Lets hear your pool critter stories.

[MIKEC5]

Please tell me your Pool Critter stories…

Here is mine.
We have had the pool for a week now and I realize that in addition to being a source of fun for my family and friends it takes a toll on the fauna. I end up scooping spiders, flies and other bugs out of the pool on a daily basis. This morning the GF found a half drowned baby opossum. She carefully scooped it out of the pool and set it on the brick edging where one of the dogs promptly chomped it. So she comes in sobbing because “it must have spent hours in the pool” and it was her favorite dog that killed it. I am now thinking that the dogs are good for something besides turning expensive dog food into worthless dog mess. If they can be taught to remove and dispatch pool critters it would save significantly on the Chlorine bill.

 

[whoozer]

Well this isn't mine but a friends:
My friends next door neighbor woke up to having my friends not 1 but 2 very large draft horses swimming in her pool one morning. It took them quite a while to get them out apparently they were HOT! The problem was that after they discovered a way to cool off they kept getting in the pool during the summer when the bugs were bad. Strangely enough it never damaged her liner. But they decided not to take anymore chances and put up a 10 ft fence at the expense of my friend. She showed me pics it was insane. Those horses were soooooo happy :lol:

 

[Butterfly]

Well this isn't mine but a friends:
My friends next door neighbor woke up to having my friends not 1 but 2 very large draft horses swimming in her pool one morning. It took them quite a while to get them out apparently they were HOT! The problem was that after they discovered a way to cool off they kept getting in the pool during the summer when the bugs were bad. Strangely enough it never damaged her liner. But they decided not to take anymore chances and put up a 10 ft fence at the expense of my friend. She showed me pics it was insane. Those horses were soooooo happy :lol:

I'd love to see those pix! :lol:

 

[JohnT]

I had cow footprints on my Loop-Loc cover one winter when a couple of 700lb heifers got out. Cover paid for itself in one day. We have a full safety fence now, but it doesn't keep the frogs out. Removing frogs and toads is a normal job every time it rains.

 

[Molson]

Mine is worms. Apparently my pool is Mecca to them when it rains.

 

[clayton]

frogs, frogs and more frogs, live ones, dead ones half ones and parts of ones... Now I am waiting for the snakes to find out about the party so I can deal with them too!!!!!!!!! I guess I need a few bass in there to catch them for me....

 

[257WbyMag]

Lots of frogs but I did find two dead starlings in a single skimmer last week. No idea what was going on there.

 

[vincent]

Wow, how interesting..... Pool parties for all sorts of critters... From now on I will not complain about the dozen or so insects (mostly bugs) in my pool everyday. I just let my water screen take care of that and empty every now and then. The orchestra of frogs who performed in my dug out (before I start cement) nightly have moved since I fill and added chlorine.

Thanks for opening my eyes folks...

 

[JCJR]

I have the usual spider, ants and bugs. However, a friend of mine came home from work and noticed wet footprints leading from the pool steps to the side gate. Seems like the human kind of critters are using his pool. He is looking into a security camera. happened again a couple of days later.

 

[Butterfly]

I have the usual spider, ants and bugs. However, a friend of mine came home from work and noticed wet footprints leading from the pool steps to the side gate. Seems like the human kind of critters are using his pool. He is looking into a security camera. happened again a couple of days later.

Does he have a 'pool sign'?

 

[MikeInTN]

I have the usual spider, ants and bugs. However, a friend of mine came home from work and noticed wet footprints leading from the pool steps to the side gate. Seems like the human kind of critters are using his pool. He is looking into a security camera. happened again a couple of days later.

Can he not lock the gate?

 

[JCJR]

The gate was locked, the critter must of jumped the fence. Did not happen again and this was a year ago so he is thinking some one was working outdoors near by and saw the refreshing pool.

 

[ThePez]

I got two ducks that are crapping, all over the place. Every time I see them I run out like a crazy person and scare 'em away, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm the only one in my family that does this. So from 7am to 5pm, the pool is all there's.

 

[clayton]

I got two ducks that are crapping, all over the place. Every time I see them I run out like a crazy person and scare 'em away, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm the only one in my family that does this. So from 7am to 5pm, the pool is all there's.

Duck Season starts in November... :lol:

 

[chrisa]

we have a set of ducks that are always hanging around...also have found acouple dead baby moles in the skimmer.
we just moved here the end of August and we found out quickly our area has lots of wildlife (deer, birds, squirrels, etc)

anyway, I walked out to the pool to check the skimmer basket and I hear squeak squeak. one of the little ground squirrels must have went under the pool fencing and was now treading water and was close to death....

anyway, I run and get a towel and the pool skimmer and scoop him out and yes I even wrapped him in the towel (yes, I have little kids so I didn't just want to dump him somewhere)....I made sure to keep my fingers away from him.

so we dried him off and let him rest on the patio chair in the sun for about 1 hour (the poor thing was shaking) we even gave him a bowl of cherrios....once he was warm out out of shock he ran off....so we all felt happy that we were able to save him (you would think this was a happy story right)

well, it was the very next day....guess what i find in the pool? (this time floating) yup' another ground squirrel....was it the same one? who knows...either he was super stupid or he told his friends "go ahead and drink & swim, she will save you" so this one made his way to the trash can

chris

 

[uwimage]

our squirrels drink out of the pool but so far after almost 3 years we haven't had one fall in...yet.

The other day I did have a very young bird who was stuck and flapping like crazy to get out, got it out with the skimming net set him down not 30 minutes later I heard the same noise, same bird he seemed really freaked out this time, let me keep him in the skimmer net (he could have walked right off if he wanted) put him outside the fence and he has not come back yet, this was last week...


Oh, and we get a ton of the june bugs in the skimmer...

 

[shelton236]

We have scooped out a couple of turtles that decided to swim but the big thing we see a lot of are crawdads. A city kid was out swimming last summer and came up yelling! He swore there were lobsters in the pool!

 

[HarryH3]

So the other day I was out watching my 8 year old son practice cannonballs and instructing him in the fine art of making a bigger splash. Then he says "Dad, let's see how big of a splash you make!" As I'm IN THE AIR, dropping towards the water I suddenly see that there is something else swimming along the bottom of the pool! Looked like a frog at first glance. Sure enough, a huge bullfrog had managed to find his way into the pool.

My son thinks he is a future Crocodile Hunter so off he goes into the water, determined to catch the bullfrog. But the frog is pretty big and can swim the entire length of the pool in about 5 strokes when in panic mode. It was pretty hilarious to watch. He finally cornered it on the stairs and caught it. The frog measured 16 inches from his nose to the end of his feet. 8)

 

[heatmisr]

So the other day I was out watching my 8 year old son practice cannonballs and instructing him in the fine art of making a bigger splash. Then he says "Dad, let's see how big of a splash you make!" As I'm IN THE AIR, dropping towards the water I suddenly see that there is something else swimming along the bottom of the pool! Looked like a frog at first glance. Sure enough, a huge bullfrog had managed to find his way into the pool.

My son thinks he is a future Crocodile Hunter so off he goes into the water, determined to catch the bullfrog. But the frog is pretty big and can swim the entire length of the pool in about 5 strokes when in panic mode. It was pretty hilarious to watch. He finally cornered it on the stairs and caught it. The frog measured 16 inches from his nose to the end of his feet. 8)

Now THAT'S hilarious! I am cracking up just imagining the look and panic on your face! I'm surprised you didn't leave a "critter" in the pool.....

 

[HarryH3]

Yeah, perhaps Depends should make swim models of their product? It certainly got my attention! My son had already jumped from the diving board at least 15 times but we hadn't seen the frog at all. I think he must have been holed up in the side skimmer intake until he saw 200+ pounds of me heading at him.