What The HELL ! :(:(:(:(:(

[rebelangel_3733]

I pretty much ticked off a bullfrog and another green guy with my netting. The bull frog kept head butting it trying his darndest to get in to no avail lol..although it was amusing to watch him try to get in...guess I wont be having any frogs this year... but my fish are safe!

 

[addy1]

I found a dead bird in my pond a few weeks ago too. First time. I didn't think they could fall in and drown, aren't they supposed to know how to swim and fly away?

Birds, normal lil birds, can't swim, they usually drown. They do bath in water, but it is shallow water.

and since nothing exciting is happening in my ponds anymore (I will get plants this week end but that's it)...

here's the little guy that got caught in the net :

I would swear he understood right away that I was there to help

Glad you saved the snake, they are so great at eating rodents.

That bird netting is bad, I won't use it, I found on little finch with a broken neck, it got stuck. I went to deer fencing, and only over the middle of the pond. Just to keep the heron from being able to fly in and land. It has small squares, black, not real noticeable and is a lot stiffer. It would keep most things out of the pond, but the small birds don't get tangled in it like they do with the bird netting. I only am concerned about the heron landing in the walk out area of the pond, ow it is too deep.

The frogs can land on it and get off without getting tangled.
.

 

[Rivermist]

whoaaa so this is a bird netting that we got ? Because we bought it at the pond section of the store for leaves season. Didn't say anything about birds...

Pfff you live you learn... and you spend a whole lot of money on the wrong stuff...

JenH I panicked a second but he was soooo cold I was worried he was gonna die. I rescue spiders also lol but they spook me 10000000 million times more than a snake... I just can't kill or let anything die lol

 

[addy1]

whoaaa so this is a bird netting that we got ? Because we bought it at the pond section of the store for leaves season. Didn't say anything about birds...

Pfff you live you learn... and you spend a whole lot of money on the wrong stuff...

JenH I panicked a second but he was soooo cold I was worried he was gonna die. I rescue spiders also lol but they spook me 10000000 million times more than a snake... I just can't kill or let anything die lol

It looks like the bird netting,

here is the bird netting that I quit using, the stuff is thinner



Here is the deer fencing a lot stiffer, the birds don't get caught up in it. I hung a piece for the clementis (sp?lol) to climb on



The leaf netting you have, looks very similar to the bird netting, it might be in between the deer and the bird in thickness.

 

[pondlover]

I'm with Jen on the snakes. When my kids were little we used to have chickens until my daughter went to collect the eggs and there was a big ole snake wrapped around them. Needless to say.... we said goodbye to the chickens. I know some snakes are good, but I don't want to try to tell if it's a good one or a bad one. Yuck!!!

 

[addy1]

I used to catch them. Now a little smarter just look at them and take a picture......

 

[JenH]

You're a better woman then me, I would never save a spider!! Last summer I had some big black hairy thing chase me down in my garage while I was having a garage sale. Thank goodness no one was here yet shopping, but my neighbors all thought I had lost my mind running from that thing screaming! I dumped almost a whole bottle of Ortho Home Defense on that little (e-mail address removed).

 

[Rivermist]

LOOOOOOOL I imagine the scene loool I loose it completely with spiders but then I put myself back together get a broom and put them out. They are good luck animals

haha I wouldn't have taken a chance with a dangerous snake on my own. Would have called animal control. This one is really not a dangerous specie and I was wearing gloves just in case (their bite can be irritating).

Addy it looks a lot like your first picture ! I will try to return the two extra ones that are still in their packages and get something else.


Also an update for my pond.

With the filter and algae treatment the water start looking clearer.
They came. They realized they didn't clean the stream... it's too late now to redo it all. they are going to install 3 layers of the clothe mentioned in upper interventions to filtrated the rain water coming from the stream to the pond.

I also insisted that this filter is not strong enough due to the elements this pond is exposed to so they will change it for a bigger one. I insisted a lot this time also for a UV system and a skimmer (the pond is under trees so that's it). Even cleaning 4 times a day is not enough.

So we should not be too much overcharged we will pay to complete the work.

Does it sound like a good deal that is gonna help the pond in your opinion ?

Seeing my fish again at the bottom (ok not very clear) gave me hope lol

 

[JenH]

I think a UV and a skimmer will help a lot! I would have insisted they get in there and clean your stream though or give you a credit for not doing their job completely! But if the algae treatment is helping your water then the UV should do it better, just make sure the one they install is big enough for your pump. If it's to small it won't work properly. From what I've read, my understanding is if the uv specs say 1800 gph for uv clarifier then at 900gph it will be a sterilizer. You want to make sure it's big enough to be a sterilizer to truly get rid of algae for good.

 

[Rivermist]

Cleaning the stream would mean that a extra ton of mud will end up in the pond and we'll have to redo the pond as well.

I don't think they will do the cleaning of the stream for free...
I'll see their estimate for that and will mention the fact that it was their job that they failed to do, so they have to make a gesture.

The original design of the whole thing is messed up anyway and it would need to be completely redone.... installing drains for rain water and avoid it to end up in the ponds.... but that would be way too much money for a house that we don't plan to stay in forever.

And each rain coming there will be clay in the stream (our lot is the lowest point of the neighborhood, we get gallons of water ).

They showed me that they actually installed a quilt batting under the soil and mulch . 3 layers. They plan to do the same for the stream.

Also they confirmed that the mulch they used is not died and not treated. now any wood anyway naturally looses some color so who knows. i just wont have them add anymore of it in the future.

I think for the next house I'll pay a ticket to waterbug and he will have to build my dream water feature... lol

 

[sissy]

Quilt batting under the soil and mulch ,never heard of that .Should maybe have them put gravel around the pond rather than mulch .There are so many kinds of trees they use for mulch .I think once your filter is working right you will be fine as a lot of that is just coming from the strange weather we are getting .New ponds and being a new owner of a pond is confusing at first and i have really been reading a lot about ponds .I started my first pond with no idea of what to do and learned along the way that they will sell you everything under the sun and promise you a clean pond ,well they lie .I use lava rock filters ( most don't like lava rock they say it is heavy but it works for me ) I always keep crushed oyster shells in my filters and activated carbon and also zeolite ,which I but at tractor supply as horse stall refresher PDZ .I buy the dollar store fine mesh laundry bags and fill er up .I have 2 filters one at each end of my pond and have never had a fish die in 8 years and fairly clear water as Aggie in the pic can say i like .I only feed my fish 2 or 3 times a week .It has worked for me and will stay with it until it fails or something fantastic comes up .Or a miracle comes out ,

 

[addy1]

Rivermist
As long as the spiders stay outside we have a truce. Even if they get inside I usually toss them outside. Here in md we get tons of the jumping spiders, they are great bug predators. For some reason they seem to be able to get into the house, when I find them they get tossed out on their little legs.

I do my best to not hurt the wolf spiders, we have tons of them, but they have to stay outside.

 

[Rivermist]

I'm in MD too (Potomac/ Rockville ) !

Yeah i noticed jumping ones... they come in and love to hang on my indoor plants !

Sissy waaay too late for the steam now... they would have to redrain the pond, re put the fish out I would have to retreat the water etc...

Maybe I'll do it myself. I don't think i can do worse than them lol

Next year I'll clean my pond myself now that I know what's in there and how deep it is...

It's not the kind of project you can trust someone else ho is never gonna care as much as you do. And I have to learn also.

 

[addy1]

lol rivermist, I was raised in Rockville, then moved west, now back

At least here we don't seem to have the tons of black widows you have in arizona, they are everywhere there.

 

[JenH]

I remember those from when we lived in Georgia! But we have their cousin brown recluse. I think they're just as bad!