And will those toads eat all the mosquito larvae in those shallow dishes?

And apropos of nothing, except that it was one of my dad's favorite quotations and mention of toads brings it to mind:
"Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing"

They probably may as a tadpole. I have lots of tadpoles and hope they are doing their jobs. Very good tip...

Sorry if that comment came across as a bit snarky. Wasn't intended that way, but we do have a problem with mosquitos here and it's been recommended that we avoid having any standing water about, even to the extent of not putting saucers under pots.

We have mosquito problems too in this desert. Our desert toads live under ground and seem to come out only when it rains very hard, puddling up in the garden.

I wish a toad would come live here. We do have the little green tree frogs.

I have never found mosquito larva in the shallow dishes that my toads occupy , the cats and dogs will not drink out of the toad dishes either. I do not know if the toad eats the mosquitoes or larva I rather think not. I do however change the water once a week If it has not all evaporated and the mosquitoes that live in North America have a longer water life-cycle than 7 days.
I guess I should have put more information in the tip , but thought it needed to be kept short.
I understand your concern and am not at all offended discussion is always a good thing, in my humble opinion.
And the world certainly does not need more mosquitoes.
Cinda

I love toads! They've got a place in my garden, flower beds, where ever they want to reside here.

Toads and turtles...they're the best!

Shoe

Frogs, toads, snakes, they're all fine with me! Startled the heck out of me when I came across a fat garden snake curled up in one of the pots I was attempting to water, tho! Little rascal was about as big around as my finger and at least 18" long.

Toads are very welcome in my garden, if you change the water in the saucers every few days there will not be a problem with mosquito larva.

I found this fella hanging out in the oleander. I thought dogs could sniff out snakes. My dogs weren't bothered at all. I couldn't get close enough to see if he had round eyes or slanted. But he stayed long enough for me to run back into house and get camera...

Oh Man my DH would run for the hills if he saw that in my garden!!!

What kind of snake is that???

Funny Story: DH was in the tractor cutting hay... (the tractor has a cab)... so he sees a snake go flying out the back of the haybind and gets thrown into the windrow.... he screams in the tractor and jumps to the other side of the cab. Like it can get in the cab of the tractor!

And see, now I didn't know that if you changed out the water once a week, mosquitos wouldn't be a problem. Learn something new every day!

I was hoping someone on here would know....

What a great poem, Woofie, do you know who wrote it?

Pretty li'l snake! You could post his picture here and they can tell you what kind he is: http://cubits.org/snakes/
LOL, on the snake in the tractor story!

I know if we don't change the birdbath water at least every third day, there are little wigglers in it. Eeeew!

Renee, you mean you're going to make me try to spell Shakespeare? Sigh, I'm never sure just what is correct.

LOL, thanks! Looks correct to me...

Sorta looks like an Eastern Garter Snake.
Look at the middle picture. Checkered coloration
http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/sn...

I agree, they are common here , but usually I see them on the ground.
Good garden buddies , they eat a lot of unwanted pests.

Yep, may have been. i don't bother them, they get mice too!!!!

Um, they also eat toads.............