Jodik...For some reason, I find spiders on the stairway to the basement. Where it's dark. There's a closet at the bottom where Christmas and Halloween decorations are stored. The spiders love it down there. I'm afraid to remove ornaments for fear a spider will be in a box..lol On the other hand, in our front plant room, where it's bright, spiders make webs behind a large shelf, usually wall corners. I don't know if they're spider webs or or cobwebs..are they the same? Once in a while a baby spider is hidden in the corner walls. It's hard cleaning behind the shelf since there's very little space. The shelf is wide, about 2" from one side of the wall across to the other. Oh God, yes, this old house has many openings. Far too many. If I knew how to fix them I would. My brother lives in a secured Condo..last summer a bat somehow got inside. They believe it snuck in through their exhaust fan. Tropic..your friends are very kind-hearted. They'll be rewarded. We have a couple rescue shelters that take in injured wildlife..This organization nurses wounded animals then releases them in the forest/wooded areas after they're healed. How big was the crocodile? I don't know what feral Cane Toads are. Does Cane Toad look like most other toads? Warty, etc. Do toads bite? Is biting how toads attack turtles and get venom inside their system? The pen you constructed is inside your house? Wow..Cool. lol. Have a picture? LOL, turtle couldn't care less about your landscaping. Do Cane Toads live inside your house, too? If so, how do you keep them from entering the pen? Lol, wildlife allows you to live in 'their' home. lol. I'll have to Google, Butcherbirds. Never heard the type. Why are they called Butcherbirds? A name that includes butcher, well, these birds don't sound very friendly. lol. Millipedes might be harmless in the way of venom, but if a huge 'pede crawled on me I'd pass out. Oh, getting goose bumps thinking about it. lol. Although Carpet Python is colorful, beautiful in fact, I could do without..lol. Spying a CS at the zoo would be fine, but not living in the house. Tropic, what's with the snakes? If you don't mind me asking. Milking spiders..when a spider is going to be milked, espeially after agitating him/her, how does the milker near the spider w/o getting bit? Very dangerous career if you ask me..hope milkers have sufficient health care. Larry..Go to Nam..you'll find two-foot pedes. My dh was in VN..they came across a 2' 'pede. Don't know if it was a millipede or centipede, only that it was huge. Dh said, although the body was 2', its legs were about 4-inches. Where does one keep a 'pede that big? lol. Toni Yuck..the delivery spider truck driver delivers a quart of leggy creatures. lol.

Trini, how do your 2 Roos get along? Are they youngsters? The 3 Supremes are adorable, so tiny! Karalynn, I did raise Turkeys, Broad Breasted Whites, Broad Breasted Bronze and Bourbon Reds. I adored my Turkeys! They were sweet-natured, outgoing, curious, and beautiful (once you get past the wattles and beards). My big Bronze boy used to insist on escorting me to the mailbox, showing off, murmuring, gobbling for me. He was such a cool bird! The mailman would sit in his truck, mesmerized, as this huge bird strutted towards him. My Turkeys broke my heart because they are bred to get huge quickly, and become pitiful cripples if you don't kill them. We had a few butchered, but I'll NEVER do that again... I can still hear them cry in fear. We had planned to raise our own meat, but we are too wimpy. We get to really like our animals. I'd like to get another breed, that stays sound and small. Maybe Royal Palms, but then they can fly away! I gave the rest of my big birds away as pets. They were so friendly that they would come when called, and hop into a car if asked. My vet took 2 of them. Sadly, they were killed by stray dogs that jumped her fence. I'll always think fondly of Turkeys. My dogs liked them too, and they would all lay together in the shade of a big ficus tree. The Turkeys got to get out and strut every day. I sure miss them. They were far less destructive than chickens. Below you can see some of my Bronze Turkeys, and Tegwen. Lisa Here is a link that might be useful: Tegwen and Turkeys

I have been watching a number of female ruby throat hummingbirds, it's been raining for a couple days now, and a lone female ruby throat has started setting on one of the flower petal on the feeder for long lengths, last time for almost 7 minutes in the pouring rain. She has feed about six times during that time, I've never seen this kind of action, of course this is my first year with feeders for both hummingbirds and regular birds. Is this normal behavior, there is no shelter there? she has added hovering in front of the window that's in front of the feeders, it has a reflective coating on the windows to stop heat loss or to prevent heat coming in in the summer. she is testing the window with her beak not really pecking, at first I thought she was lick the water off the window. Looks like she wants in. This post was edited by plantnut65 on Sat, Jul 19, 14 at 23:44

With the temps we have had, I knew there had to be an explanation! No need for the heated birdbath yet. No juncos so far, and haven't seen a flicker for months, no cardinals for a while either. Haven't put up any feeders yet, but they will go up later this month. Lots of resident bluebirds are still around, as well as nuthatches, chickadees, downys, some blue jays. Goldfinches have been scarce ever since they pretty much stripped the sunflowers. That will change as soon as the thistle feeder goes up. Hoping the abundant crabapples will bring in the waxwings like they did year before last...nothing last year. And there is an upside to the leaves falling...better visibility. Too bad there will be so little daylight. Trade-offs! Susan