Quote:
Originally Posted by Kayleigh  We had a problem one year with waterboatmen killing tiny toads..They would wait for the toads to run the gauntlet from a water lily to the bank then attack and kill the toads but not eat them..
So we removed the waterboatmen and the rest of the toads survived..
I would not normally intervene if they were being killed for food but they were not.. |
They were being killed for food though... Why else would the water boatmen do this? They don't consume the outside of a prey item them suck the juices from inside with a piercing mouthpart which is not obvious to our eyes. Leaving a shell that would look like a normal body to our eyes.
Its a semi-natural ecosystem an sould be encouraged in all of its forms surely.