They're back - Crayfish/Crawfish/Crawdad

Every year I have this Crayfish/Crawfish/Crawdad problem. They live in the wet soil under the surface and build mounds all over. In the 5 years I've live here, I have only seen one alive as it scampered back into it's hole. I had a post on this last year on TBN, and couldn't come up with a solution. I found this on a web search:

"Since the methods used to kill crayfish can contaminate nearby bodies of water, the following treatments are suggested by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

1) Dissolve one pound of chloride of lime in three gallons of water. Application can be made with compressed air sprayers or a watering can with the sprayer nozzle removed. One to two ounces of this liquid should be applied into each crayfish burrow and the opening of the burrow closed by pressing the earth together with the foot. The chloride of lime will kill the crayfish within a few hours.

2) Sodium hydroxide (lye) at the rate of two or three pellets (1/2 tsp) per burrow provides effective control. This method has been used to control crayfish in narrow earth dams.

3) Mix two quarts of turpentine and one-fourth pound of soap powder with one quart of water. Mix one part of this stock solution in 50 parts of water and apply in the same manner as given in Number 1 above."


So, are they implying that the 3 methods listed are OK near a water source? I told the kids to tell their cats to eat them, but so far no luck!

Best give Granny and Jed Clampert a call. Granny's always needing fixing's for the stew.

Egon

<font color="purple"> Best give Granny and Jed Clampert a call. Granny's always needing fixing's for the stew. </font color>

That's the ticket!! Think of them as a renewable food source.

Way back when I grew up in NE Texas, we used to catch them by trolling a bit of bacon tied onto a string. They're good for bait, too.

Mosey, I have the same problem.I have a lot of time in the building of my 2 ponds and they stand a good chance of being destroyed by the crawdads.I am going to try the lime to see if I can get them under control.I dug one up when building my ponds and he "'took one for the team'.This year the war is on.

How do the crawdads wreck the ponds? I thought they were harmless tiny lobsters. Why are they a problem?

curious

T

I think they honeycomb the dam with tunnels. Thus encouraging leaks. Preditors may also do damage trying to get at them.

Yea they dig holes through the pond ****.

Here in Louisiana we eat them. Many farmers have them as a second crop after their main crop is harvested. The farming aspect works well in conjunction with those farmers growing rice since both crops require flooding with water.

I am happy for the crawdads in my tank (pond). They don't burrow far enough to do real damage to the dam I don't think, and they are a great food source for my bass and channel cat. In fact, we had a crawfish boil here about a month ago. When we were done we still had a whole ice chest full of live crawfish we had not boiled yet. Rather than wasting them I dumped them in my tank and I'm sure the bass went to town on them. The best fish bait there is.

If they could burrow all the way through your dam you would see HUGE piles of diggings somewhere. All I ever see is a few inches, because their holes are only 2 to 3 feet deep. Most of the time the ones around my tank burrow down from the bank and into the pond under the water line.

Get some string and bacon and catch those rascals and boil them up like lobsters. They are a real delicacy around here, although I personally don't eat them.