We ordered 60 by mail from a supplier on the coast. The poor things came packed in a foam box with wood shavings and ice to keep them 'fresh'.
Cherax destructor. The 'yabby'. These were about 40 grams in weight each and approximately 10 cm long.
Unfortunately, the package went to Orange and despite paying for delivery, we had to pick it up from Lithgow. So, it was a full 48 hours before they made it into their lovely new home....the dam......
The dam is about 200 square metres in size. We think it might be about 1 metre or more in depth at the deepest. It's only half full.
Well, I surveyed the dam for many hours before the release date. I was hoping that there would be yabbies already. I saw no sign of them, nor that of any other creature. The odd bubble here and there was of no great concern to me - I was sure that it was the normal action of bacteria, gases, breakdown etc. Hmm.
The day I ordered the yabbies, we went to the dam to throw a few more logs in for habitat. Imagine our surprise when we noticed the many (20?) white 'things' floating on the surface.......
This is a zoomed photo, cut and magnified, and not presenting very clearly.
Yes, well, that's a turtle. A long-necked turtle. I suppose we'll have to add that to our 'fauna' list. They're plentiful in Australia (due to there being so many farm dams). But how on earth did they appear out of nowhere? They were either already there and I hadn't noticed them (unlikely) or they made their way to the dam after 4 days of off and on again rainfall (more likely).
They eat yabbies so we must (eat?) catch them.
I constructed a trap out of chicken wire and it works!
Tacobelle getting up close and personal. She's so brave.
I've managed to catch about two per day (four is the maximum) and hope that we might be able to empty the dam of them. We release them into a creek that's about 15 kilometres away from here. Bless.
Hopefully we'll have yabbies proliferating over the next few years. We'll see.....
