Re: black widows & wasps & rodents

**N* S* <N*@PlantSoup.Com>**

There are PLENty of lizards in San Diego, Tom.  

In fact, at the moment, there's one hiding behind a drawer in my bathroom vanity!

On Jun 23, 2012, at 10:31 AM, Tom wrote:

> 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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