Are prairie dogs a danger to ponds?

[Hop-frog]

I haven't seen any yet in my yard, but there are prairie dogs in just about every other yard in the neighborhood. They make tunnels everywhere. Is they burrowed up, couldn't they puncture the pond, leading all the water to drain into their home? Is that a danger for ponds? If so, how to protect against that?

 

[Mmathis]

IDK. Good question, though!

 

[addy1]

The only thing I can think of that would protect the liner, if they do damage ponds, would be to put down hardware cloth below the liner.

 

[GBBUDD]

Absolutly a concern they are like woodchucks and muskrats they can build elaborate tunnels . Like @addy1 said they have a few products one is concrete blankets its concrete infused on a fabric lay it down and leave it be and it hardens like concrete. then there are others who have installed chicken wire under the liners fabric. An other possibility is a asphalt and fiberglass product we use in roofing as a protection layer between the plywood and epdm if i remember correctly it was 10 bucks a 4x8 sheet. i know it wouldn't taste good to a ground hog but it's pretty tough and they may give up as it's not a natural product i have no idea if it would work or not

 

[Hop-frog]

Do you know what the asphalt and fiberglass sheets are called? Are those flexible?

 

[GBBUDD]

Yes flexible very similar to a sheet of paneling a little better then and three times as strong . but there are also others such as asphalic sheets are what i was refering to it's 1/8" or so

Types of commercial roof cover boards on the market include:

• Cement – cementitious base with mesh reinforcement
• High-Density Polyiso – compressed polyisocyanurate with a coated glass-mat facer
• Perlite – volcanic materials combined with minerals, fibers, and cellulose binders
• Asphaltic – a mixture of minerals and asphalt with a fiberglass facer

 

[JamieB]

Where are you located? There are traps you can put out, or you can encourage their predators to hang out in your yard. My local area has ground hogs, but not many, and plenty of hawks.

 

[Hop-frog]

In am in New Mexico. The praire dogs are very numerous. At certain times of the year, you can spot huge groups of them. There is an empty lot across the street just filled with their burrows.

 

[Hop-frog]

Yes flexible very similar to a sheet of paneling a little better then and three times as strong . but there are also others such as asphalic sheets are what i was refering to it's 1/8" or so

Types of commercial roof cover boards on the market include:

• Cement – cementitious base with mesh reinforcement
• High-Density Polyiso – compressed polyisocyanurate with a coated glass-mat facer
• Perlite – volcanic materials combined with minerals, fibers, and cellulose binders
• Asphaltic – a mixture of minerals and asphalt with a fiberglass facer

Is there a generic name for what these are, when purchased for roofing? I can't seem to find any product, except roofing underlayment, and that seems quite thin.

 

[gimpy]

In am in New Mexico. The praire dogs are very numerous. At certain times of the year, you can spot huge groups of them. There is an empty lot across the street just filled with their burrows.

Sounds like my property. Full of ground hog holes.

 

[Hop-frog]

Sounds like my property. Full of ground hog holes.

Have they been a problem for your pond?

 

[addy1]

We have ground hogs, they tend to live under our building, garage, small shed, pole barn. I have seen them eating down by the pond but never a tunnel.

 

[GBBUDD]

they usually find weak areas of ground to make there homes compaction is key there

 

[Hop-frog]

Weak ground exactly describes my back yard. When the sun comes out and there is no rain for a while, the ground is soft, with absolutely no rocks what-so-ever. It is a light powder all the way down 2 ft before I hit ground that is somewhat like clay. I will be covering the entire yard, that isn't pond, in rockscape, which I think would stop downward tunneling, but that won't stop a creature from tunneling from a neighboring yard and coming up accidentally through the pond, if that is something that they even do. I wonder if they have a sense of where water is, otherwise, they'd be coming up under lakes and creeks.

 

[gimpy]

Have they been a problem for your pond?

No, not that I’m aware of. But, they are pretty much everywhere else.