Friday, September 10, 2010

Fun With Dung!

Dung?

Yep.

Dung.

As in poop. Feces. Excrement.


While we were still in Del Rio living in the teeny tiny RV, we took a break from cooped up-ed-ness and took a walk around the RV park.

The kids were running up ahead when suddenly I got a call to "Mommy, HURRY!! There's a really cool bug making a ball!"

As far as I know, the only bug in our desert that makes balls are dung beetles.

A dung beetle in action?

I HURRIED!

So there it was. A real live dung beetle.

I've only heard of these dime sized beetles before and seen their remarkably fast ability to rid my yard of all dog poop in a matter of hours.

If you haven't seen the size of a Great Dane's poop pile before you'd be surprised, too. To be able to clear away one of those piles at all is a miracle, let alone within a few hours!

(When we lived in Shreveport, I never, NEVER, had to pick up the poop out of the backyard, even with two adult Great Danes using it as a toilet BID. The yard was always covered with small holes, burrowed under the now excavated poop pile. The dung beetles were happy and satiated I can guarantee!)


As we watched this dung beetle roll it's poop ball around (quite symmetrical, don't you think? And yes, it is from a missed poop pile from my dog), it suddenly stopped and began digging.

Digging like a beagle on speed.


As we watched and ooh and aah-ed, the beetle managed to dig a big enough hole for both it and the poop ball to fit quite nicely inside.


Well, there's one way to keep the yard clean.

Import dung beetles! (I sense a HUGE money making scheme brewing in my overactive imagination!)

FOR SALE: Dung Beetles. No more cleaning up after your pet. Let our beetles do it for you! Guaranteed.