Well I'm still trying to catch the Otter and now I have Nutria in my pond..I think they have got into my dam. I trapped one this morning and shot at one yesterday...I'm in central Texas so this is not that common..Just my luck. This and my CC# was stolen Friday, someone tried to wire money to the Philippines

Jeez Sarge, sounds like you're having a bad weekend!

Well at least you can kill the nutria if you see them!

Those are some pretty nasty little creatures. I watched a National Geographic episode called ratzilla and they were one of the possible suspects. You know some people actualy eat those things? People in lousiana are trying to push them as a delecacy. That would be the greatest marketing feat of all time... water rats as a delecacy.

http://www.nutria.com/site14.php

The National Geographic program was designed to sensationalize, scare, and disgust the viewers. Their characterization of nutria was not realistic. Nutria are vegetarians. They eat the same food as rabbits and cows. Nutria do not eat garbage, and avoid humans. They do not taste like chicken. They taste more like rabbit. Anyone that is not disgusted by the appearance of catfish should be able to eat nutria without blinking.

If nutria should infest my pond, I'll be a little upset about the burrows, but I'll eat well.

Does anyone know the current Northern limit for Nutria? Are they going to come any farther North, or do they have a cold weather limitation?

They have been spoted along the east coast up to Maryland. I don't think there have been any sightings further north than Maryland.

Scroll down to look at a distribution map.

http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.asp?speciesID=1089

My pond was almost choked full of white lilies..I started seeing large strings of rhizomes floating on the surface and up on the bank...That has been the only benifit so far is the thinned out lillies.

Good grief they are even in California!

I used to trap & eat alot of muskrats .. would imagine nutria would be about the same.
I think they require about the same climate as gators.

Theo, up until about 15-20 years ago you hardly ever saw a speed bump further north than upper Texas. Now they are in Iowa due to learning to cope with colder climes.

It may take awhile but you can bet the nutria will show will be playing near you eventually.

I've got one to. My mystery animal finally showed itself now that it has gotten cooler and I have been out there closer to dark. Would you let one stick around for a while if it was living in a big pile of dirt instead of the dam? It sure is cleaning up some of my pond vegetation problems, and since it is not living in the dam. . . Unless they make multiple dens? I think it took to the pile instead of the dam because of the lack of roots in the pile versus my extremely brushy dam. I was thinking I could let it stick around until early summer, or later if it does not breed.

Folks brought them to MD hoping to grow them for fur.
Spread like WILDFIRE!
I remember the brutal winter of '77. Huge mounds of them,frozen together, on marshes in Dorchester county!'Feds finally REALLY put the bite on them the last few years at Blackwater NWR.
Basically eradicated there, but still pockets on private land ,and also spreading slightly north and west.

Also moving down onto coastal NC from Va.
Have a few in NJ as well.

Fun critter! Females have teats on their backs!
(insert joke here!)_

"Fun critter! Females have teats on their backs!
(insert joke here!)"

OK....... That's why the males like to dance so much.

Normally I would advise to kill any invasive alien critter, but it's too late for nutria. 1 or a dozen won't make any difference. If they put a dent in your weeds and don't dig up your banks and dam, may as well get some use out of them.

I'm surprised that the slow moving nutria haven't developed many natural enemies. Down south, alligators eat the big ones and snakes eat the young.

I caught mine with a live trap with a carrot for bait.