This one is very confusing. I hope someone can shed some light on what happened here.
Here is the story. This spring I bought a inflatable swim raft for the pond.
Everything was great. We used it for about three weeks, and then went on vacation for the week before the Fourth. When I came back, the raft had all but sunk. One little corner was sticking out of the water with a bit of air trapped in it. I figured a stupid heron landed on it to survey all the fish, and popped it with his claws.
But now it gets interesting. I went to pull it out today and hopefully patch the couple of small holes from the bird. I dragged it to the beach and then could not move it because it was full of water. I moved it a bit, and water started coming out of all of the holes in the bottom (red part).
It looked like something has chewed the crap out of the bottom of the raft. These holes were everywhere. One is about 8 inches in diameter. I decided that there is no way I could patch it and decide it is a loss.
So, I cut the sides with my knife so that the water could drain quickly, and out flows 4 dead fish (little BG and one small bass). I think, "that is weird," and pulled again. out flowed this!
I confirmed that it is a muskrat skull. Many other small bones flowed out with the water. I believe that they are all from the same muskrat.
What happened? Did fish rip the bottom up trying to eat algae? Did the raft just go bad in the water (I don't see how this is possible)? Did the muskrat try to turn it into a home? Could it be turtles?
I am so confused!
