Anyone Know About Crayfish?!

Was working on the pond in our backyard; found this guy in there:

Through searching the internet, I was able to identify him (her?) as a Louisiana Red Swamp Crayfish, an invasive, non-native species.

No idea how he (she?) got in our pond, though. Closest stream is about three (city) blocks away. We do get raccoons, but would they carry it away from its stream just to put it in our pond? Plus, it was totally intact and didn't look raccoon-handled at all.

Thoughts?

Mahalo,
~T

Not much help solving how he got there but you might as well know the lil buggahs internal workins should you decide to eat him before the raccoons do.

My guess he pinched a raccoon tail and caught a ride until he/ she (see attached chart) saw a safe landing spot ie the Lund Manor ecosystem.

First, find several more. You will need five or six pounds of them, maybe more.

Then:

And add some red potatoes, come corn, okra if you can get fresh. Also get a nice fresh baguette and a whole 'lotta napkins.

Suck the Head and Eat the Tail!

Ya'll are giving crayfish cooking suggestions to a vegetarian. :lol:

On 2008-09-27 21:43, Chip and Andy wrote:
First, find several more. You will need five or six pounds of them, maybe more.

Then:

And add some red potatoes, come corn, okra if you can get fresh. Also get a nice fresh baguette and a whole 'lotta napkins.

Sacrilege .
Plunge it in boiling water , allow it to cool a bit , and eat it

Wow, how nice.. I remember when we would go outside between classes in school and go down to the creek for a quick smoke and I would find these under rocks in the creek bed. Come on now, just leave him in the pond, someone bigger in the food chain will pick him off if do time. :lol: For now let the poor thing live. If it traveled that far to your place, you must have given him a good spot to hang out. You need to get out in the neighbor hood and explore more, there has got to be a stream or something close by. :lol:

The California Delta is FILLED with the little guys. The have a Crawdad "Fest" up in Isleton ( near Stockton ) every year. Good chance he came down one of the rivers or creeks and wound up there. Or, maybe a kid grabbed him on trip up there and brought him home.....

Wikipedia:
Individuals are reported to be able to cross many miles of relatively dry ground, especially in wet seasons, although the aquarium trade and anglers may have hastened the spread in some areas (it is believed that anglers using P. clarkii as bait introduced it to the American state of Washington).

Did I mention our pond is not that big (only about 150 gallons)?

On 2008-09-28 06:44, aquaorama wrote:
The California Delta is FILLED with the little guys. The have a Crawdad "Fest" up in Isleton ( near Stockton ) every year. Good chance he came down one of the rivers or creeks and wound up there.

Yeah, apparently the Louisiana Red Swamp crayfish is verrrrrrrrrry invasive, practically wiping the native california crayfish off the map (who knew?!).

On 2008-09-28 05:32, tikipaka wrote:
there has got to be a stream or something close by. :lol:

Yes, There is a park about three block away; it has a creek bed (and I think it's where the raccoon hooligans are holed up). Of course this means that, if it crawled from there to here, it would have travelled down three blocks of pavement and across two streets, Impressive, in such a case, deserved of being left in the pond.

I asked a marine-bio friend and he suggested that there were eggs on one of the aquatic plants I brought in.

In any case, I tossed it back in and told my goldfish to swim fast and be careful. We'll see how it goes...

[ Edited by: Haole'akamai 2008-09-28 09:37 ]

On 2008-09-28 09:32, Haole'akamai wrote:

In any case, I tossed it back in and told my goldfish to swim fast and be careful. We'll see how it goes...

I love a good aquatic soap opera. Please keep us beloved observers posted on the underwater unfurling of pond life at Lund Manor. Better yet get Tofu Joe to set up a web cam with some kinda on line rock throwing device so we can stand vigil and pelt raccoons from afar.

Life happens

By the way, maybe a large bird landing in your pond and had a few eggs between it's feet and that's how the little bugger got there? I just love unsolved mysteries. :lol:

Whoops

[ Edited by: tikipaka 2008-09-29 02:17 ]

WTH

[ Edited by: tikipaka 2008-09-29 02:19 ]

Damn!

[ Edited by: tikipaka 2008-09-29 02:18 ]

[ Edited by: tikipaka 2008-09-29 02:20 ]

Sorry, computer to slow this morning. Double post.

[ Edited by: tikipaka 2008-09-29 02:15 ]

On 2008-09-28 09:48, Chongolio wrote:
Better yet get Tofu Joe to set up a web cam with some kinda on line rock throwing device so we can stand vigil and pelt raccoons from afar.

Oh. I like that idea. Rather a lot.

That's a darn big cockroach, have you tried bug spray for those guys? They might try to steal things from your kitchen. I have heard of bugs that big using people's stereos when they are not at home.

Elvis knows crawfish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK4_U-nmXyc&feature=related

"Everything's better,
Down where it's wetter,
Take it from MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

You get a line and I'll get a pole, honey
You get a line and I'll get a pole, babe
You get a line and I'll get a pole
And we'll go down to that crawdad hole
Honey, baby mine.

Yonder comes a man with a sack on his back, Honey,
Yonder comes a man with a sack on his back, Babe,
Yonder comes a man with a sack on his back,
Packin' all the crawdads he can pack,
Honey, Baby mine.

Get up, Sue, you slept too late, honey
Get up, Sue, you slept too late, babe
Get up, Sue, you slept too late,
That crawdad man's done passed your gate
Honey, baby mine.

The man fell down and he broke that sack, Honey,
The man fell down and he broke that sack, Babe,
The man fell down and he broke that sack,
See those crawdads backing back,
Honey, Baby mine.

I heard the duck say to the drake, Honey,
I heard the duck say to the drake, Babe,
I heard the duck say to the drake,
There ain't no crawdads in this lake,
Honey, Baby mine.

What you gonna do when the lake goes dry, honey
What you gonna do when the lake goes dry, babe
What you gonna do when the lake goes dry
Gonna sit on the bank and watch the crawdads die
Honey, baby mine.

I think Pinchy is eating my goldfish. Maybe I should get him his own tank.

They do great in aquariums, cool idea.

Lots of Herons and Egrets to do damage on your goldfish population too, but the one thing is if you want frogs breeding in your little pond the crayfish t'aint compatible.

I spend half my day dealing with the damage of invasives on populations and habitats, but when I come home and put the feet up, I'm more live and let live.

If you like him, throw him back in and see how big he gets.

So how many are in that pond?

Perhaps a good ol' crawdaddy trap should be dropped in to count mr. Pinchy and its kin.

It will give you something to do before coon-cam is up and running.

And as silently as he showed up, Pinchy disappears...

I cleaned out the pond this weekend (all the gunk was clogging the filter), and didn't find him. We have had the raccoon visit since I put him back in, so I guess they could have helped with his departure.

Either that or a Cajun got him.
Sorry for your loss.

You can get replacement crawpets at crawdads.net direct from Loozyann.

On 2008-10-28 22:06, Haole'akamai wrote:
And as silently as he showed up, Pinchy disappears...

I cleaned out the pond this weekend (all the gunk was clogging the filter), and didn't find him. We have had the raccoon visit since I put him back in, so I guess they could have helped with his departure.

RIP Pinchy...

Fisherman, fisherman, standing by the sea
Have you got a crayfish that you can sell to me
By the way side high diddly aye do

Yes sir, yes sir, that indeed I do
I have got a crayfish that I can sell to you
By the way side high diddly aye do

Well, I took the crayfish home, and I though he'd like a swim
So I filled up the chamber pot, and I threw the bugger in
By the way side high diddly aye do

In the middle of the night, I thought I'd have a fit
When my old lady got up to a-wash her face
By the way side high diddly aye do

Husband, husband, she cried out to me
The devil's in the chamber pot, and he's got hold of me
By the way side high diddly aye do

Children, children, bring the looking glass
Come and see the crayfish that bit your mother's a-face
By the way side high diddly aye do

Children, children, did you hear the grunt
Come and see the crayfish that bit your mother's a-nose
By the way side high diddly aye do

It's the ending of me story; I don't have any more
I've an apple in me pocket, and you can have the core
By the way side high diddly aye do

Cats lovem' as play toys too although dogs seem less than enthused with their presence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGTZoyARvnQ

Lots of crawfish infos here - http://www.crawfish.com