I hope we don't have another frost here in Love County, but it is not out of the realm of possibility. One of my "old farmer" neighbors, who passed away last year at the age of 97, insists that he remembers snow falling in Love County a couple of times in May, although I couldn't find any official record of it. Another, who is a relative whippershaper at the age of almost-88, does remember freezes or frosts in early May. There again, I haven't been able to find any official record to back up his memories. I don't use pesticides, insecticides or miticides in general either, Susan, but the fire ants get completely out of control if I don't treat the lawn once every 3 to 4 years. For a long time, I tried to go it organically, but there is no organic product that is effective on fire ants, and, believe me, I have tried them all. Over the decades we have tried every chemical fire ant product too. Some of them seem to work for a few years after introduction, but seem to lose their effectiveness over time, which tells me that the fire ants must develop resistance to them. For several years now, we've used Over 'N Out (I think that's the name, it is in a blue bag.) with great results. The only real pest I had major trouble with last year was stink bugs on the tomatoes beginning in August. They are a huge problem and ruin the fruit so that it is inedible. I am going to watch for them this year and try to stop them in their tracks before they multiply and get out of hand. There's not much (organic) that works on them either, except hand-picking them while they're small. Being in a remote, rural location, we have every bug known to mankind, but at least that means we have a good population of beneficials and they help with the bad bugs. I always have a billion lady bugs and I love them. Praying mantids are not my favorite since they eat everything, good and bad. You'd think with all the caterpillars we have here that we'd have an abundance of parisitic waps, but we don't seem to. Dawn

no mantids in a zone 7 region? Hmmm. That surprises me. Seems rather unlikely considering I'm zone 5 [USA]and they can be found here. Though I would have to say they are easy to find ... more of an occasional lucky discovery. Do keep in mind that before adding any invertebrates you thoroughly research their needs. Earthworms -- I doubt you'd have much luck. The soil in a terrarium is often far too warm for them. Tarantulas -- If these are an option, then again you have some serious research to do. Many tarantulas, like Avicularia, are excellant climbers. Since you mentioned no slugs or snails [vile little slimy eating machines] because "Clearly no slugs or anything that can climb glass will work." you will probably want to avoid those. [BTW mantids can climb glass too.] There are terrestrial tarantulas but they are all burrowers. So keep in mind that uprooted plants would be likely. Some of the large millipedes might be cool but keep in mind that they are largely nocturnal and also will burrow. Most common arthropods will either nibble on the plants &/or will be able to scale the glass, or will require prey that could possible do either of the above. That being said, if you really want some critters, you may want to give some serious thought to getting a tight-fitting, screened top for the tank. This would allow you to keep larger climbing critters confined.

I'm on two acres in semi-rural central Massachusetts, bordering conservation land (wetlands). This is the first time I've thought about itemizing what I've seen in my four years, here. It's a long list, and I'm sure it's just a fraction! We have a pond, and keep half the property meadow. (Maybe, by some standards, the whole thing is a meadow....) I've been putting up birdhouses, lately. We see (in rough order of how interesting...) great blue herons, red tail hawks, egrets, a large flock of cedar waxwings, redwing blackbirds, barn sparrows (how do they know it's a barn?), downy/hairy/piliated/red-breasted woodpeckers, orioles, juncos, nuthatches, and the usual finches, bluejays, cardinals, yadda yadda yadda. A wood duck down the road, and I wish he'd visit. Spring peepers (I can't wait for them to come back!), leopard frogs, other various frogs and toads, garter/ribbon/maybe milk snakes, 4-toed salamanders. Turtles nearby, but not at my pond. In the pond, various snails, leeches, more frogs, infinite insects (especially mosquitoes). In the orchard, every pest an apple tree has ever known. Mice, groundhogs, rabbits, grey squirrels, flying squirrels, chipmunks. Coyotes, foxes, deer. Neighbors have seen a bear and reportedly minks, but not me. Beavers have us surrounded, but they are not my own yard. Some lovely spiders, and some plain ones too. Lots of paper wasps and various bees. More mosquitoes. In fact, mostly, we have mosquitoes. And worms. --Jonathan

Ben, I was thinking the dinos were made of some kind of resin, but it's impossible to tell from photos--just looked again and it's not resin. Our soil is not sandy at all and has some clay in it. Sandy soil would be worse. I think we have a kind of cold Mediterranean type climate with months without rain during summer. I've mentioned this before, but we get only about 10 inches of any kind of precipitation. This year we'll be lucky to get nine inches if that much. The reservoirs are about empty. I use a drip system augmented with tiny sprinklers plugged into the drip lines. The drip emitters go to roses, shrubs, and trees, and the little sprinklers go to perennials and also add some water to the roses. Everything is watered. I got a lot of my college education in California, married a Californian, my daughter is a native born Californian. We lived in both the Bay area and Redondo Beach in southern Cal. Then later I went back to grad school in California--but I never gardened in California. Whew. So I'm familiar with some of the California climate. I think your drought is worse than ours right now. At least in certain parts of the state. Diane