Lubbers must taste really nasty, since even my chickens won't eat them. They do catch/kill/eat Bufo toads, so I figure something in their physiology makes the toxic excretions/taste of the Toads of no consequence? My dogs will squash a Lubber with their paws, but then act disgusted and stop. They must smell terrible to stop a dog that will eat most gross things! My dogs ignore the Toads-we have lots of them on our property. They *are* dangerous to small dogs, but neither my Pug or the JRT will bother them. The big dogs will sometimes paw at them, but it is half-hearted. If your small dog mouths/bites a Bufo, or any warty/grey/brown toad, wash/wipe the mouth/lips/gums of your dog repeatedly with a wet washcloth. Rinse the washcloth over and over. The toxin is white and sticky. Do not use a hose to attempt to clean the mouth!!!! Bufo Toad toxicity causes the gums to turn red, can cause vomiting, ataxia, seizures and cardiac complications. An ER visit is recommended to flush out the toxins and control seizures. The chickens eat Frogs as often as possible. Gross, especially since the Frogs scream! Frogs are not harmful if eaten. We have none that are poisionous here that I know of. Several of my dogs amuse themselves by catching flies. I worry about them doing the same with bees or wasps. Benadryl helps allergic reactions, given at 1 mg per lb. Severe reactions mean an ER visit, since breathing can be affected. Lizards are fair game here for dogs and chickens. They are numerous, and the population seems stable in spite of being prey. Contrary to popular belief, eating Skinks does not cause vestibular disease in Cats. Vestibular occurs in cats that are in Canada, where there are no Skinks. No toxin has been identified in Skinks, in spite of extensive research.. Snakes are a real worry in our wooded neighborhood! My JRT was a feral dog. She kills every snake she finds, including Coral Snakes. The Mastiffs are not as alert to movement, but they would have no clue that snakes could be dangerous. The other day the pups brought me a very large Garter Snake, that the JRT killed. It could just as easily been a Rattler. Pygmy Rattlers are very common here, as are the full sized ones. I once had 3 Mastiffs get bitten by rattlers, as they all had to see what the other one had! Cost me a fortune for antivenom, but they all recovered. Fire ants are common and seem more of a problem to people than for animals. I have no idea why, but the chickens and dogs seem unfazed by fire ants. Despite all the possible dangers, my animal family does just fine here in the "farms." Lisa

I used to be terrified of grasshoppers. Now, I keep a pair of gloves on the lanai so that when I see them, I can go right out and grab them and pull off the head. I'm getting about 5 a day, but the house in back of mine is empty and they are all over the screen. I can't get at it because the weeds are a foot high. I've gotten a few in the middle of "doing it" and they seem to love my giant bird of paradise. I've seen some of the green ones and stomped on them, too. I'm thinking that this is going to get worse every year. They can probably get into the hanging baskets because they can climb vertically. Their feet are like suction cups. We had one riding on the hood of our car at 60mph. Julie

Silvia, nahhh...he just UPROOTS the entire plant and leaves it dying in the sun!!! Ack!!! Meems, Silvia has answered your borage question for ya. (Great pictures, Silvia).Also, Judy (atreelady) has grown it and had lovely big plants all spring and early summer. Don't know if they are still hanging in there or not. Also, Meems, you may have missed my comments on ruellia. It is beautiful, it is hardy, it is totally drought and heat resistant, and it does NOT have to spread. Home Depot sells a completely sterile one that grows 4 feet tall or so, just like the "regular" ones, and they do not seed, and they do not spread by long runners. The clump will increase very slightly in size over a long time, but nothing more than a daylily, say. It is one of my favorite plants and my hummers and butterflies love it. I would never be without it. Home Depot is the ONLY place I've seen selling the ones marked "Florida Friendly, Sterile and Non-invasive." Raising the caterpillars is easy and fun. The hardest part is not running out of FOOD. And if you don't know this, caterpillars are host specific critters. In other words, if you move a caterpillar to a plant that isn't the host plant, it will just do its best to get back to the plant that IS the host. They won't eat anything that isn't one of their host plants. Now if you can move them from a plant you want to save to one that is RELATED and included on their host list, then you are fine. But otherwise, they will probably just die anyway, if they can't make it back to the original plant. OH, yes, Silvia! I remember that beautiful cake!! Lovely little blossoms. You folks are SOME GOOD COOKS at your house!! Marcia

Still no roots in water. ( I don't care.) ______________ Perhaps readers here would like to see the amount of activity close to the patio door all morning long, every sunny day. URL of the video file is www105.zippyshare.com/v/q20NVEa9/file.html Although it can be played in the hosting website page, for me it stopped & resumed every second; so, download file instead (name activity2.mov). Colors look ok when played by QuickTime player; quite poor when played by VLC player.