Will read this later tonight but should have some information relative to my needs and maybe others.
Talks about "Kansas Pond Crayfish", so that ought to be close enough to home for my purposes. Was actually written by Purdue.
Culture Potential of Selected Crayfish Quote about the Papershell:
Orconectes immunis
are widely dispersed
throughout the North Central Region of the
United States. Hobbs and Jass (1988) describe the
range as extending from Colorado and Wyoming
in the west to the New England states in the east.
O. immunis
are found north to Ontario and
Manitoba, Canada, and south to Mississippi and
Alabama. They primarily inhabit ponds, backwa-
ters, and slow moving streams. They can tolerate
lower dissolved oxygen levels than other species
(Bovbjerg 1970) and can sometimes be found in
temporary pools. They have been known to walk
considerable distances overland (Crocker and
Barr 1968), then burrow when ponds dry or with
the approach of autumn (Gunderson and
Kapuscinski 1992).
In many permanent waters,
the papershell crayfish does not burrow (Hobbs
and Jass 1988). They are frequently found in
muddy, soft-bottomed lakes which support
vegetation (Tack 1941). (my emphasis underlined)
So sounds like they can burrow when needed, but usually don't when adequate water is available.
