Ok recently my ponds have been a haven for fish eating predators , i had three ponds with a total of about 30 fish , well after 2 or 3 disappeared from one pond i spent an evening watching and sure enough an owl ( a big one) swooped in for the kill , i scared him off with some hooting and hollering and the help of an "air soft" pistol ( shoots plastic BB's ) only aimed at branches near him not at him it seemed to work he never came back , anyway several days later i noticed a lot of fish were missing "hmmmm" i said to myself , "he's back " but no! not an owl this time "mama Hawk" (redtail) was bringing fish dinners to her new little ones , my fiance' saw her swoop and take one ,"damn it " i said to myself and proceeded to buy a bird net " aha that'll stop 'em !" and for the pond furthest away i built a makeshift pergola over it so no bird could swoop , yay!!!!! it worked no more bird predators , so a few weeks later what do i find ? well i find on successive days dead fish floating and one (only one)) missing "hmmmm, what would only take one but kill two or three?" raccoon , cat, turtle? ohhhhh no! more sleepless nights , so anyway after a few relatively unproductive seek and destroy missions on my part i gave up and noticed the fish were doing ok , Well today!! oh yes today ! i was feeding the fish when i noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye , actually it kind of startled me and with a step back i noticed this strange creature long slithery brown with 3 yellow stripes along its serpent like body , i thought its a snake a garter snake ! but what kind of snake has a fish tail for a tongue :razz: haha , oh yes it had a fish in its mouth , so i found a pair of pliers (just in case my snake i.d was incorrect) and captured the rascal, now i am the owner/jailer of a two and a bit foot garter snake , i would release it but i have to take it to the woods far away to be sure it wont return , its 105 degrees and probably hotter in the land rover so i shall wait for this evening ..... But it is CAPTURED!!!!!, just thought i'd let you all know ....
