Tadpoles and Mosquito Larvae

There's a giant puddle around our watering trough. That's good news because it means that we've had rain. But that's also bad news because that means I'm raising my very own home-grown and hungry mosquitoes. There are squiggly larvae everywhere.

So, I went to the pest control section of my handy-dandy feed store, which sells everything from farm fashions (really nice stuff!) to mailboxes to plumbing and electrical supplies, and checked out my choices. They had exactly the right thing. A little doughnut-shaped thing you drop into standing water and it kills the mosquitoes. But what about my horses and birds? Does it hurt them? I couldn't figure out the answer to that question, so I didn't buy the stuff.

I decided to instead dig a trench and drain the pond/puddle. All went well and I had the water running out until I realized that the mosquito larvae weren't the only things in there -- there were also a zillion little black tadpoles. Yikes!

Hmmm. Frogs good. Mosquitoes bad. It's a life or death situation. Both die. Or both live.

The tadpoles were quite small, but I decided that they will grow (I hope) and just might feed on mosquito larvae. So I chose life.

I filled my trench in and added some water to the puddle.

I feel like a crazy person. My garden is overgrown, I haven't planted some plants that sit wilting in pots, and I'm here cultivating a tadpole/mosquito puddle. Not to mention the paying work that I could be doing, or the meal I could be cooking for a neighbor home from the hospital.

Next I'll be putting a net over my tadpole/mosquito puddle to keep the birds from eating my tadpoles, and then the horses will get tangled up in the netting and I'll have to drive them to the University of Georgia for costly horse repairs.

I guess I'll skip the netting, will look the other way when the birds visit, and I'll just keep watering my tadpoles. Congratulations will be in order when they've all turned into frogs.

I love summer.

Comments

[kdwhorses]

A good friend of ours work for animal control and what they do is put some mineral oil in the standing water and it kills the mosquitos! I have started doing it to our bird bath and it works and it is safe for the animals!
I also put bleach (per Midwest HOrse tips) in the horse's water trough and it works too for all the algae and bugs in the water.
Hope you have a safe and happy 4th!

[Grey Horse Matters]

This all does sound a little crazy, what would the tadpoles do without you? Now you're not only a horse mommy but a froggy mommy as well. Have a great weekend.

[risingrainbow]

I've just been reading about a product you drop into the water to kill mosquitos. It's not supposed to bother the horses or pets but I don't know about tadpoles. Also I don't remember the name of the product....guess that makes me useless. lol

Sounds like things on your farm are swirling around just like they are here. At least we will never be bored.

[ELL]

Careful, it may be placed on the map as vernal pool and you won't be allowed any construction of any sort within 1000 feet, or horse manure, or excess grazing;^)

[Lori Schmidt (LoriProPhoto)]

I have been playing catch up again and have read back a ways, some interesting and some very disturbing articles. I am having a real personal struggle with the fact that people can let an animal just starve. I am also down to my last bale of hay, but guess what I will go and pick it up off the side of the road every day before I leave my animals without food.

I should be getting some in soon as they have started baling in our area and we have been fortunate to miss most of the flooding but have had a decent amount of rain. Just hope the prices come down too, they more than doubled last year. I have four of my mares out at a rented pasture so they are taken care of so it all seems to be working out.

Regards
Lori