"Katra" wrote in message
...

## Me too, but frogs don't appeal to me as food.

Never had frog legs?

$$ No.

## And those water snakes love fresh fish. :-( I found the best price
on
nets at ACE Hardware.

There is one near here, but Lowe's also has both pond and gardening
supplies, including both deer and bird netting. Deer netting comes in
larger lengths and widths for a cheaper price and is almost identical.
I'll probably look at that first.

$$ I went for the least visible netting. The fine black bird netting
worked.

## Once herons know your pond is there you cannot get rid of them.
Shooting
them is illegal so nets are the only answer.

I understand... I know they are protected but I'll bet you are tempted
sometimes. ;-) It's like, with all the lakes and rivers in this area,
why are you bothering my pond???

$$ Exactly! Ponds of koi and GF are like taking candy from a baby for
herons - such easy pickings for the birds. As for the King Fishers -
nothing but nets work. They were a lesser problem here in TN.

## We have few doves here and they're not a problem. We used the fake
owls
and snakes in hopes of discouraging the herons and King Fishers.

I've never seen a kingfisher in this area.
But that does not mean they are not here.

$$ I never saw them either until we put the ponds in. I saw it dive into
one pond and in seconds flew away with a beautiful koi. :*( It seemed to
just drop out of the sky. So we had both KF and herons in our ponds.
Believe me we lost so many fish that we said if the nets failed we would
give up fish and let the snakes and bullfrogs have the ponds. The last
straw was the beautiful yellow transparent butterfly koi the herons got. He
was my favorite with long flowing gossamer fins and tail... and very
unusual. I went to ACE that very afternoon and by sundown the ponds were
netted. I drape the net over those cheap garden fences that look like
upside-down Us. They come in 10' lengths for about $3 at Wally World. I
bought the dark green ones. It holds the way above the surface of the
water. Only tiny fogs, newts and baby snakes can get through the net.

## Yes, you'll learn a lot here and on rec.ponds.

I'm not on rec.ponds, but I probably should join.
From what I've seen so far, there is a LOT more to maintaining a pond
than just digging a hole in the ground, putting in a waterfall/filter
system and letting it go!
I need to research it thoroughly before starting it!

$$ Yes, that would be an excellent idea. :-) Don't jump into something you
may regret later.
--
Carol.... the frugal ponder...
"Eat Right, Exercise, Die Anyway."
~~~~~~~ }((((((o
"They laugh because I'm different, I laugh because they're all the same."
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