete