Attention Scud enthusiasts! Just spent some time on the phone with the owner of PLM. His name is Kyle Thomson (320-760-9355). He apologized profusely for not returning my call and anyone else he missed. He claims he personally returns all calls and emails but had never gotten a message from me and doesn't know why he missed others. The good news is that he has lots of stuff that I could use and they've recently opened a store where I can pick up anything in season. Here's the scoop on scuds: The scuds they sell are gammarus lacustris, which are one of the larger ones, from 1/2 to 3/4 inch. They sell quite a few of them. Prices are $85 for 20 to 40 thousand shrimp, see the web site: http://www.habitatnow.com/store/shop/shop.php?pn_selected_category=19 Kyle gave me his cell phone number which I provide above if any of you want to reach him. He says that now is the time to order scuds. They only sell them in winter. For Bruce's sake I asked about whether these scuds will thrive in NB. He says they will thrive down to the mid US. He has clients in NC that have good luck with them. Some time real soon he is making a delivery down to Oklahoma and will be passing through Nebraska. If anyone in Iowa or Nebraska is interested in scuds he would be glad to meet you somewhere and deliver. He says that you need to stock scuds within no more than 48 hours of them being captured. He can also mail them. For those of you interested in attracting waterfoul he says that he sells most of his scuds to folks for that purpose. They are a sure bet for ducks. Kyle is a biologist and spent time with me discussing my pond objectives. He convinced me that I should let my new pond grow some vegetation this coming year and stock scuds next winter. I want to attract ducks and grow forage for my BG. His advice was to grow the scuds in my forage pond and seine them to put in BG pond. He affirmed my understanding that any type of minnow in my forage pond will pretty much kill the idea of attracting waterfoul. He talked me out of growing wild celery in my new pond given its size and depth. He suggested sago pond weed as a good aerator and food source for ducks. I'm going to order some this weekend for spring delivery. I hope some of you find a use for the scuds. Sounds like a great forage feed for BG and it might start a new trend. I like trying new things.
