carolinabird@aol.com (Carolina Bird) wrote: > I thought our new house had just been built in the >middle of mosquito and fly central. I asked all of our neighbors and everyone >here has the same problem.
If your house was built in the middle of a wetland, that's asking for a lot of trouble,
and could be a significant and unresolvable part of the problem, but improving
the health and balance of the ecosystem should reduce the size of the problem.
>Reading your post, I got thinking. First, I do have 2 cats and though we've >only been here 4 months, I'm sure they've worked hard to drive away whatever >birds weren't driven away by all the construction (completely new development) >and the tearing down of trees etc. in the area.
Get books on attracting birds, and/or knowledgeable people, to learn how to
plant the appropriate trees, shrubs, herbs, bird-houses, etc to restore some
habitat and attract the appropriate types of birds and other wildlife.
>Other than crickets, and a FEW spiders, I've not seen any other insects except >flies and mosquitoes.
This is a sign of a damaged ecosystem. A healthy ecosystem has lots of insects
of many different kinds, 90% of which do not cause problems for people.
Another strategy is to increase the populations of species in the 90%, so they
fill up the available niches, depriving the species in the 10% that cause problems
of the food & habitat they need to maintain high populations.
If the bugs bothering you breed in wet places, that may be a sign that their
amphibian predators are in trouble. Amphibians are pollution-sensitive, so
once again chemicals make the problem worse.
>one of my neighbors was talking about spraying her yard for spiders.
Try to find out why. If it's from fear due to ignorance, the antidote is education.
If the're having a specific real problem, ask them to research least-toxic
or organic methods to address it, or do the research yourself.
The Bio-Integral Resource Center 510-524-2567 can provide expert
assistance and referral.
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