Re: black widows & wasps & rodents

**"* <t*@earthlink.net>**

Toads and frogs will also eat any spiders they can catch....toads are 
especially good for this. I would expect having a small water feature in the 
landscape that was attractive to toads....that that would help greatly to 
get their numbers up.
I remember as a boy that toads in the garden were very common....but these 
days, alas, in most urban areas they are all too rare.
Enoles, if you're lucky enough to have them (none here in the west) will 
also eat plenty of spiders and other insect pests.

Another though I never mentioned in the connected big chat about Groundhogs, 
gophers, etc....was that in many areas if one puts up a tall pole with a 
crosspiece on it....something that would be attractive to perching 
hawks...that often a resident red-tailed hawk or a red-shouldered hawk will 
use the perch often, and will hunt rodents from it. These can be almost as 
effective as barn owl boxes.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@bellsouth.net>
To: "Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum" 
<gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2012 1:19 AM
Subject: Re: [GWL] black widows & wasps

> On 6/23/2012 2:53 AM, Tom wrote:
>> I don't know what that wasp is either, but we have either the same wasp 
>> here
>> in California, or one that's closely related....and all it eats is 
>> spiders,
>> any kind of spider. I've been seeing these wasps in the garden again this
>> summer, and have seen them kill large spiders. They are uncommonly strong
>> too, and can carry off a spider that looks to weigh more than they do.
>>    Of course wasps killing spiders in nothing new...out in the desert I 
>> often
>> see tarantula hawk wasps....black and orange and huge....and they make 
>> their
>> living killing tarantulas.
>
> Great information.
>
>>    On a side note...many lizards will eat spiders, including black 
>> widows. In
>> particular good at getting into the sort of spots that black widows like 
>> are
>> alligator lizards, and all species of skinks. Some lizards also eat
>> scorpions.
>
> This is especially good news. I have seen more and more skinks over the
> past 4 years at my place. This year there is a bumper crop. Toads and
> frogs also; hope they don't dine on skinks. I hear that enoles will
> outcompete skinks.
>
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