Life History:
- About 2ft. long including length of tail.
Tail is laterally flat whereas a beaver tail is horizontally flat. - Omnivorous, but eats mostly aquatic vegetation.
- Build and live inside pushups (dome shaped lodges) made up of plants about 5ft. wide and 3ft. tall. Only build pushups in slow moving water.
- In fast moving waters such as creeks and rivers Muskrats will tunnel out bank dens.
- Nocturnal.
- Breeds from March to August and have 5 litter’s of offspring per year.
Conflicts:
- Cause some damage to plants near waterways.
- Major Concern: the bank dens Muskrats excavate can collapse under weight of equipment or people resulting in serious injury to people and damage to equipment and ground.