COLLECTING FRIENDS FOR ORGANIC PEST CONTROL

This was a fun night!

In case you missed my last couple posts, last night was a blast. I actually planned on heading out to the lake to try to catch some giant water snakes that I had seen the night before, but a storm and drop in temperature helped change those plans. We decided to collect some of the many toads in the area and relocate them to our garden.

While enjoying that adventure we had two other adventures, which included seeing a mother skunk and her two offspring and finding a dung beetle. It turned out to be one wild night!

A LATE NIGHT TOAD HUNT - WHAT COULD BE BETTER?

There are usually some toads around anyway at night, but it seems like a good rain brings them out in droves. I'd been meaning to take the Hive account@little-peppers on a toad collecting adventure anyway, so last night we seized the opportunity.

With Red-Pepper, Pinkie-Pepper, and Monster Truck the Pepper there to help, we went out in the adventure. When a parent gets as excited as I do about things like this, it's not surprising that the Hive account@little-peppers love it too! Some children would anyway, but it always better to do things as a family.

The purpose of the toad collection and relocation was that they eat bugs, including garden pests. From what I saw yesterday, we've already got a healthy population of lizards running around in the garden, so a few toads would just add to the fun. As I shared before, my philosophy on building a garden is that it is not just somewhere to grow food, but somewhere to be, including for a variety of animals.

Some animals, like deer or aphids, just don't fit in well in a garden and can actually destroy it. However, there are many animals like butterflies, lizards, bees, and toads that can benefit and help a garden. As the pest insects continue to look for something to eat in our garden, these toads should be waiting for them, ready to eat them!

We did find a few Gray Tree Frogs too, so they came down to the garden as well. If they enjoy the garden as a new home, great, but if they prefer to be somewhere else, they will be free to leave. Hopefully they will enjoy it and find a number of tasty treats to enjoy!

This toad was very strange to see. It almost looked like dog scratching itself because it raised its back legs and scooted along on its butt. As it turns out, it was acting so strange because it had just went poop and was apparently wiping its butt. We had never seen anything like it... until last night that is!

Down in the garden nine toads and two gray tree frogs found a new home last night. With our rock-bordered raised beds there are plenty of safe hiding places for them. Hopefully we will be seeing some of them later.

This toad went directly to "cucumber patrol" and looks as determined as ever. They are such interesting creatures anyway, it'll be nice t give them a "job" to do here on our homestead!

This gray tree frog opted for the snake gourds. Hopefully it doesn't find that rough green snake that I let go there the other day, or it'll become prey instead of the predator that we hope it'll be. So, have any of you ever relocated toads or frogs into your garden? Do you think they'll help us out with the pest control?