Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fixing Muskrat Damage

I recently discovered that I have muskrats living at my pond. If, as I suspect, I discover that their tunneling is causing water leakage how do I fix/plug the holes?

Have you tried a dead muskrat?

Rob,

There are probably better ways and muskrats may be different, but in rennovating an old pond recently we found a couple of nutria (the southern water rat)dens a little over a foot below the water line. Finding these holes explained why the old pond never held water above a certain level. Just packed the holes with clay with the dozer and everything is fine now. It would not be very expensive, if all you need to do is plug those holes, to just lower your water level and pack in the clay. A dozer could do that in no time and you probably could even do it by hand with some difficulty. The nice thing about the dozer is that you can cut into the hole area and really pack the clay in good.

TyW33, I am already planning your idea to stop further damage. I've got beavers to deal with as well.

Meadowlark, a dozer would not be easy to get to the pond banks but I will try to drop the level and locate the holes. Then I'll try to fix them by hand. I wasn't sure if I just tried to collapse the hole and repacking it by hand would work.

I have a friend that dropped the level and packed the holes with sacks of cement. It worked.

Rob, until you "relocate" ALL the Muskrats you will continue to have the same problem. A #110 Conibear trap works well as does a .22 Mag.
If they would just burrow into the banks it would
not be that much of a problem but the maze of tunnels and den room in the dam I can't have.
However, to be P.C., you should check the local trapping/hunting laws. It is illegal to shoot Muskrats here in Michigan. But, it is your property and you have to deal with the problem in your own way.
Dan

Its illegal to shoot beavers hear in minnesota, but if you use a .308 its hard to find any evidence.