I never thought beyond just the idea of having a pond. I guess I thought, you dug a hole, put in a liner, some water, fish and plants and sit back and enjoy. Didn't take long to find out differently. I heard a lot about Herons and coons, dogs and problems others had with their ponds in the neighborhood. Thought it wouldn't happen to me, I had an electric fence, a dog, a scarecrow water canon, fake alligator head. I had ceramic logs and plants for hiding places for fish. Plus some expensive fish. Wrong!!The Heron came and pretty much cleaned the pond. Then I discovered the forum and started to learn what it's all about and that I wasn't the only one having these problems. Thank the Lord, I have had no snakes or turtles and hopefully won't, because if I do I'll relocate turtles, but snakes won't survive. And I have a small animal trap that I have used for wild housecats and one coon in the past and I'll use it again if need be. Glenda

Rexanne, I've had mine a couple of months now and LOVE it.. have had a visit from a coon (ate one fish) I made sure I had deep hiding caves for my fish so most survived. I do have a baby frog.. (he's so cute) you will find any excuse to sit by the pond feeding your piggy fish...
Darla

pikecoe-
Are turtles bad for the pond? I was concerned their claws and puncturing the liner. Being in Florida you'd probably have biting turtles - I wouldn't want those either!

Darla -
I will have to concider the coons too.

RexAnne

I like turtles, but DH does not. He had a nice natural pond on his farm when he was growing up. The turtles, painted and snapping and probably alligator turtles took over. Ate up all the nice bullfrogs they had and they are messy. They also are known to eat fish and I wouldn't want my fish eaten. If I had a nice big fat softshell turtle take up residence, I wouldn't mind though, cause there is no better eating anywhere IMO. Even better that frog legs or lobster. Glenda

My stuff is here! My stuff is here!

Glenda all I can say is ewwwwww! ha ha! :0)

Rexanne, I'm just south of you in Bourbonnais (BEARbonnais in the summer) My pond is a year old and is everything I wanted it to be. A restfull spot to sit, read, or chat, a hobby that is the right combination of fun and work, and a boost to my ego when visitors are at the house! Good luck and have fun!
~Kevin

Rexanne, once you have good size bull frogs, you'll want to put a bird bath up on a pedestal. Because the 'tupid frogs don't know the difference between a little bird and a big insect. We had two unfortunate drownings last year, and this spring we SAW a bird try to take a bath and Bubba was heading right for him. So we yelled and the bird only just got away. Lost a few feathers! So we put the pedestal birdbath next to the waterfall.

{{gwi:223181}}

It's very popular with the birds.

{{gwi:169738}}

That reminds me, it needs a refill. I think I'll go do that right away.

:) Mary

Mary - it looks like a tie as to who is enjoying a bath more :)

Rexanne,

My first experience of a backyard pond was while visiting a long lost friend in Ohio...we spent every evening talking, laughing, sipping really good Ohio wine in the peaceful twilight. I had to have one. The next spring I did.

There are a few things I'd do different, but I'm still amazed at what I could create by myself on a shoestring budget. And I went in eyes wide open - My water turned green right on schedule, and cleared up right on schedule, I have loved just about everything about it from day one. And every year my pond...now ponds...have changed and grown as my quest for just the right plants meshes with my idea of low maintenance ponding. I'm a plant kinda person, to each they're own...

I have tree frogs I never knew were local, leopard frogs aplenty, many birds that land to drink while I'm sitting right there, butterflies, dragonflies, even had wood ducks that checked it out (and decided it was too small). So I have created an amazing thing.

I do wish the goldfish would stop spawning, and I wish my resident 13 striped gopher would tunnel elsewhere, and I'm not a big fan of the occasional garter snakes I attract...

...But every night that I sit by my pond and listen to the water and the frogs and the crickets I forget about my day and just relax and enjoy.

Thats what my expectation was, and I won't be tradin' my pond in anytime soon.

Best of luck, and may all your dreams come true....

And WoooHoooo!!! that your stuff came!!!

I have to agree with Mary. I love all the critters it attracts. No bullfrogs, but green frogs, toads, dragonflies, birds, hummingbirds, and unfortunately a hungry heron. That was discouraging, but netting has finally persuaded him to have breakfast elsewhere. The second spring we learned a lot more than the first one while the honeymoon was still in full swing. Now, we're wiser and we love our pond. All the advice was mindboggling, but I think we've finally figured it out. The hardest thing to learn was patience. (I'll second the ewwwwww! ha ha! :0)

Oh yeah, I've repressed the dogs............
2 labs and 2 golden retrievers versus a 300ga pond makes for serious frustrations. Duh...water dogs love water! (and fish and plants)
So I did put a loop of underground fence around the pond area and a kiddie pool out for the dogs. We're all much happier!

Hi Rexanne,
How's it going since you got all your stuff in for your pond?
Update & let us all know! You know we are all a nosy bunch. LOL Dianne

Dianne,
filled up the old blowup kiddie pool today and used my half-off coupons from local nursery and got some marginals. I spent the evening moving garden hoses trying to get the layout just right, had to quit when the mosquitoes got bad. Monday I get help digging the pond and then it's all up to me doing the plumbing. I'll be taking pictures as it goes. I'm using a borrowed computer right now because mine sick, but after it's fixed I'll try posting some progress photos.

RexAnne

rexanne,
I too am in zone 5, Wonder Lake.
I remember when I decided to redue the back of my house I thought it would be nice to have a back yard pond. I knew without a big lottery win I'd never make it to the 'Rockies' with a crystal clear lake or stream running through my property so I took a shot at the next best thing.
I procrastinated for a couple years, did alot of research along the way, read some books, bought a few videos. What seemed at first overwhelming gradually began to take shape once I kicked myself in the butt and finally got started.
As a newbie I knew that I had an awful lot of learning to do and also knew that after finding this forum I had alot of help and experience backing me up. Spent alot of time 'lurking.
Expectations? The only thing I knew was that I wanted something that was going to give me more pleasure than hassle and the only way to find that out was to build it, knowing that I could take it apart or alter it if things didn't work out, so with a sparkle of optimism, I set off on my way.
It turned out to be the best decision I made in my life!
Only my third year and the pond has matured and gotten better with each passing day. (pics)
Your expectations will come true. As I was told here,__if you build it they will come. The birds have been using it as they're personal spa. Had a 'Mallard' couple show up this spring but had to shoo them away when they started wreaking havoc on the plants. Even had a 'Belted Kingfisher' show up last year. Thank god he didn't stick around. Must have been better fishing elsewhere!
The thing I miss the most is my bullfrogs, 'Lumpy', 'Rastus', and the rest of the gang (pics). They all died this last winter. Found them floating the first warm day of spring in the pond and the skimmer. Not really sure what it was that killed them. Alot of theories and opinions out there, but only the deceased know for sure. The first year I started coaxing them to come after crickets,___ and then last year they would chase me around the pond begging for 'night crawlers'.
Bought some new tadpoles at Petco this spring and some of the 'tads' have 'morphed' into frogs already. It will take some time before they trust me. A month ago the little ones would 'chirp' and jump for the pond when I showed up,____now they'll let me get a little closer before they dive. Won't be long!!
It's almost three in the morning, the 7&7s are starting to take hold, I'm starting to ramble, and it's time to call it a night.
Good luck, stay optimistic, and happy ponding!!!

MaryO, nice pond!

Witz

{{gwi:227774}}

{{gwi:227775}}

{{gwi:221256}}

{{gwi:227777}}




{{gwi:227779}}

Hey ponders,
We started digging today, got my savio waterfall/filter in it's hole. I'll test it for water tightness tomorrow. That savio flex pipe was hard to get in the fitting, hope it doesn't leak.

Witz - I am looking forward to seeing the pictures in your post, the computer (DH's work computer) I am using now wont let me see them.

RexAnne