My grandparents have a small stream running by their house. (I mean small — not even three feet at its widest point!) Muskrats have, for the past few years, invaded by digging tunnels under the boards that hold the side up. The tunnels open by the edge where the filthy rodents come up to recklessly devour our grass!
We’ve called the township, exterminators — everything! But no one seems to be able to help.
Our attempts to show them they aren’t welcome:
[ul]
[li]Fill their tunnels with sand. No effect. Whatsoever.[/li][li]Block the tunnels with various things. They dig around. Figures.[/li][li]Dig up an area around all the tunnels and pour cement into it, cover that with sand. They had secret tunnels upstream. They broke the soil above those tunnels after we filled the others with cement. Damn them![/li][li]Lay muskrat traps around the holes. They avoided them. Clever bastards.[/li][/ul]
They are always one step ahead!
I appeal to you of the Straight Dope Message Boards — I need help!
I don’t know about musk rats but when we had moles in my yard my dad would find their tunnels and throw flares in a bunch of different places. Usually they would just die and if they tried to run out he would get them with a pitch fork. My dogs also cought dozens of them.
Run, don’t walk, to your nearest County Extension Service Office and dump the problem in their lap. They’re paid with Your Tax Dollars, so they work for you, let THEM figure it out, which they will be happy to do. They usually have live traps you can borrow, and they will not only instruct you in how to set them, but depending on how bored everybody is in the office, they may even come out there and set them for you.
Look in the phone book under YourCounty Extension Service–it may be listed as YourCounty Coop Extension Service. It was originally designed to help Mr. Farmer with his deep agricultural problems, but they also work for Mr. Cityfeller, too.
Or, alternatively, if for some reason this fails, find the nearest college or university (preferably a state university) that has an Ag Department, and make phone calls until you find somebody to help you. You’d be surprised at the things those Ag boys know, and the things they’ll do that aren’t necessarily in a class prospectus. Lots of farmers have trouble with muskrats in their drainage ditches, and all college Ag Departments have to know how to deal with them.
Just thought I’d point out that one of my favorite tunes is the Muskrat Ramble. Maybe, like the Piper of Hammelin, they would follow you if you played it…
Is this the makings of another alsmith/Scylla styled thread that should be subtitled “How to kill Nazi muskrats”? Maybe Scylla will use the 1000th post he is trying to decide on how to use to weighin with his suggestions.
If muskrats are as persistent as the @#$*ing squirrels I had in my attic, my heart goes out to you. I used repelant, sonic devices, poison, even trapped and killed a bunch of them, but they kept comming back and eating a new hole in my roof. I did noticed though, that their numbers had dwindled.
I just kept trapping, and so on until they all left or were dead.
So my advice to you is to try every thing you can think of, and keep doing it. Don’t get tired and skip a day. You have to A)Kill/remove as many as you can. Try a different bait on those traps and B)discourage the ones who live from comming back. Have you tried repelant? How about caster oil or a product called “Bat Scat”? Bat Scat works on many different animals.
And if you trap them, I suggest you kill them. Why take them somewhere and set them free where they’ll bug someone else? GOOD LUCK!!!
Muskrats are easy to trap. You have to take your time and do it right.
Find their runs,the pathes they use while under water.
Set a trap in the bottom of their run and wire it so that when they swim to deep water the wire will snag and they will drown.
Or make a hole in the bank and set the trap in front of it.Bait the hole with a piece of apple so that the rat will have to step on the trap to get the bait.
Always make a drowning set.It is humane and there is no sense in wasting time if you don’t do it right.
You can always take out an ad in the local newspaper asking for a trapper to contact you.
If you do it yourself consider using conibear traps. They hold the rat securely and it will drown fast.You will not need the drowning wire.
I forgot to mention that all states have trapping seasons. Maybe you should contact your game warden before setting traps. My local warden has told me that the laws aren’t supposed to stop a person from protecting his property.I suppose that is his call so you’d better ask.You might be considered a poacher.
Your problem was forseeable. All trappers know the populations will soar if they are not controlled by trapping. I suggest that your grandparents find a local trapper and allow him to set a few traps every season.
one of the best places to get information on trapping is “the National Trappers Association” or your state trappers association.
By the way it is possible to trap ducks so be careful.
set your traps very close to the bank or even just inside the rat hole and like I said always under water.
Another word of caution be careful when checking the traps those little buggers have a nasty bite. I still have a scar.
Muskrats are pretty easy to trap. The way i was taught, which was already stated and works best, is setting the traps underwater. Out of all the little Nazi critters i’ve had the pleasure of trapping, rats are the easiest by far.
If you want to have a little fun offing them, you could always borrow a .22 caliber rifle, sit 20 yards away from the stream in a hiding spot with a lawn chair and your favorite brew, and pop them off that way.
Target practice is fun but you are wasting a valuable resource. The hide.By trapping then you can skin them and dry the hide it is usually worth from $3.00 to $5.oo.But you have to do it correctly.Buy a book about trapping,There are several on the market.Avoid the Harding books they are outdated and sometimes they contain misinformation.Although they are fun to read because of the old methods.
