Red Swamp Crayfish
- Thread starter jenhunt
- Start date
I wouldn't recommend it. Many northern states treat them as invasive species -- they have been found established as far north as Wisconsin, where they outcompete white river crayfish. http://dnr.wi.gov/invasives/pdfs/redcrayfish.pdf
I kind of remember reading something about that. Are they sure it was a population that had persisted over multiple years though? It seems odd a crayfish native to the Southern USA (Gulf Coast) would have sufficient cold tolerance to survive in Northern environments over multiple years.
Interesting question. I would have said no but after doing some reading i am not so sure now. I was familiar with the Wisconsin situation, believed that it might have simply been as mentioned a single year type thing with no overwintering, I believe. I they eradicated that population before that could be put to the test. heard someone found some in Maine in a pond a few years back but that was no longer present. However apparently they are present in sandusky Bay in lake Erie and have been for a few years. Also in New York (Hudson River and Long Island). Also native to southern Ohio and Illinois. Not sure if anyone from Ohio or New York can shed farther light on that.It gets fairly cold in those areas so I beleive they have greater cold tolerance then beleived. Sandusky is Climate hardiness zone 5 or 6 on par with parts of Southern Canada and many spots in the Northern USA.
procambarus clarkii is a pretty common crayfish here in California. I believe there found all over the western states all the way up to Washington. I have them in the lake I live on and have kept them in my backyard in a 100gallon tank over the winter. They kept just fine in pretty cold water. I never check the temp but I say in the low 40'sF easily.