dragonflies!

*muffin* wrote:
eeek!
there was a plethora of dragonflies hanging aroudn my pond yesterday &
today.. the 1st time in 'ever' seeing them here.

ok, how do I get rid of them & should I be reallly scared???

(I have read about the larva/nymphs eating goldfish,, although I cannot see
how something THAT small could do that!)


Like everyone said, they are good to have. They do not sting. The very
big ones can bite but, you have to grab them before they will (childhood
lesson).
My youngest and I watched a pair mate yesterday (something they do
continually). They decoupled and the female proceed to lay eggs while
the male buzzed around and tried to chase us off. After the female left
the male hung around a few more hours and would buzz me if I got to
close to the eggs.
In the afternoons they swarm high over the house like swallows eating
bugs. I read somewhere the other day that they can eat 1,000 skeeters a
day (How do they figure that kind of thing out? Sounds made up to me.).
Happy ponding.
Mark B.

eeek!
there was a plethora of dragonflies hanging aroudn my pond yesterday &
today.. the 1st time in 'ever' seeing them here.

ok, how do I get rid of them & should I be reallly scared???

(I have read about the larva/nymphs eating goldfish,, although I
cannot see
how something THAT small could do that!)


Like everyone said, they are good to have. They do not sting. The very
big ones can bite but, you have to grab them before they will (childhood
lesson).
My youngest and I watched a pair mate yesterday (something they do
continually). They decoupled and the female proceed to lay eggs while
the male buzzed around and tried to chase us off. After the female left
the male hung around a few more hours and would buzz me if I got to
close to the eggs.
In the afternoons they swarm high over the house like swallows eating
bugs. I read somewhere the other day that they can eat 1,000 skeeters a
day (How do they figure that kind of thing out? Sounds made up to me.).
Happy ponding.
Mark B.

And it's fun to watch when they first crawl out of their old skins and
spread their wings to dry. I don't know if I've ever lost any baby fish
to them (usually blame the big fish and turtles for that) but I wouldn't
hold it against them if they did eat some fry. I've never had one bite
me although I've had a few land on him when I was sitting in the pond.
Gabrielle

If you don't have something in your pond eating
infant fish you are going to be overrun by them.
Animals reproduce over the numbers needed
because they are all food for each other.

Besides adult fish eat dragonfly nymphs.

They bite with their mouths, no stingers on
their tails. Just don't grab one and you'll be
fine.

IF you provide a WATER source Mother Nature takes that
as an open invitation and all sorts of things show
up. From ameobas to algae to worms to insects (over
5,000 live all or part of their lives in water) to frogs, turtles,
newts, snakes, birds, mammals, even plants, etc. The trick is to
know what you can control (very little) and live with what
you can't.


kathy :-)
www.blogfromthebog.com
this week ~ Mosquitoes!
Run For Your Life!

Pond 101 page for new pond keepers ~
http://hometown.aol.com/ka30p/myhomepage/garden.html

"mark Bannister" wrote in message
...
*muffin* wrote:
eeek!
there was a plethora of dragonflies hanging aroudn my pond yesterday &
today.. the 1st time in 'ever' seeing them here.

ok, how do I get rid of them & should I be reallly scared???

(I have read about the larva/nymphs eating goldfish,, although I cannot
see
how something THAT small could do that!)

Like everyone else said, they're good bugs.
I'll just add they're the favorite food of Purple
Martins, if you get those birds in your area.

Gail

Like everyone else said, they're good bugs.
I'll just add they're the favorite food of Purple
Martins, if you get those birds in your area.
Gail

And here I thought dragonflies didn't have any predators. ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

I have more than a dozen blue/aqua damselflies that fly around the
pond. They land on a blue-gray colored statue of a koi that sits on the
deck. Our heat has been something fierce ... and yet the damselflies
continually
land on the koi statue - One at a time - and stay there for upwards of
an hour. I really don't believe this is mating behavior...
But who knows?

Nedra in Missouri

Lotus Pond:
http://community.webshots.com/user/nedra118