I am new to this Forum, building a 16 17 A lake, am wondering what is a reasonably foolproof and economical way to deter, prevent muskrats in the dam before they become a problem, they are reasonably prolific in this area of central MO and can be devastating to dams, have seen many dams damaged or almost destroyed by them,, Thanks
Go to Texas A&M Aquaculture fisheries and pond management. Look for Kentucky's managing Muskrat problems.
I have struggled with Muskrats in my 3 acre pond. I agree with Journeyman as above that a 110 conibear is a good choice to trap them. There are plenty of YouTube videos to describe how to use them. I ran into troubles when the rats got into my levee next to the outflow pipe. They burrowed in next to the pipe and then tunneled under it and then back along it for 4-5 feet. The concern for me was that water would start tracking along pipe and wash it out. I used sand bags and dammed up the area immediately in front of the pipe and then rented a small excavator and dug out the tunnels and dens and then filled it back in being careful to pack the soil back in tightly. Fortunately, they had not tunneled back as far as the first seep collar. Then I put a load of rip rap in the area. I used 6-8” rock and made sure it extended 4’ above and below the water line and 15-20 yards on each side. If the goal is prevention, then the best way to prevent problems is to rip rap wherever you feel like there is a vulnerable area. It was too expensive and labor intensive for me to rip rap my entire levee, so I only did the area that gave me the most heartburn for possible catastrophic failure. I now trap aggressively and pay close attention to the levee, watch for active runs and trap them ASAP. So far it is working.
During dam construction I've had some clients install rolls of chain link fence...note these were small dams and it was economically feasible. At least the dam structure is protected this way, but rats can obviously still use other bank areas on the pond, but won't threaten the integrity of the dam. I've never read about rats causing a dam to fail, but better safe than sorry.
Thanks a bunch guys, these are all great tips, its going to be costly to rip-rap the whole length of the dam, about 650' but may have to, as an excavating contractor myself, I have fixed a few pond dams that had extensive muskrat damage, had a client last summer that we repaired his emergency spillway, it had washed out and lowered his water level by about 5 ft and been left that way for many years, after we fixed it and brought the water level back to original we discovered, after the first rain that muskrats had poked the dam full of holes at the lower elevation, drained it right back down swiftly, we had to completely rework the top 6 ft of the dam, I know the connebear trick but was hoping to avoid the problem before it started, Thanks again guys for the input.
4'x50' rolls of chain online quick pricing looks like around $70 - 650 dam run would be around $900 - might be able to get away with just 8' coverage on front side of dam for $1800. I guess I figured it would cost significantly more...not a bad initial investment in protecting the dam?
110's work great but are out of comision on the first muskrat till you come back to check your traps...colony or funnel traps just keep gathering them up
Actually that may not be as expensive as I had thought, actually be pretty good insurance. that galvanized fencing material should last a long time, Thanks, Ill look into that, I think I got a yr or two before it gets full I figure so I got some time, might be able to find some from a local fencing company too. as for the colony traps, never heard of anything like that, would love to have some info on that.
Colony traps are simply cages with one way doors...they enter and can't escape and drown. Much simpler - I've used them with success in the past.