Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Nutria

Has anyone seen a nutria den where they built up an area on the bank with mud & large sticks & then burrowed a den underneath? Examples I have seen are just a burrow in the bank.

Looked like a beaver lodge size wise but there are no beavers. It was to big for a muskrat. Then I thought, a female gator had built a nest for her eggs. As I tore it apart I found an open space in the center, beaver lodge like. I have eliminated a few nutria in the past but have not seen any lately although earlier this year I have seen gnaw marks on green branches that I have thrown out into the water. Normally, I see nutria on a bank sunning & grooming themselves regularly, if they are present.

Later: after leveling the mound , I am sure it is a nutria den. Removed all the sticks & started to backfill with the accumulated dirt I stepped on it to pack it down & sunk about 2 feet as his tunnel to the pond collapsed. A soft area not far from the first, another escape tunnel. Looking more closely & 15 feet away there is a new very sandy area, a brand new tunnel for a den was started last night. Walking further up the bank another soft spot & tunnel begun.

I am declaring war on the pond's nutria.

No, I've only seen nutria nest up in vacated beaver huts. Same with otters. Nutria do burrow up, but beavers do also. I've caught 2 beavers that dug straight into our dam with no limbs at all, and they're the easiest to catch. I whacked our nutria with 330 conibears at the hut's entry, or entries, and if set correctly, it's an instant kill.

Here's one day's victims.

Damn, Al!!! So brutal...

Stinkin' goobers. Between them and grass carp, I've lost somewhere between 30K and 35K worth of hardy water lily tubers. Most of the water lilies I posted last year are gone, but luckily the drought protected some of them.

The Nutria war is over! They are beavers. I did not know Florida had beavers. Trapper said he caught 60 in the past few years in the surrounding counties. I understand now why nothing was taking my sweet potato bait in my live trap. Now to get a county wildlife trapper to come remove them. Do beavers like spadderdock?