We live in NE Ohio in a small city (pop. 26K), in an older house in the “city center.” Over the course of several years, we’ve installed threee interconnected itty-bitty ponds (a “water feature”!) using those pre-formed pond liners and have a host of goldfish living therein.
About a week ago, I noticed a lot of plant debris on the surface of one of the ponds. Tonight, I saw a small critter (rabbit size?) dash from one pond to another and submerge.
Muskrat? Nutria? The weird thing is that we are at least mile from a body of water of any size. What could it be? How did it get here?
Sounds like a muskrat to me. It no doubt walked there overland. Many young animals disperse away from their primary habitat in search of greener fields; some find new habitat, others lose out. A mile doesn’t sound that far for a muskrat to walk.
AFAIK, nutria are limited to the Gulf coastal states and Chesapeake Bay, and are much much larger than the animal you describe.
Those things are huge, too. I hit one with my car a few months ago and it was like running over a log. I felt terrible, and came home crying.
Are they pests? Will they cause trouble for the OP?
They will eat aquatic vegetation, especially cat-tails, and other vegetation near the water. They could cause some disturbance to plantings. Although mainly vegetarian, they may also eat the odd goldfish. For shelter, they will either dig a burrow in the side of the pond, or construct a lodge out aquatic vegetation. The plant debris mentioned in the OP could be the start of a lodge.
