muskrat den Archives

Muskrats in the Spring

May 11, 2015 @ 2:28 pm

Spring is so brassy …

And sometimes, it brings muskrats …

Muskrat signs on the pond bottom – first of the season. The fresh tan dirt on the normally dark bottom, indicates a muskrat has been holing out my bank nearby.

Tan dirt from ratty holing out my pond bank

I found the hole – after 10 minutes or so of searching – had to bend up a pole to find it. It was narrower than others I’ve found.

So I grabbed a rusting #110 trap, set it, and placed it over the hole. A stick helps keep it upright. And a stake through the ring chained to the trap keeps everything from being carted away by other animals, or an animal wounded in the trap. I think it’s usually fatal though.

Some older nearby holes ... — Some older nearby holes …

I hope it hasn’t already eaten the water lily bulbs I put in earlier this spring.

Eureka – one less muskrat

December 3, 2014 @ 1:03 pm

Today – my first muskrat … caught in the trap I’d been focusing on, set on a hole to the den on the SW side of the pond. I’d reset it yesterday, pushing it down firmly into the mud in front of that entrance.

And at noon today, when I went down to the pond, there was a muskrat caught in the trap – it’s butt sticking out of the hole. Obviously caught as it was entering the den through that hole.

Do not know how the muskrat came to be outside of the den, as they are nocturnal. So it was likely inside a den when I set the trap around noon yesterday.

So, either there are other holes I haven’t found yet for this den, or it was using both dens (there’s one in the NW corner, and this one in the SW side) and moving from one to the other.

Excuse me for not providing a pic.

Ahhhh

December 2, 2014 @ 3:28 pm

Ahhh – found the other muskrat den – in the NW corner, by the reed hutch, which seems to have been opened up by whatever. I found it by following a stream of water from the pond, which should not have been, into the bank – stuck my cane in, wiggled it about, and lo and behold – there was open space inside my pond bank, above the water level. I’ll get em, said the hopeful trapper. Sooner or later.