Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Help! I have muskrats!

Ok I just made the 1st trip around the pond to pick up trash and look at the fish. I noticed what looked like fresh dirt on top of the normal colored bottom of the pond in several places. So I got more curious and got closer to the edge when the pond bank gave out. it gave out because there was a tunnel back into the bank. I have found at least 6 dens so far. The kick in the pants is that I have never seen one rat on this pond and I live on it!!

I know how to trap them and I have a very quiet .22LR Ruger but are there any other ways to get rid of them?

Thanks!

seantOH

Suicide bomber muskrat?

Does you pond have cattails? Get rid of the cattails.

I have zero cattails but always have muskrats move in, but I have plenty of other plants for them to eat.

Well that is an interesting idea! I will see if I can live trap one of them and strap a pipe bomb to it! Lol!

No cattails. Lots of pickerel weed and arrow head. Some hardy lilies that I plant in 2012. They must have moved in last Fall because they were not there last summer.

sean

RAH,do you try to control them? If so how?

I would like to remove them before the reproduce this spring.

sean

We trap them out during the winter season. Not sure how to do it without traps as they don't present themselves for high velocity lead poisoning very often.

Shooting and trapping pretty much covers muskrat control work.

I am fortunate to have a neighbor that traps. Lead poisoning often takes out the rest.

Thanks guys! I was pretty sure that hunting and trapping were the only options that I had but it never hurts to ask.

Call Bill Murray (Caddy Shack), he's got a few tricks up his sleeve .

I used to have muskrats that controlled cattails to a certain degree along with controlling my spatterdock, and they kept their digging to the far side of the pond so that made them exceptable for what I wanted. But when I got a dog they disappeared so maybe the dog had something to do with it, I don't know. I used to watch the muskrats to see what they ate or were doing. It's crazy. They were swimming from the far side of the pond to another part of the pond, then going up on land and pulling and bundling my long bison grass, then swimming with these big bundle in their mouths back to their dens. Perhaps they were lining their dens with it for beds or maybe eating it. Interesting. My English Springer Spaniel patrols the shore for anything that moves so maybe a hunter dog is the answer.

I have been told that mink love to eat muskrats. Maybe a pet ferret would work?

I was thinking about the mink issue also....they love young muskrats, I caught one last year in a conibear set in a run.

One of my conibears was tripped and I could see the rat's head below the water surface. When I pulled it up, it was only the head. The rest of the body was gone, surgically severed and removed at the neck, just behind the jaws of the trap. I checked further, and about 10 feet away on a flat, open spot on the shore was the intestines and related guts, intact and cleanly removed from the body and left behind. The rest of the body was gone with no traces of other body parts anywhere. The entire area was imprinted with mink tracks. This talented guy was obviously well past his residency.

I should add that we trap them out every year but since there are several neighboring ponds, new tenants move into the "vacant" space every spring.

If you've got runs going into the bank, you can use Conibear 110's to catch them one at a time, or get some "colony" muskrat traps. They are wire box traps that have a door on each side. Make sure they are completely under the water when set, and any caught will drown. I've caught so many in one trap that I had to really work to get the door open to get them out. You can clean out a den in a hurry with them. Get enough to cover all the den entrances in your pond and I'll bet you could clean them all out in 2 days max.

You can build your own too....

http://www.gbso.net/actor/building_a_folding_colony_trap.htm

when i first had that problem,my wife said ahh there so cute! hum i said, lets go for a walk,it only took about five minute be for she was almost on the ground after steping in many large holes 3 to 4 foot from the water.that cute thing changed to anger.tryed the coibear way,ended up with wife wacthing a duck flooping around in the water, not good for me.got acolony trap and ESSHUPS RIGHT!its so easy traped them out in no time.

Thanks all for the responses! You are right mink do have a taste muskrats. When I was a teenager and trapped them the colony traps were the most efficient method I found. I still have some of those traps! The trouble is that it is deep enough that I can't figure out which runs are active and some of them I can't reach.

I might have found a solution for deeper ponds like mine. I just ordered a floating colony trap from an animal control supply company. You basically anchor the trap away from the bank, bait it and add some muskrat lure. The rat is attracted by the lure, sees the bait, climbs on the trap and goes through the "colony" style door and can't get back out. The cool part is that there is a hole in the center of the trap that leads to a submerged compartment. The rat dives in because it thinks it is open water but instead it drowns. The trap is ready for the next excavator!

esshup,

Thanks for the link! I have never seen one. I have bookmarked and will try to build one this summer.

sean

I have never seen a colony trap that folds down. Pretty cool!

For the deep runs, I took a piece of 1 1/4" dia. or so broken shovel handle about 3+' long. Cut the broken end off square, then took a large hook that was threaded on one end like a lag bolt. Drilled a pilot hole in the handle, and screwed in the hook. I bent the hook more open, and could use that to place the trap in the run. I got so that I could do the same with a Conibear.

The runs that have muddy water in them are the ones that are seeing the most recent activity. Also if there is sediment on the bottom of the pond, the runs that are cleaner have seen activity too.

No need to stake the colony traps. I've never had a 'rat move one. Maybe one with 2 legs, but not with 4.

Any suggestion on a muskrat colony trap brand, model, and supplier?

I hear you about the 2-legged variety I will rig a pole with a hook. I am impressed that you were able to place a conibear by using a hook with out setting it off! Thanks!

I made my own.....

My dog Dolly killed a mink at the pond last year so perhaps between the minks and my dog is why I don't have muskrats anymore.