Wish you could hire them out!


On Fri, May 2, 2014 at 10:49 AM, Cecelia Blair <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Milk snakes are beautiful, as well as excellent hunters. They follow the
> rodent trails to their dens. I had a milk snake route a red squirrel family
> from the attic space.
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> > On May 2, 2014, at 10:46 AM, "Ted Levin" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > Milk snakes are helpful, too, particularly around the house. I have a
> pair of barn cats for this very purpose. When you're birding or
> photographing, it is often tough to avoid tick habitat: the ranker the
> vegetation the better the birds and the more likelihood of encountering
> ticks.
> >
> >> On May 2, 2014, at 10:30 AM, Cecelia Blair wrote:
> >>
> >> Another method to avoid them is to wear high rubber boots, don't sit
> down on the ground and avoid brushing up against tall grasses or plants
> where the ticks can be hanging out, looking for a ride.
> >>
> >> Ecologically, a way to limit ticks is to support or allow predators of
> the rodents and small ground animals--especially foxes and coyotes. Owls,
> weasels, bobcat, skunks, etc. are also useful. The suburbanization of our
> woods and fields, and driving or killing off of the most efficient natural
> predators of rodents, such as coyotes and foxes, does leave the niche wide
> open for tick-bearing rodents to multiply.
> >>
> >> Sent from my iPad
> >>
> >>> On May 2, 2014, at 10:05 AM, "Ted Levin" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> I removed a dog tick from the nape of my neck three days ago. So, be
> vigilant. Black-legged ticks, formerly called deer ticks, the primary
> transmitter of Lyme Disease, are in the UV. The tiniest of the instars feed
> on white-footed mice, chipmunks, short-tailed shrews, and ground foraging
> and ground nesting birds—robin, junco, hermit thrush, meadowlark, and
> assorted sparrows. The small mammals and songbirds are the principal
> vectors of the disease NOT deer (they are a dead end). Wear light-colored
> pants, tuck them in your socks, and douse your pant legs with some king of
> repellant.
> >>>
> >>> Ted
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