Quote:
Originally Posted by Allen
While living in Tampa a few years ago, I saw gators crossing the highway ramp right at the stop sign coming off of I-75. There was a small pond nearby that they must have called home. We lived in a new development and also had neighbors who found a gator in their pool more than once... they chewed right through the lanai screen on each occasion (the gators, not the neighbors).
Unfortunately, other people in the neighborhood started feeding them and some unthinking adult actually taught the kids how to call them (with a mating sound) after taking a nature study course! This was very scary because some terrible events regarding gators and their prey had just occurred which I will not go into here.
We currently live in Pennsylvania and deer are the problem here. The "animal rights" people will not let them be taken out even with carefully controlled herd thinning practices. So, we routinely find them sleeping in the flower beds, or munching on the plantings. They have no fear... they just walk around the neighborhood or jump in front of your car whenever they feel like it (they are not too smart).
If the damaged or destroyed landscaping was the only problem that would be one thing, but deer also have tics which then get into your grass and then land on you when you least expect it. These tics carry a debilitating form of limes disease. My neighbor got a bad case of it just from working in the mulch last spring.
The point is that there may not be too many gators in TV now, and they may currently be afraid of people, but that could change. So, if you have (or are thinking of) a pond view please be vigilant. Finally (although I'm sure I would love the view as well), we must all make sure that future practices in The Villages allow for keeping the gator population under control.
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Good post!
Thankfully the folks in my neighborhood know better then to feed the gators. If we have one and it gets too big, the wildlife folks come and get it and relocate it.
At my NY home, the deer (and wild turkeys)are all over. The deer come right up to the house and eat the flower beds, and have ruined the shrubs. I have found that there are a few types of deer resistant scrubs that I have replaced the other shrubs.
It is sad to see the deer starve. Thankfully the hunters try to keep the population down.
At the risk of hurting this thread by going off topic about hunters, etc....I will get back to ponds. Ours never dries up, and we do not have any mosquito problems. It is a good idea to know weather your pond is spring fed and full year round, or is it a man made retention pond that could dry up.
Frank