I'm seeing a flurry of muskrat activity as the pond ice melts and the dog killed one the other day. Good doggy!

Anyway a couple of holes and runs I've set conibears in front of seem quite large for muskrats. One of them was tripped with no muskrat. Sure hope they aren't beavers as I've had them visit before but they usually get hit out on the highway.

Would muskrats make larger holes for any reason?

They get bigger the more you feed 'em!

Are you talking actual hole size, or the width of the run? How much bigger are you talking about?

This is about the time of year that the 2 year olds are kicked out of the lodge. The kits from last year will stay in the lodge one more year, but older siblings are getting the boot. It could be one or more of them.

Hole size is bigger. They appear to be 8 to 10 inches in diameter.




Scot,

Is there anything you aren't knowledgeable about or can't do?

Cecil has badgers and a lot of them

Aquatic badgers?

With flat tails!!

Very well used runs are sometimes wider. I've used 160 and 220 size Connibear type traps in those situations before. I've heard of a situation where someone placed a 220 in front of an extra large diameter muskrat hole and caught an extra large muskrat that looked just like those pictures of river otters. It couldn't been one of those though. They're protected like herons and commorants.

Yeah, I can see how someone could mistakenly identify one under those conditions.

Man, I gotta quit spittin' coffee on me keyboard. It just ain't gonna take that kinda abuse forever.

Patently false. There are never any 2 year old siblings. No such thing. Muskrats can have up to 5 litters per season. And the mother will kill the latest siblings if she is ready to drop another and they are still around. In two years should could conceivably be on her tenth litter. Siblings leave after they are weaned, and on vegetation, normally 20-30 days.

I going with that explanation. Makes the best sense to me.

I'll give you same advice as other mystery hole critter thread. Get yourself some muck or fine mud and lay it in front of one of the larger holes. Anything in or out of that hole will leave a track. Muskrat tracks are fairly distinctive. And they normally have hidden entrances, like beavers, even underwater, where most of them are. They also have dining chambers besides their dens. Those are more above water lines and more frequently found by dogs and predators. My favorite muskrat is one with a red dot on his head.

Hmmmmmmmmm...... I thought a young / baby of a muskrat is called a 'kitten, nestling, pinkie, or pup'. The females are called 'doe' and males 'buck'.

A young / baby of a American beaver on the other hand is called a 'kit, kitten, or pup'. An American beaver group is called a 'family or colony'.

So, you're saying that there are no 2 year old kits?

I also thought that beavers built lodges, and muskrats built houses. Beavers that tunnel into the edge of rivers, streams and other BOW's are called bank beavers.

Badgers appear to be adapting to their changing environment with flattening tails and increased lung capacity. Algorec scientists have documented a few badgers with tiny gill slits and many more with shortening toenails and small webs forming between their toes.

That only happens at Lake Wobegon.

+ 1

I don't care what you call them, baby muskrats are weaned and usually out of the den in 30 days. They may overwinter if they are the last litter before then. Your 2 year old sibling is adult size at 200 days. They are sexually mature at 1 year. Which would mean in my book they are reproducing adults. So, there is no such thing as a 2 year old kitten, is there?

Hey it's different in Kalifornia isn't it? Ask JHAP.

Oh heck they get older than that!

Nope, no 2 year old kittens. (oops, I take that back. Cecil showed me the error in my ways.) But, if Cecil had a 2 year old "muskrat" that had a tail that was flattened horizontally rather than vertically, that might account for a larger than normal run and hole in the bank.

Out in the wild they are lucky to live to the old age of three. A lot less than that if I see them. A pond managers nightmare. I have to remove a ton of cattails from a pond that has no muskrats because they might visit there and reproduce. At least that is what the CA dam inspector says. That is my work tomorrow. And beta test a cattail and bulrush cutting head from Jenson Lake Mower. The only thing I know that is horizontal rather than vertical is on Asian women. But then this thread is about about muskrats not beavers.