I’ve done a little internet searching for this situation, but… you guys are the most knowledgeable, tapped-in animal folks around, so I was hoping to toss this out for a little expert input.
We have this pond.
Well, it’s not really a pond. It’s this big plasticy-type material that our landlord had as a decorative element in the garden on the side of the house. (Note: The dogs do NOT have access to this area. This is a key point, as you’ll see.)
Before I get to my question, here is some background info:
We don’t fill the pond. There’s no filter. The water doesn’t get recycled or “moved” in any way. It’s filled solely by the daily thunderstorms.
Currently, it has a ton of tadpoles in it, and there’s a whole population of herps that sings from its banks every night.
During the day, it’s a hotspot for all the stray cats in the neighborhood, particularly the little gray fella who might live under our house. It’s frequented by birds and squirrels, too.
Other than the obvious problem (mosquitoes!!!) the water isn’t clean. It’s filmy and grimy. According to our vet, the parish (Louisiana’s term for county) we live in has the highest incidence of heartworm in the country, so this is a real concern for me.
So I’m wondering: What would you do?
Should we find a way to “clean” the water (I don’t know… iodine tabs or something) so that all the cats in the neighborhood aren’t contracting some disease from the gross water? Or would that somehow kill the frog population that clearly relies on the little pond? Should we just leave it alone and let nature take its course?
I feel an obligation to be a good steward for all the strays in the neighborhood, so I really don’t know what to do… And I’ve found mixed opinions in my Google searching.
These are the kinds of animal welfare questions that keep me up at night… Sigh.
Any and all advice MUCH appreciated!
Where there is life there is hope. I wouldn’t worry too much about having an artificial pond. One just has to maintain it some.
There are tips to making life in the pond better for those living in it. Perhaps, even adding water lilies and a filtering system to help things along.
Here’s a link to a care site: http://www.buildyourownpond.biz/pond-care-spring/gardenpond-maintenance.html
It does look nice.
Take care & enjoy your trip.
Thanks so much for sharing the resource!!
it sound like a viscous little circle. home for tadpoles, which turn into frogs, that eat mosquitos. breeding ground for mosquitos that feed the frogs and dragonflies but also carry deadly West Nile virus as well as heartworm.
if i had the time and money to invest in a pump/fountain to circulate the water and if there is a safe additive to keep mosquitos away while allowing tadpoles to live there and i would provide a bowl of water for kitty separately.
for myself it comes down to money, not just for the cost of the pump but also to run the pump as well as other things a pond/fountain needs to run. i would also take into account if i could incorporate it into my landscaping. from the sounds of it, the pond seems out if the way so I would probably empty it, (remove little tadpoles first) frogs will happily move on and provide water for kitty.
Exactly!! There is another little frog pond in the backyard (I guess our landlord isn’t as concerned about the mosquitoes as we are…) so I could easily relocate the tadpoles to that pond and clean this one out. Great suggestion, as always!! Thanks, Sof!
If it were me, I’d flip that bad boy over and thus, no more mosquito’s breeding in it. Can’t be too healthy with those kitties drinking out of it either. Meh, I’d scrap it. 🙂
Interesting idea… 🙂 May have to give that a whirl!
My gut reaction was that unless you can find a way to get the water to circulate, I’d dump it, personally. That looks like a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Not sure about what kind of water bodies leptospirosis requires, but I know we’ve been told it can be places where there’s standing water. For the dirtiness, you could probably just clean the sides… or add catfish?
But these sites make it sound promising:
http://www.houselogic.com/photos/pools-spas/natural-swimming-pools-9-myths-busted/slide/myth-1-theyre-expensive/#myth-1-theyre-expensive
http://chrisalis.hubpages.com/hub/Garden-Pond-Design
Awesome suggestions!! The lack of circulation is what had me concerned for the mosquitoes, but I didn’t even think of lepto. Hmm.. Looking into catfish this week!!
https://www.spalding-labs.com/products/mosquito_control_products/mosquito_torpedo/default.aspx
These are approved by the EPA for animal drinking water.
Thank you SO much, Rebekah! My main concern was keeping the neighborhood cats hydrated… safely! This looks PERFECT!
Look into obtaining some mosquitofish. Some local governments give them away to help control mosquito populations and mosquito-borne illnesses. You get to keep the pond, reduce the mosquitoes and have fishies to tease your feral cats!
Oooh, awesome, Erik. I’ve never heard of mosquitofish, but I’m going to look into that this week. I really wanted to make sure all the ferals had safe water to drink, especially since they’ve come to rely on this pond. Such a great idea! Thank you!
I have had this same problem. Most importantly it is a must to get rid of any water that breeds mosquitos, they are deadly!!! Also I had a dog that obtained a really nasty worm from outside bowl water that, upon analysis from our nearby vet school labratory, was brought to the water by a rat or a squirrel. I now have two rather large deep bird baths that service the wildlife in our yard that backs up to a creek and forested area. One is on a pedestal and the other one sits on the ground. About every other day I take a simple garden hose nozzle that sprays a strong force of water from it and BLAST all the water out of the bowl of the bird baths. It’s simple, easy and services the wildlife in our yard. We even have a huge frog that lives near our ground bird bath(we often find him in the bowl on hot nights). It really is nicer to have clear, clean, healthy water for everyone to drink. Hope you find some of this helpful.
YIKES, Phyllis. Thanks so much for sharing your experience. A good blast from the hose is an excellent – and simple – idea. This was really helpful. Thanks so much for sharing!!
I have a pond that’s basically just a big plastic container. It’s much smaller and has 2 goldfish in it and a lily pad. It did have a pump with a fountain until one day after I cleaned it, the pump must have malfunctioned and it shocked me when I stuck my hand in there. So no pump now. The fish still live there and are doing fine. They eat the mosquito larva. Anyways, my first thought would be to flip it over if possible. The second thought I have is to get these little tablet thingies that kill mosquitoes for a good amount of time. My dad own a nursery and I’ve seen them there before. You drop them in the water and I *think* they aren’t toxic. Guess it doesn’t help much that I can’t remember their name :/
The tablets are a great idea… I’m also wondering about adding fish now? That might help solve the problem. Thanks so much for sharing your experience! I appreciate hearing what worked since you faced the same thing!
I’d get a bait-bucket and a net, catch all the good living things like the tadpoles, and “rehome” them, then dump the pond. My son has a pond, filter and all, and the mosquitoes still like breeding in it. He goes out there every other day with a net and skims them off to die before they hatch. Yes frogs are great for catching and killing the mosquito population, but there IS a cane-toad population area in Louisiana! Are you located in this area in this map? http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=48 It describes the cane-tadpoles there too.
Also, there’s no way they will all stay around in your yard and never leave. There’s no way they will catch all the mosquitoes either. We have common, brown toads around our yard everywhere; bullfrogs in the creek; and tree frogs in the trees singing to us at night. Despite all that, I get eaten up by mosquitoes all the time. Honestly, I’m very concerned with having a mosquito factory in my immediate area considering West Nile’s effects on people. Maybe this is what Ann is talking about to kill the mosquitoes? http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090719150154AAokwxI
YES! Mosquito factory is a good phrase. That’s what I’m worried about, too. As you mentioned, West Nile is a concern, as are all the illnesses our dogs can contract. It’s good to know that, despite the filter, your son’s pond still gets mosquitoes because I was thinking that could be a good solution. Hmm.. Thanks so much for sharing your experience and suggestions!
It’s pretty cool to have that, but yeah, it just doesn’t seem healthy to have all that standing water. I’d look into some of the things people mentioned above, but if that all seems like too much, or not safe, I’d also dump it. I suppose you could let it fill up every so often, then dump it, but then make sure it dries completely in between fillings. That may seem like too much work, and not really serve much purpose though.
I didn’t actually think about dumping it until I started reading through these suggestions… It got me thinking that I’m not sure how it’s actually affixed to the ground? When I get back from the Pet Expo, I’m going to check that out then try either the tablets or the fish. Thanks so much, Jan!