Our backyard is a very wet area that is only dry for three months of the year (July, Aug, Sept). Mowing this area is extra challenging because of the crawdad castles or as they are better known in Arkansas, crawdad chimneys. They really dull the lawn mover blades. There are over 300 species of crawdads world wide. Like their relatives, the crabs, these are "edible crustacean," just ask our neighbors to the south, the Cajuns. I have tried eating them (they are served at area buffets), but I don't like the taste of crawdads (a.k.a. mudbugs), but then again I don't like lobster either. I had an old friend whose solution to the mowing issue was to drag an old mattress spring behind his riding mower through the yard to level all the chimneys before mowing. Why do they build chimneys anyway? Their tunnels may extend down into the earth 3 ft or more, sometimes being a single burrow going straight down, but more often being a main tunnel with a couple of side tunnels, each with a room at the end. They are normally full of water. They actually use their legs and mouth parts to dig up mud and make it into a little ball called a pellet. Each pellet is taken to the surface and put on the surface. The next pellet is set beside the first. This continues, much like a brick layer putting bricks on one layer, then making another layer, etc. until a building is totally bricked. The crawfish makes the chimney out of many, many pellets of mud. Take a close look the next time you see one and you will clearly see this neat system.
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