Snrub is becoming our resident expert on crayfish. Keep up the good work. Learning from reading and experience does make one knowledgable about a subject.
Snrub concludes about papershells (calicos) : "So sounds like they can burrow when needed, but usually don't when adequate water is available."
I agree with this conclusion and it is my experience which is confirmed by the nationally known crayfish expert Roger Thoma. There are no doubt several species that can live in pond type habitats with the same lifestyle of usually not making deep burrows but will burrow when needed to keep themselves moist or wet. Orconectes nais (water nymph crayfish) apparently has a similar lifestyle as the papershell - calico crayfish (O. immunus).
Crayfish burrowing behavior falls into two categories primary and secondary. Each specie tends to 'fall into' one of the categories. Primary being always or usually making burrows and secondary rarely or occasionally creating burrows.
For Reference: the northern crayfish is technically called Orconectes virilis. Here is some basic info about O. virilis the northern crayfish.
http://www.naturenorth.com/fall/crayfish/Fcray2.htmlSpecies of crayfish that belong to the genus Orconectes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orconectes Snrub notes above that papershell crayfish is commonly sold for ponds. You should be careful and buyer beware when buying crayfish for pond stocking. Sellers often do not know well how to recognize crayfish species. Crayfish are often harder to tell apart than fish - similar to identifying 'shiner minnows'. What type or specie of crayfish that you buy can depend on the location of the grower. What ever lives or they collect in their fish pond is what the fish farm sells. I have bought crayfish that had both papershell and rusty crayfish in the same "bucket". I sorted them before putting them in my pond.
Luckyseven notes: "I stocked 500 papershells (from a source I no longer trust), but I believe I actually got papershells. I see maybe a mound or two around my 1/4 acre pond."
I also stocked about 500 crayfish in a minnow pond and see a few crayfish mounds or holes around this same pond. However the mounds and holes outside the pond are not built by papershell crayfish, but by a different genus of crayfish the Cambarus (mudbug) which migrated into the pond from the local creek.
I agree, chimney mounds outside a pond are almost never made by papershell crayfish if the pond has water in it. Often creek or ditch dwelling crayfish will travel long distances during rainy nights.
