Putting a pool in a forest

[Jim&Mary]

My wife and I live in a dense forest with a great deal of wildlife. We will be fencing around the pool area to keep some of the wildlife out but creatures like racoons, bobcats, wildturkeys, fox, rabbits, etc... will be able to get in. Our property is miles away from "civilization" and is largely untamed. We are worried if we put in a nice in-ground lagoon type pool that it will attrack animals as a source of water and we will have a huge maintenance mess on our hands. Our question: Is it problematic to place a medium to large in-ground pool in a forest setting with a large amount of wildlife?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Pool Helper]

It may very well create problems. Perhaps a finer mesh fence will help to keep the animals where they belong and away from your pool.

You could consider hanging fishing nets over the fence to reduce the gap size. Small creatures such as mice may still find the pool attractive if there is no source of fresh water (pond, stream . . .) nearby.

One of my customers uses a high voltage wire system he got from Australia, where they use it to keep sheep in one area without the expense of fencing. It is disturbing to animals but will not kill them; it is only a repellent.

[TigerHawk]

I don't think you need an electric fence, that seems a bit extreme. If you put in a normal wood privacy fence with some type of skirting on the outside you should be able to keep out most small varmints. We don't live in the middle of the woods, but close enough to have decent animal traffic--raccoons, foxes, squirrels etc. We have an 8 foot chain link fence with metal band insert things wove between the links and it does a great job but animals still find a way into the back yard--if they want to get in, they're going to find a way. Most larger animals will probably stay away from the chlorine smell and I've noticed they stay away from the pool when there is no source of food--ie, don't put out bird food, corn for squirrels, salt blocks for the deer, etc. We have a couple of large oak trees near our pool that drop tons of acorns in the fall. If I keep the acorns picked up then the animals will not hang around. Years when I slacked off on the acorns the animals have chewed through my covers to get at the acorns. One night I had five raccoons sitting on my leaf cover stuffing their faces with acorns! You might also consider purchasing some plastic predators to post around your yard--like one of those plastic owls you could mount somewhere out of eyesight from the pool, they look silly but do actually work. Do you have a dog? Train your dog to do its business along the fence line--even though you clean up after the dog, other animals will still notice the scent. Also, if you have a lot of birds in the area consider getting a plastic snake or two and float them in your pool or place on top of the cover when you're not using it to keep out the loons and ducks. The guy who owned our house before us had a real problem with the squirrels and he used a trap to catch them and drove them out to the nearby park; I can only imagine the thousands of homeless squirrels wandering around out there!---I've found that our dog helps keep most of the squirrels away.
Anyhow, good luck and post what methods you use for taming the animals!

[pacobell]

Hi,

I make a device designed to allow the small animals (less than 1 pound) to escape. Website is down for the count

[shyr]

a mesh pool fence is ideal in keeping you pool safe fron unwanted intrusion due to its transparent mesh and climb resistant nature. the plastec predators suggested by tigerhawk can be of big help. good luck!

[DEPET]

I have an above ground pool in a forest and I put an aquarium style liner in it (fish on the sides and etc.) and I did have a problem with a redtail hawk for a short time...he thought he was going to get an easy meal and kept swooping down trying to make a catch. Fortunately, he never did. This happened as I was having it filled and the water was murky and looked like a small pond. As far as squirrels and raccoon go, when the winter cover is on they will run across it. No real damage. Just don't open your pool until after all the tree seeds have fallen in the Spring ( learned this one the hard way), they really clog up the pump and filter and close it before the leaves start falling in the Fall. Being in ground you may have problems with water snakes and that type of thing but usually the other creatures will stay away because of all the activity surrounding a pool. Hope you enjoy it because I certainly enjoy mine.