Up here north of the Mason Dixon line, I've never had a fear of swimming in my pond. Or I guess I should say, I never felt any threat from whatever kind of creature may exist in a northern pond.
Recently, there's been (2) verified sightings of either crocodiles or alligators in some rivers in Western PA. Some of these were 5'+ long.
For you more southern pond owners where gators/crocs are present, what is your position on people or pets swimming in your ponds?
We don’t have gator’s here in Kansas, at least I don’t think we do, but there is a Kansas statute in the books about feeding gators so I made this sign for our pond
If nothing else maybe it will keep a poacher away
You did beautiful work on the sign!
It should work on poachers - everyone knows that hungry gators are far more dangerous than well-fed gators.
I’m not aware of gators within hundreds of miles from my place. No rivers and I can’t see them going across dirt. Yet!
I can’t imagine a gator making it through your winters.
Yeah, some of these rivers freeze up a bit too. These gator/crocs may have some refuge in some power plant cooling water discharges, or perhaps they're migrating somehow. Conventional wisdom would say these creatures were pet releases, but who knows?
In my neighborhood pond, which catches run-off from the streets, I feel like I'm seeing a Pacu-like fish hitting feed. That would have to be introduced by a human in my opinion and could be very probable. I also have fresh water clams in this pond; how did they get in there??
Clams? I didn’t know they were in fresh water.
Sunil "I also have fresh water clams in this pond; how did they get in there??"
I am not a biologist but some species of clams and mussels hitchhike during their larval stage. (Wiki:
Freshwater BivalveIf you transfer a fish from a body of water with these clams or mussels, you might get their larva.
Still haven't heard much about southerners with gators/crocs in their ponds, but I just saw this article that explains some of the sightings up here:
https://triblive.com/local/valley-n...s-porch-9-taken-from-neighbors-property/
Suspecting he's just talking about freshwater mussels. I've pulled mussels out of my little pond that are 8-10 inches across. Guess that means that water quality is good? No idea how they got there
Yes, fresh water mussels.