While hand-pulling the Water Hyacinths, I was accosted by any number of water spiders. These critters made mad dashes across the water, climbed up my socks and took threatening stances as if to scare me away from their domain. Although they are a bit creepy looking, I worried not about them. I have yet to be bitten by one even though I know that I have probably squeezed a myriad of them in the handfuls of mushy, dead plants. The largest of these was probably about two inches across the legs. The water spiders love hiding in the plants and at night weave intricate webs across the pond. If I rise early in the morning, I can find dozens of moths and mosquitoes hanging in the webs. The spiders do a grand job of ridding the yard of bugs! So, they stay. I have no problem with a few spiders living in and around the pond.
After I decided to wade right in the pond and lift out the Water Lilies, I found another friend. This time, a small frog stared at me from beneath the driftwood that had become lodged in the lilies. Even when I moved the piece of wood, the frog did not move. I suppose that it still might be a bit cool for the frog to be active but I would rather think that it knew I meant no harm. After a bit, I scooped up the frog and let it reside in a tub of water that held my saved Coontail Fern and two Water Hyacinths. I added the driftwood to his new temporary residence and he seemed quite happy. Tomorrow when the pond is refilled, I will release the frog back into his permanent home. Several other frogs were not as tame as this little guy or they would have been placed in the tub as well. Tonight, the little guy may just decide to vacate his tub and join his buddies in the pond but for now he seemed to be satisfied. I do like the frogs. They do a grand job catching bugs as well plus give me a nightly serenade of chirps and croaks! The frogs stay.
After "playing" in the pond for about two hours, if was finally cleaned to perfection! All was neat and tidy. The Water Lilies remained but only two of nearly a hundred Water Hyacinths were added back to the pond. A handful of Coontail made the cut and was added as well. I was pleased. As I tugged the heavy Water Lilies into place, I noticed a bit of the mud wiggle. Ahhh! Another critter! This was too large to be my dragonfly larvae or any of the water beetles. Plus, I saw a flash of red! What was this wiggly critter? I poked at the mud beneath the lilies. Uh oh. That wiggle came from a snake! SNAKE! Eek! Here I am standing in the middle of a slippery pond and I find a snake! Even though I could tell this was a small snake of only about fifteen inches, I was still a bit leery. I eased my way out of the pond and called to my son. Between the two of us, we managed to corral the snake and flip it into a bucket. I was taking no chances of trying to hand-catch a snake that was covered with slick mud! Once the snake was in the bucket, I rinsed it off a bit so we could determine if this was one that should stay put. I would love to see a few Garter Snakes take up residence in the pond but I sure do not wish to have a Cottonmouth Moccasin as a neighbor! Luckily, we determined that this was a Banded Water Snake and nonvenomous. Still, since it closely resembled the moccasin, it could cause a fright later so it was released into the Bayou. There the critter could live out its days without giving me any future jitters. The snake did NOT stay!
Now the pond is cleared of the mass of Water Hyacinths and one snake so I can move on to a new chore in yard cleaning. With this almost finished, planting of the gardens will be the next chore on the agenda. The grounds are ready and barring any freezes, I hope to get my squash and tomatoes planted! Hopefully, no more snakes will be encountered!
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