Down at the pond, this morning … I found some muskrat tells … 3 lily pads, separated at the base of the stem, from the tuber. Meaning it was likely done by a muskrat gnawing on the tuber. They were all in the same spot – the NW corner, where I’d found a single lily pad 2 days back. So – I called the trapper – leaving a phone number this time. And, he called back. But … he’s outRead More
Tue May 23 Nice Last night … there were 5 new water lilies just breaching the surface with 1-2 pads. Here’s a couple of those … No signs of decimation in the existing lilies. Looking good. Two different views … Saw a minnow. And – always seeing activity under the lily pads. That’s either the minnows or blue gills. Pretty sure it’s the minnows though. But the surface is so occluded with stuff from the surrounding trees and shrubs that visibilityRead More
Walking down to the pond this morning, without the dogs as I got to within 80′ or so, I saw our two muskrat hunting cats (LittleShot and BigShot) peering out of the reeds blanketing the banks on the west side of the pond. They were looking my way – to see if I had the dogs with me – as Charlie will go charging into the reeds after the cats – if I don’t catch him in time. So glad theyRead More
Yowsa – went down to the pond this morning – and found 3 loose water lily pads floating. Left a message for the muskrat trapper. Then started to think a bit more – what else could do this? And the light went on, and I started googling – yeah. We had Canadian Geese on the pond yesterday. And today, water lily damage. Hmmm. And the various net gurus say – Geese love aquatic plants – including water lilies. And especiallyRead More
The water lilies I’d planted in spring of 2016 have come back. They survived the winter. And the muskrats. Thanks mainly to our outdoor water lovin muskrat munchin deck cats. They removed (know what I mean) all of the horrible water lily munchin muskrats early last spring – and have kept them out ever since. We planted 24 new water lilies this month as well (they’ll show up in force by mid-June) – and will be restocking fish on theRead More
I planted water lilies again, this year. Even though the muskrats cleaned us out last year – including all cattails, and most phrags. Pretty much all the pond growth, eaten away at the roots. Leaving a huge mass of dead rotting vegetation behind. I tried trapping them last year – to no avail. Got no muskrats. And they got all living plant matter in the pond. This brings me to the cats … No, not this one. That’s Boris –Read More
Ahhh – found the other muskrat den – in the NW corner, by the reed hutch, which seems to have been opened up by whatever. I found it by following a stream of water from the pond, which should not have been, into the bank – stuck my cane in, wiggled it about, and lo and behold – there was open space inside my pond bank, above the water level. I’ll get em, said the hopeful trapper. Sooner or later.
Smart muskrats … Well, I had nailed their entrances with the new trap sets yesterday – BUT – sometime during the night, they saw their entrances blocked, and rather than trip the traps, they dug an escape hole out the bank. Further, they had turned the newly set trap sideways, so they could continue using the old entrance apparently – and I’m guessing they did this from outside the hole, by pushing on the handle. They had also dug a new underwater entrance 2mRead More
