Anyone out there watering their window wells?

I'm not kidding. I water my window wells. For some reason frogs and toads and all sorts of critters still end up down in my window wells. We added extensions to them that add an additional 10" of height at ground level and this did help but critters are still getting down there. The moles and opossums and such can normally climb out because we leave very long 2 x 2s down them specifically for critters to be able to find a way out but for some reason the baby bunnies and herps never get out on their own. Come to think of it, some baby Robins got stuck down there a few weeks ago too. My window wells are very deep and my guess is they are at least 7' deep. I water my window wells to try to make sure that if something does get down there, it doesn't dehydrate and die before I remember to check the window wells. This morning I walked around to all 6 of my window wells and found 1 Blue Spotted Salamander, 1 Wood Frog, 1 Northern Leopard Frog, and 3 Green Frogs. I felt really guilty because it's been a while since I bothered to round up the kids to do a herp toss which is when we open up the windows in the basement and start tossing frogs up for the boys to catch and take to a pond. Our rescuees are all doing fine. Really glad I at least remember to water my window wells every time I drag out a hose as I have no idea how long these frogs were down there but one was in pretty rough shape and if I hadn't been watering regularly I have no doubt it would have been a very shriveled up dead frog.

We have covers on ours so animals can't get in there unless the covers have been moved. There is only one that is slightly open and that is for our cat to go into when loud noises scare him and for the winter time when it is cold out. The washer and dryer are near that window so heat rises there and keeps him warm.

Some hardware cloth ought to do the trick. If not, post signage so that unsuspecting wildlife at least has an option to choose otherwise.

You'll have a lawsuit on your hands one of these days for creating an attractive nuisance. Then some little tadpoles will have their Ivy League (!) education all wrapped up...

Lucky me, our builder used a non standard size of window well. There currently are no covers available until at such time as the style we have gains in popularity. I checked into the cost of creating special made iron grates with a clear vinyl backing and after I recovered from sticker shock, I decided to wait it out for regular old covers to become available.

Editing to respond to V V- Lemme guess, next they'll organize and I'll have a herp union steward on my front door step!

This message was edited Jul 23, 2006 3:51 PM

I swear window wells are death traps. I found this little guy quite by accident early this morning. I was tossing in a load of laundry and noticed that two of my cats were perched on the sill in front of one of my window wells and another of my cats was between those two plastered against the glass with his two front legs up and spread like he was going to be frisked by a cop. I knew there was something in there but I figured it was a frog or a toad.

The little guy I pulled out of the window well is the North American Short-Tailed Shrew, (Blarina brevicauda). He doesn't hibernate and he has a metabolism rate that is incredible so he's really lucky I removed all the leaf litter at the bottom of that window well and dug him out to set him free or he would have been dead. Cute little thing. Velvety like the Eastern Moles (Scalopus aquaticus) we have around here. I swear they both remind me of adorable little tiny plush stuffed animals. I released him in an area where I knew there were some abandoned chippie holes.

i'm surprised they survive the seven foot drop! Did you install air beds, like the stunt guys use?

No, no air beds or anything a decent amount of leaves had accumulated down there. The frogs survive the drop too and those end up down in the window wells at a time of year where there aren't any leaves to cushion their falls. We've also had baby robins, salamanders, baby bunnies, and a mole down there. Go figure. The bunnies are miserable to catch because they bounce around.

Anybody know that some species of Shrew use echolocation? I didn't know until a couple of hours ago. It wasn't the only thing I learned today, so I get a free day from learning something someday.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echolocating_shrews

http://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_shrews.html

Lauren,
I think that your Shrew didn't have good depth echolocation!

Yup, I knew.

Nope, mine didn't have good echolocation.

Poor echolocationless shrew of mine. He's safely out of the window well now.

I think your only choice is to tear the house down and build anew with no window wells.

Excuse my ignorance, but what are window wells? I guess we don't have them down south.....

We don't have many around here either aggie. I think they're a newer house thing (I did see them in SE TN). It's for the basement window. The basement window is usually right at or below ground level and they put in these big metal curved things to create a well. The one's I have seen are typically about 3-4 ft deep and about 3 ft from window to outside part of the "well". I am so not good at describing things..lol.

I did a search. Below is what one looks like before a house is done being built.

Tee he, I don't think we'll be tearing the house down anytime soon but there are days I can honestly say I'd like to.

Window wells exist on all homes around me that have full basements and are newer. Our building code requires x # of window wells per square foot of basement with a minimum of 3 window wells for basements under 1,000 sq feet or something like that. After that I think it's one window well per additional 750 sq feet or maybe it was per extra 1,000 of square feet or something like that. I'm not all that up on window wells other than that I know I'm stuck with 6 extra deep and extra wide window wells that I have to keep an eye on all the time. It's a big pain in the rear monitoring them. I was told that stock ready made covers should be availalable to me and that will solve some of my problems but I'm not holding my breath as I have an odd ball size.

We have window wells on our house too but don't have the problem you have because we have covers on ours. They don't fit perfectly but they keep all animals but our cat out and keep the leaves and black walnuts out. They are pretty beat up because of the walnuts but still do the job.

My husband actually extended all of our window wells except one up about a foot above ground level to help out the situation until more of the style used on our home began being used by other people building homes. It did help because the salamanders haven't been dropping down them any longer but seems as if everything else still ends up down there. I'll call our contractor again next spring and if he still doesn't have a supplier, I guess it's time to make something to cover them as it really does get old frog tossing and going after bouncing baby bunnies and such. Sooner or later a stock window well cover for my style will become available... probably about 1 week after we break down and pay to have them special made.

Maybe you can get ahold of some plexiglass and cut it out yourself to make a cover.

I don't know what my husband will do ;) Tee he, that's his department.

Pepper~ that's exactly what DH did! He cut the Plexiglass, drilled tiny holes and attached them to boards that extend across the wondow well and on the sides. The wood frame is like an upside box, so you can lift it up if you nrrd to escape. Our large window well required a custom fit , the estimates were astronimically excessive! The DH's "plexiglass custom" cost us less than 1/20th of the price.

I bought covers for my window wells. They don't fit "exactly" but I have rigged a system to keep them on . There is one well that is oddly shaped and uncovered.

I did find a toad in a well once, and a raccoon on another occaision. The raccoon was nearly killed by the dogs, but I was able to corral the dogs and give the racoon a chance to escape over the fence.

I would be afraid to "water" the window wells because it might cause some moisture problems in our basement. We had to do few things to this house to correct moisture problems in the basement. Its fixed now, but I wouldn't want to do anything to encourage any more moisture near the foundation.

We're ok with the moisture down in the window wells when I water them. When the house was being built, a plumber came out and installed drains in each window well. We still need to work on a cover for thes odd ball shaped window wells and if push comes to shove, I'll probably just buy big pieces of plexiglass.

Oh the joys of living in the cold. NOT
We don`t have wells, basements, etc.
It doesn’t sound like I`m missing any fun.
I still like to hear all these things though .

Oh but you are ginger! If there's no cold, there's no snow. If there's no snow, there's no sledding. If there's no cold, the water doesn't freeze and there's no ice skating. If no snow, there's no making snow angles or snowmen, no forts to build and have snowball fights.....lol....can you tell I like winter??

I like my parka. I like my fireplace. I like my electric blanket. I like all things nice and warm.

Can you tell I like summer?

Terry, you said it perfectly. lol

pause- to the original point-
how about a self-waterer in there, such as what you can get for pets? I have one that looks like a mini office water cooler. I mean, if you really want to ensure water, and not keep the concrete damp so much; or maybe you like the concrete damp and cool in summer.....
ok back to winter. falling snow is beautiful, esp at night.

Hey sallyg, I've got a self waterer... it's me. I water all by myself. I do put pie tins of water down there.

I've seen those self waterers. I did think about it once but they wanted $10 a piece for them and I have 6 window wells. So, I'm still out there watering my window wells and doing frog tosses and such.

hey back to cold......Equil would have no need for a parka, a fireplace or an electric blanket if not for cold. You like your parka, your fireplace and your electric blanket, therefore you like cold. :o)

Hmmmm, I'll reserve comment other than to say I like heat. I like heat very much. Much more than cold and could happily dispense with living in an area where I have a need for those items. If I ever move from the Midwest, I'll pass them all on to you.

Hey Equilibrium
We have all the things you like down here.
And no greencard.

Ah ha ha ha ha, when can I come!

No restrictions Here in AUS.