Our Muskrat Removal Services
Muskrat Control
As comfortable on land as they are in the water, muskrats are primarily vegetarian and mostly nocturnal. Their habits, such as burrowing deep into shorelines and banks, eating extensive vegetation and plants, and spreading multiple diseases can make their proximity to humans troublesome. Muskrats can produce two litters per year, with between four and eight young in each litter.
Although the babies are born very small, they are ready to be on their own after only one month – meaning the population can grow quickly. These four-pound rodents generally grow up to about 2 feet in length – including their 9-inch tails - and are sometimes mistaken for beavers when they are spotted swimming through the water. Muskrats are prolific throughout the Midwest, including Indiana, and are found in virtually all water/woodland habitats.
Identifying Muskrats on Your Property
Muskrats can survive anywhere that food and water are available to them. Muskrats have no real preference to the type of water, as they will happily live in swamps, streams, marshes, ponds, lakes or canals. There are several ways to identify the presence of a muskrat along your shoreline or the banks of your ponds and lakes. You may notice plants gnawed down to a stubble, cattail roots floating in the water, or clipped vegetation along the bank - all indications of the hungry muskrat. They also construct "eating platforms", feeding huts or lodges made from mud and compacted vegetation, usually located one foot over water level.
Muskrat tracks look like small handprints, with long toes (similar to raccoon tracks). They will also leave dragged tail marks and slides in the mud where they descend down banks. Muskrat droppings can generally be seen floating in the water along shorelines, lying on objects protruding from the water, and at and around feeding sites. Droppings are dark green, brown, or almost black. They are slightly curved, cylindrical, and about half-inch long.
Our Process:
Because muskrats are intelligent, cunning and tough to catch, it is best to call ARMADILLO WILDLIFE for the safest, most effective and rapid resolution to your muskrat problem. Keep in mind that our experts are well-trained in their removal.
Phase 1: Our experienced team will conduct a thorough inspection of your property to validate that you have a muskrat population, and to assess the damage they are causing. We will identify the active lodges and burrows which are located on your property.
Phase 2: We will present you with a customized action plan as to how we will remove the muskrats from your property. You will have the opportunity to understand the plan before we begin, and to ask any questions you may have,
Phase 3: Muskrats are trapped with either live or lethal traps. If muskrats are trapped alive, they will be relocated to a wooded area with an appropriate water source. Experts recommend this location be over 10 miles from your home in order to ensure the removed animals do not return to their den.
Phase 4: Because muskrats prefer steep slopes and dense vegetation to build their dens, we recommend leveling banks and clearing plants once the muskrats are removed. Once the dens and burrows are all exposed, they can be filled.
Phase 5: Once extraction is complete, our wildlife removal team will reinspect the area. We will discuss steps you can take to make your property unattractive to muskrats to help keep them away from the area the following season.
Time is of the Essence!
Although mostly plant-eaters, muskrats have no problem eating turtles, crayfish, frogs and fish. If a homeowner has a pond on their property, the muskrat can quickly deplete the biodiversity in the ecosystem. They can also cause trouble by building dens in populated areas, burrowing tunnels under boathouses, dams, and docks, as well as eroding shorelines. You should call Armadillo Wildlife as soon as you notice muskrat activity, no matter the time of year.
Repelling Muskrats is Nearly Impossible
Some claim that scents such as garlic pepper, cayenne pepper or coyote or fox urine will repel the muskrats; but these aromas fade far too quickly to be a real solution. In order to truly rid your area of muskrats, you will need to have the muskrats professionally removed from your property by a wildlife control company. You can then fill in any existing dens and make the property unattractive to newly arriving muskrats by removing vegetation and levelling banks.
Do Not Get Too Close to Muskrats!
Learn More
For more expert information about muskrats, muskrat trapping and muskrat exclusion, call on the professionals at Armadillo Wildlife. We have been removing wildlife from Fort Wayne area homes for over two decades.
Armadillo Wildlife is proud to serve the Fort Wayne community, as well as Warsaw, Auburn, Angola, Syracuse, and surrounding area.
