I would add that a major problem of cats (feral cats love my garden) and
deposit vast quantities of fleas, making gardening rather unpleasant. Very
hard to keep them out.
Our major snail problem is millions of the large European snails. We
had a hedgehog that took up residence - their favorite food is snails and
slugs - but we moved it elsewhere when lots of ticks were seen among it's
spines.
Shmuel Silinsky
Jerusalem Israel
Zone 9a
On Wed, Aug 23, 2023, 5:50 PM Denis Kearns via pbs <
pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote:
> Am enjoying all the slug talk! A good friend did his PhD on banana slugs
> (Ariolimax columbianus!) and concluded, among other things, that they were
> the major herbivores in the coastal forests, much more important than deer
> and elk. They eat a lot of living plant material and mushrooms, but are
> selective in what they eat. A major predator of banana slugs is a large
> carabid beetle. A fun bit of research and a nice organism, even if it is a
> problem in our gardens.
>
> If you have cats, I encourage you to either keep them inside or build them
> a “catio”. Cats, both feral and domestic, are responsible for killing way
> too many birds and small reptiles. And those of us who garden would rather
> not deal with cat feces! The neighborhood cats kill flickers that visit my
> park-like yard during the fall migration. Flickers like to forage on the
> ground, making them easy prey for cats. It’s very discouraging to find
> piles of feathers in my yard, especially since I do everything I can to
> make good habitat for birds.
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