If you have a problem with muskrats, you’re not alone. These pesky creatures can cause a lot of damage to your property. This blog post will discuss how to get rid of muskrats and prevent them from returning. We will cover everything from animal removal methods to exclusion tactics. So read on if you want to learn how to deter muskrats for good!
How to get rid of muskrats in your pond
Muskrats are an annoyance when you have a pond on your property. Muskrats lower the water level by constructing tunnels from the side of the pond to a ditch or by opening up veins underneath a clay base in the pond. They also attach to the tunnel they built to access their den for their family of muskrats.
Aquatic vegetation
There are a couple of techniques to rid you of these little civil engineers. Firstly, disrupt their diet; Muskrats feed on plants like cattails, sedges, rushes, water lilies, and pond weeds. It may also eat clams, mussels, snails, crayfish, small fish, and frogs in some areas.
AVOID PLANTED ATTRACTIONS FOR MUSKRATS.
Keeping your pond clear of the vegetation muskrats feed on, such as cattails, grasses, and rushes, will disrupt a muskrat’s diet. The best way to rid your pond of these emergent plants is to use Avocet & Cide Kick. Simply mix the two products together in a pond sprayer device and spray directly on the target plants. Allow 1-2 weeks for complete control. When the plants are dead, take them out with a Weed Rake & Cutter. Make sure you remove the dead vegetation because it makes a great nesting area.
Disrupt the pond environment
Muskrats like to use ponds that are 4 to 6 feet deep with still or slow-moving water as habitats. Adding depth to a pond may not be a straightforward solution, though. Adding an Aeration System is usually much more efficient. An Aeration System will provide the circulation needed to scare off the muskrat population and help disrupt their diet by cutting the weed growth.
Use repellents
It is often helpful to use repellents with a strong smell that muskrats hate! Some people successfully used fox urine or cayenne pepper, chili, and garlic to discourage muskrats from settling on your property.
Apply exclusion tactics
Another way to remove muskrats is to use exclusion tactics. This entails sealing any openings the muskrats may use to enter your property. This might include holes in your foundation, gaps in your fence, and any other spaces that you can find that might be an open invitation to wildlife to enter your home. You will make it much harder for muskrats to get onto your property by sealing these openings.
Avoid animal interest
It would help if you also took some time to clean up your property. It will make it less attractive to muskrats and other animals. Remove any food sources, such as garbage and pet food, and keep your yard clean. Doing this will make your property much less appealing to muskrats.
Trap muskrats
Trapping muskrats can be challenging, but you can do it effectively with the proper techniques and equipment. To begin, it is essential to identify the presence of muskrats in the area. Muskrat dens are often located along riverbanks, streams, or ponds. They are visible when you pay attention to any burrows in the ground or piles of vegetation.
Once the presence of muskrats is evident, traps can be set up. It is entirely possible to catch muskrats without causing any harm to them. An easy way to do that is to choose a live trap. These traps are designed to capture the muskrat without causing injury or death.
They usually have a metallic cage with a trap door triggered when the muskrat enters the trap to get to the bait. Typical baits in live traps include apples, carrots, or sweet potatoes.
When a muskrat is caught in a live trap, it can be safely released back into the wild. It’s essential to release the animal in an area far away from human settlements and bodies of water to avoid trapping the same animal repeatedly.
Live trapping can be an efficient and humane way to manage muskrat populations. However, it’s important to remember that certain laws and regulations may require a permit to trap or relocate wildlife. It’s also crucial to use appropriate safety gear and measures to avoid injury to yourself or the animals.
Let Professionals Help You
These are but a couple of ways to eliminate muskrats, but if you don’t want to deal with the muskrats yourself, you might want to hire a reputable muskrat removal company to take care of the problem for you.
Muskrat removal
This is still one of the best ways to deter muskrats because an animal removal company is best qualified for deterring animals from your property humanely. They will also help you prevent muskrats from coming back in the future.
If you have a muskrat problem, there are many different ways to remove them. Choose the method that best suits your needs and follow the instructions carefully. With a bit of effort, you can get rid of muskrats for good!
Do you have any tips on how to get rid of muskrats? Please feel free to share them in the comments below!
If you like, you can also learn everything about how to remove woodchucks and groundhogs here.
