Common Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus)
This week we’ll revisit a crawly we briefly met in the past, because these critters deserve a more thorough introduction (along with a few corrections to our previous introduction). This crawly is definitely more of a “swimmy.” Meet the Common Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus).
What’s in a name? They really do put the “musk” in “muskrat” emitting a musk they use to mark their territories.
Muskrats are rodents (like mice, voles, rabbits and beavers) but have a lifestyle more like their beaver cousins than their woodrat cousins. They love the life aquatic and won’t be raiding your kitchen pantry any time soon.
This is a good thing, because they are 8 – 14 inches with another 9 – 11 inches of tail. They weigh anywhere from 2 – 4 pounds.
Speaking of tails, boy do muskrats have cool ones! Unlike a beaver’s ‘pancake’ tail, muskrats’ tails are flattened laterally making muskrats wicked good swimmers. They can even swim backwards. Their tails also act as a prop (or third leg of a tripod) allowing muskrats to stand on their hind legs and survey their surroundings.
Well, to survey their surroundings in so much as they can. Muskrats have poor eyesight, hearing and sense of smell. This hat trick of vulnerability to predation accounts for much of their lifestyle. Life in and under the water helps keep them safe. Additionally, they live the life crepuscular – that is, they are most active at dawn and dusk. Though as shown by the photos you can also sometimes spot them out and about during the day.
Their poor senses also account for our extreme close-up photo; curiosity got the best of this particular muskrat, and they came quite close to me before they sorted out I might be a bit – but not too much of – a threat and backed up several feet to continue dining.
Most often when a muskrat senses movement, they will slip underwater, so close encounters of the muskrat kind are quite rare.
Muskrats do have a lot of other traits in common with their beaver cousins. Muskrats build lodges or live in bank dens along waterways of various types. Muskrats need 4 to 6 feet of slow-moving streams, rivers, wetlands etc. They do not build dams.
While muskrats will eat clams, crayfish, small fish and frogs their diet is mostly veggies like cattails, sedges, rushes, water lilies and pond weeds. They need to have a varied diet because they will eat up to one-third of their body weight each day. It takes a lot of calories to keep warm in cold water.
They can hold their breath underwater for up to 20 minutes and even eat underwater, but they prefer to carry their supper to designated dining areas safe from predators (see photos).
Their fab fur also aids in their ability to stay in and under our chilly waters, such as the Rogue River. They have silky, soft, dense underfur topped by a longer coat of guard hairs. Their overall color is generally dark brown but can be nearly white or almost black.
Muskrats are generally solitary, but several may congregate in the same area, and several may share a den in winter for the cuddle warmth.
Female muskrats have two or three litters per year with an average of five pups per litter. The pups are weaned and begin eating their veggies when they are about 20 days old and by the time they are a month old they are independent, and each will go seek their own territory.
Being low on the food chain – mainly predated by minks, hawks, owls, foxes, snakes and humans – generally, they only live three to four years in the wild but can live up to 10 years in captivity.
Muskrats don’t hibernate so you’ll have a chance to spot them any time of the year. Often they’ll be quite active during daylight hours on warmer winter days as they take advantage of any break in the weather to get out of their burrows and grab some snacks.