Ponds, toads, and slugs.

I’ve been wanting a small garden pond for sometime but the price tag scared me away. This spring I was able to get my hands on an old sand filter and knew I had to try it!
Sawing it in half was no small feat but with the help of a reciprocating saw i finally won that battle.
The next part was figuring out how to plug a three quarter inch hole cheaply. After a lot of research I went with JB Weld putty. I let it cure for an hour and it worked beautifully.
After setting it in place and filling with water I began loading in rocks that I had gathered from the property.
A few evenings later I went out with a flashlight to see what was happening. Toads, lots of toads! Tadpoles followed then more toads. That’s when my slug problems ended. It’s been a amazing few months without the slightest hint of problems.
The pond itself is twenty five inches wide and twelve inches deep. Seems awfully small to have such a large impact! Here are a few pics…

What about the mosquitos.

Much to my surprise there have been none. I’ve kept a close eye on it too. I live in the woods and there’s no shortage of them. I was definitely concerned with increasing their numbers.

Almost everything that lives in or visits a small pond eats mosquito larvae! Toads can eat 100 larvae a day each. Aquatic beetles -- they migrate among wet spots, they needn't be resident -- eat anything that moves, including mosquito wrigglers.  Dragonfly nymphs eat lots of 'em.  Several species of small birds eat them.  They are snacks.  It's only dead stagnant water where they become a problem, at least in my experience.  

Makes perfect sense Dan, thanks for that insight. I kept thinking that I just couldn’t see them. One day I pulled all the aquatic plants out and had a look. Still nothing.

yeah, if there are tadpoles in there, mosquitoes barely have a fighting chance.

The tiny pond is still working it’s magic!

Thank is a nice little pond, very well done and pretty!

Do you have wildlife that like to visit the pond? Like deer and bunnies?

Thanks Anne! Plenty of bunnies and squirrels use it daily. It’s a bit to close to the house for deer though. They usually stay by the creeks.