Other than the cattails ripening, not much interesting happens to the pond flora in the fall. The lilies die back and the hibiscus loses all its leaves. I stop feeding the fish when the water temperature drops down to 50 degress Fahrenheit. By that time the fish aren't really interested in food. Even the mosquito fish are down on the bottom of the pond, just drifting and occasionally flicking a fin.
Plano, Texas, has a rodent problem. There are Norway Rats and Roof Rats living throughout Plano and Collin County. There are even Nutria (a large, beaver-like, South American rodent) living in the wetland areas. And the stream and lake system near my house has lots of nutria and rats in abundance. Summer 2000 was very dry, in fact, it was a drought. The water level in the lakes dropped alarmingly, and the streams near my house dried up. And those rodents went looking for a new place to call home. Well, they thought they'd found a ratty heaven in Lake Big Fish. Lots of water, succulent cattails and iris, and even lots of bird nests to raid in the arbor.
So the Norway Rats (Rattus norvegicus) moved in. They tunneled between the pond liner and the frame, which of course meant that they gnawed holes in the liner. I first noticed the problem when the water level in the pond kept dropping. Then I saw one rat. And then a second rat. Then I freaked. Mice are one thing ... Murphy the Pest Control Dog and Callie the Cat are the large and small Deaths of Mice. But rats, especially rats that climb the arbor and sit there, out of claw and fang range, smirking, are just a bit too much. Those rodents had to go! And since I couldn't simply ask them to move out, it was going to have to be an all-out war using bio-chemical weapons. Yep. Poison.
After a little research, I decided that I didn't want to go the do-it-yourself route, so I called eco-safe (eco-safe specializes in the control of roaches, ants, silverfish, beetles, rats and mice using less ecologically harmful products and techniques). Well, the eco-safe service tech came out, looked around and said, "yep, rats". He put out 3 bait boxes (hard plastic, anchored, and locking) and filled them with bait guaranteed to entice the pickiest rat. He also baited the attic, just in case any Roof Rats (Rattus rattus) decided to join their cousins. The bait boxes were too small for squirrels to get in, and neither Murphy nor the cats could reach the bait. The field mice (Mus musculus) would unfortunately be "collateral damage". That is, what few field mice were left; when the rats moved in, the mice moved out.
The next month was hell (there is no other way to describe it). Twice a day I patrolled the yard, looking for bodies. I had to find them fast and dispose of them before they started getting nasty. The worst ones were the rats who died in the bog; getting them out of the iris proved to be very difficult. While the carnage was going on, the cats were not allowed outside. Luckily Murphy had no interest in dead rats that he didn't kill. The eco-safe service tech had to come out again and re-bait the traps. The total count was 18 rats and 1 mouse.
Once the rats were gone, my friend Sharon from Naturescapes of Dallas came out to help repair the holes. This meant we had to empty the bog in order to drain it and expose the holes. First we had to dig up the cannas surrounding the bog. Then we had to dig all the iris out of the bog, along with a few tubs of pea gravel. Finally we reached the liner. There must have been at least a dozen holes of varying sizes that needed to be patched (we just ignored the ones that were above the normal water line). In the process we found a few more dessicated rat bodies (we found a few more when we rebuilt the water fall later).
Well, Lake Big Fish is now a rodent-free zone. The rats are gone (but the bait boxes remain) and the field mice have not returned. I was left with a patched liner (I'm still finding gnawed spots) and 2 huge tubs of yellow Louisianna iris, most of which I simply put in the ground near the pond when it started to get cold (I couldn't give enough of them away). The birds are nesting in the arbor again. And Murphy has turned his attention to squirrels.
Identification
Texas Rodents
The Mammals of Texas - Norway Rat
The Mammals of Texas - Roof Rat
The Mammals of Texas - Marsh Rice Rat
The Mammals of Texas - Nutria
The Mammals of Texas - House Mouse
Control
Mums are one of my favorite plants.
I plant them everywhere I can find the space.
I particularly like the red and gold mums; they remind me of
Autumn in Kentucky
when all the leaves on the trees change colors.
Berries are also ripening.
These berries will be an important food source for birds and
small animals during the winter.
So will crepe myrtle seed pods.
That is why I don't deadhead the crepe myrtles or cut them back
until just before they some out in the spring.