MUSKRATS

Common Concerns & Safety Issues

Transmit of diseases (Giardia or Tularemia), tunneling efforts may cause erosion, and may attack humans (especially children).
 Due to a lack of natural predators, muskrats remain unchecked. 
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Customers & Locations

Parks
Athletic Fields
Golf Courses
Lake Front Properties
Private Communities
Industrial Sites
Business Parks
Townships
County Governments
Boroughs
Schools
Municipalities

Professional Solutions

  • Secure banks 
  • Fencing
  • Trapping and removal  
  • Repellent  

Understanding the
MUSKRAT

Grouping Rodent / Furbearer / Omnivore
Nicknames Marsh Rabbit, Pond Rat, Rat, @#$%^&*!
Best Known For Mainly known for its vertically flattened tail utilized as a rudder. Muskrats are known to sit partially erect on its hind feet when eating plant materials. Den holes in the banks of ponds and streams are common. As a result, smooth trails down banks are created which are called "slides". Slides are very common in the snow.
Life Span 5 to 6 years is possible, though less than 12 months is average.
Mating Season Spring through summer
Reproductive Details After a 30 day gestation period 5 to 8 young are born in a litter. 2 to 5 litters per year. Females born in a first litter may be capable of raising their own litter by the end of summer or early fall. Why so many? They are a food source for many predators.
Dispersal Young disperse between litters; additional dispersal occurs in the spring.
Habitat Dependent upon water; lakes, rivers, creeks, ponds, and marshes, seeps, and poor drainage areas.
Activity Cycle Muskrats are both diurnal and nocturnal. Activity peaks near dusk and dawn.
Food Roots and stems of aquatic plants (i.e. cattail, bullrushes, water lilies). When growing near water, legumes, grasses, grains, garden crops and fruits are readily eaten. Animal protein makes up a small portion of the muskrat diet including crayfish, freshwater mussels, fish and frogs.
Den Sites Dens can be found in creek and pond banks. Dens are underground often with the entrance below the water line. Muskrats also build huts similar to beaver huts but smaller (typically in marsh areas where dirt banks are not available for digging into).
Damage Signs Hole-digging can undermine earthen dams, dikes, irrigation canals and farm ponds. Bank erosion can sometimes be an issue, as well as feeding damage on ornamental plants in a suburban setting. Ornamental pond and pool liners can be severely damaged from burrowing muskrats.
Treatment A form of treatment is trapping and removal or securing banks above and below the waterline with chain link fence. Fence above the water line can be covered with topsoil to hide and hold the fence in place.
Distinguishing Features Brown colorations even sometimes black in color. Total length including an almost hairless, flat, rudder-like tail averages 20-25 inches. Tail drag marks are often visible in mud. Small front feet with larger, partially webbed hind feet. Muskrats will eat upright, squatting on tail and using front feet to hold food.
Disease Giardia: a severe water-born intestinal tract disorder also known as beaver fever. Giardia can decimate muskrat populations, often occurring in the summer during drought and low water conditions. Tularemia: a potentially fatal bacterial disease that in humans begins with symptoms of fever and chills, head and muscle aches, cough, progressive weakness and pneumonia.

Integrated Wildlife Management is our comprehensive and effective one-stop solution. This approach brings together the six necessary elements to successfully resolve wildlife / human conflicts and when possible, safely relocate wildlife to a more suitable habitat.

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