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CACAdmin
Apr 13th 2007, 12:21 AM
Pond season isn't very far away and some of us are in various stages of planning/putting together a pond.

In your plans you need to take into consideration the fact that an outdoor pond for your fish is an open invitation to various wildlife, in particular raccoons. They are very determined, avid hunters and will see your pond of fish as a dinner plate. :wideeyed: So in designing your pond you'll have to think of ways to keep them out.

If you are making a container pond (such as a barrel or 1/2 barrel you could make a lid to cover it at night). However, you will need to place a large rock or something of the sort on top of the lid to prevent the raccoons from simply removing the cover... they are very adept at such things.

And so, please post any ideas of how you intend to try to keep the wildlife in your area from dining in your pond. Let us know what has worked in the past and what hasn't. I'm sure we'd all appreciate learning from your experience.

Toirtis
Apr 13th 2007, 09:47 AM
A good artificial heron will keep the real ones from fishing your pond dry. Herons are highly territorial and if the see what they believe is a heron already at the pond, they will not alight there.

Some people I know have had good success keeping other wildlife away using the 'scarecrow' motion-detecting sprinklers: http://www.biconet.com/critter/sprinkler.html

fishykisses
Apr 13th 2007, 12:12 PM
last summer i lost over $400 worth of koi due to an enormous bold heron - we tried to scare it away and it just looked at us as if to say - thanks for the snack!...i'll be back next week after you restock.
i'm definately going to invest in an artificial heron this year.

CACAdmin
Apr 13th 2007, 12:24 PM
OMG... that's terrible. (I'm sure the heron thought otherwise.:( ). I have no idea what an artificial heron costs but I'm sure it's well worth the investment.

ChrissyFishy
Jun 29th 2007, 01:33 PM
I might try this too. Have you got one yet fishykiss?