Crawfish, better known as crayfish, are lobster-like crustaceans that live in freshwater. Their colonies also thrive in ponds, paddy fields, and ditches. Woe unto you if you live in a marshy area because the crawfish might gatecrash your party.
The Center of Attraction
Crayfish are a nuisance. They burrow into lawns during the rainy season, thus hurting the landscape. With over three hundred mudbug species available, eliminating them becomes an uphill task. The most common types include the:
- Digger crayfish
- Devil crayfish
- Tasmanian giant crayfish
But what attracts them to your garden? Water puddles might be your biggest problem. They are a magnet for crawfish mounds because they provide the right conditions for habitation.
Besides, the ponds are perfect food reservoirs, given they hold algae and other plant material in place. The colonies, if uncontrolled, cause a persisting problem on your lawn. Mitigation efforts are, therefore, vital in the fight against a crayfish invasion.
Things You Must Do
These crustaceans are perfect home delicacies. They can, however, turn into a nightmare when they invade your property unannounced. But how do you control their numbers without hurting them?
Well, this guide will teach you how to get rid of crawfish in your lawn in the following steps.
1. Bait Them
Crawdads make your garden unsightly. They even affect the landscape, forcing you to spend hundreds of dollars in refurbishment efforts. But do you have to endure such pains every other rainy season? It’s simple.
Setting metal crawfish traps in designated zones might save you a penny. The traps filled with chicken bait catch the crawfish alive. You can then eat them or throw them in a distant freshwater lake. Heck, you can even open a crawfish museum and make some money from your predicament.
2. Pour Lye into the Burrows
Have you exhausted all other crawfish elimination options? If so, consider using the lye to advance your agenda. Lye is a sodium hydroxide compound that eliminates crawfish colonies when poured into burrows.
You must, however, use a tablespoon amount per mound. Also, handle the compound with care and keep it away from dogs because of its caustic nature. But overall, lye is harmless when used on the soil.
3. Use Soapy Water
Did you know that dawn dish soap can chase the crawfish away? The detergent, when mixed with water, kills the grub the crawdads eat. Destroying the food reserves, therefore, forces the “guests” to abandon ship when it matters.
Also, soapy waters do not harm ecosystems, making them eco-friendly.
4. Add Crayfish Repellents Into the Mounds
Crayfish repellents are costlier than other home remedies but might be perfect for eliminating crawdads from your lawn. The food-based products, whether in granular or spray form, alter the soils’ composition making it inhabitable.
Crawfish then migrate to other locations leaving your space open to refurbishment. You must, anyhow, reapply the powder often to keep the irritants at bay. Voice and gas options are also available.
5. Build Barriers Around the Premise
Mudbugs use the route of least resistance. Erecting barriers, therefore, limits crustacean numbers in the lawn. You can then deal with the remnants by employing any of the above techniques.
Walls, however, do not make your home full-proof.
6. Flatten the Castles
Mound demolition is one of the most effective ways of dealing with crawfish numbers. The process makes the colony inaccessible. But that is not all you must do.
You need to apply natural deterrents on the entrances and exits to prevent the gutsy builders from reclaiming their property.
7. Landscape Lawn Again
As you now know, crayfish habitate small pools and puddles. It is, therefore, vital that you resculpture the land to prevent surface runoff from forming crawfish ponds. Doing so also improves lawn aesthetics.
Conclusion
There are over three hundred crawfish species known to man. However, burrowing crayfish are the most notorious for attacking kitchen gardens and backyards. Their numbers increase during the rainy season and in their wake, cause a lot of destruction.
If unchecked, the crawfish population might grind your life to a halt. Moreover, it might put your life in jeopardy by attracting scavengers. Extermination is, thus, the only viable solution to ending the menace.
So, how do you control mudbug numbers without harming them? One, you can set up barriers when it is dry to prevent the bugs from burrowing into your property during the rainy season. Second, you can apply DIY solutions to curb the menace. Last, you can use manufactured products to repel crayfish from their colonies. It all depends on preference.
But all things considered, you must choose eco-friendly solutions over poison-injection techniques. Recall, organic methods prevent you from contaminating groundwater sources, something that has a ripple effect on you and other animals.
Above all, biological technologies are inexpensive and do not take long to set up.
Thanks for the help. I have 3 acres of these bastards to deal with.