Raccoon troubles?

[Dubeckyj]

Hey all,

I'm finally moving my alligator gar outside, and people keep asking me how I'm protecting my pond against raccoons/possums/skunks. It never occurred to me that a ~3' alligator gar would be on their menu. To members here with outdoor gar - do you have any problems with preparatory wildlife? Other than that one goofy thread a while back, it doesn't seem to discussed often.

 

[esoxlucius]

I'm from the uk. I don't have a pond, nor am I planning on getting one. But if I did, and bearing in mind we only have a fraction of the potential predators that you have in Canada, I would protect the fish.

Regardless of anyone elses experiences all it needs is one particularly hungry opportunistic predator and your fish could get killed, or badly injured.

Just out of interest, I thought the outside winter water temps in Canada would be way to cold for a gar?

 

[tlindsey]

Hey all,

I'm finally moving my alligator gar outside, and people keep asking me how I'm protecting my pond against raccoons/possums/skunks. It never occurred to me that a ~3' alligator gar would be on their menu. To members here with outdoor gar - do you have any problems with preparatory wildlife? Other than that one goofy thread a while back, it doesn't seem to discussed often.

I personally would worry more about a Great Heron or Bald Eagle. I really don't think a Raccoon will want to tackle a 3 ft Alligator gar. How deep is the pond?

 

[krichardson]

I suspect you must have a fairly sizeable and hopefully deep enough pond in order to accommodate a three foot fish....years ago I learned the hard way that my small and shallow pond was pretty much a deathtrap to my terrapins and koi for the creatures of the night.

 

[Dubeckyj]

Just out of interest, I thought the outside winter water temps in Canada would be way to cold for a gar?

I'm fairly close in latitude to the northernmost part of their pre-human range. A bit of heat in the winter and they'll be fine.

 

[AaronKWolfe]

I'm not in Canada, but I agree with others. I would be far more worried about birds of prey than I would be rodents. I'd actually be more concerned for the rodents safety being near a 3 foot gar haha. But I definitely do think having a net over the pond would be a good idea, regardless of what fish you have or how big they are.

 

[Dubeckyj]

I personally would worry more about a Great Heron or Bald Eagle. I really don't think a Raccoon will want to tackle a 3 ft Alligator gar. How deep is the pond?

Eagles aren't a concern here but I'm curious how big of a fish a heron would go for. Pond is just over 3' deep.

 

[Dubeckyj]

I suspect you must have a fairly sizeable and hopefully deep enough pond in order to accommodate a three foot fish....years ago I learned the hard way that my small and shallow pond was pretty much a deathtrap to my terrapins and koi for the creatures of the night.

That's a good point - I completely forgot that the fish will just swim down and raccoons don't carry pool nets.

 

[AaronKWolfe]

Eagles aren't a concern here but I'm curious how big of a fish a heron would go for. Pond is just over 3' deep.

I think a heron would more likely kill it and then eat what it can. A gar is much safer than a koi or a similar fish, but I definitely think a heron would still try going for it.

 

[krichardson]

That's a good point - I completely forgot that the fish will just swim down and raccoons don't carry pool nets.

Well,raccoons can be quite the industrious little pilferers and using some sort of tool to land your slumbering fish may not be outside of the realm of possibility....aside from all of that the deeper the pond,the safer the fish.We are talking raccoons here, not otters lol.