What Makes the Muskrat Guard His Musk?

If you are a Wizard of Oz fan you already know the answer to the title of this blog post - Courage!

Meet Ondatra zibethicus – The Muskrat – aptly named as a consequence of its long naked tail and musky odor (quite noticeable in the male during the breeding season).   

The muskrat is ideally-suited to living in a watery environment and sports a waterproof fur coat, webbed feet and a tail that can be used like a rudder.   This chunky rodent can stay submerged for up to fifteen minutes before having to surface for air. 

For a number of years muskrats have called our large pond out back between the house and Silver Creek home.   

click on image to enlarge

And they’ve built and enlarged their home.  Not all muskrats build lodges – with some choosing to dig a burrow in a stream bank or lake shore.  Our rats are builders (as near as I can tell) and this is their lodge constructed of mud and cut vegetation.  Muskrat lodges have one to two underwater entrances and may have a second chamber for different occupants.  

They’re fastidious about their den and will not use it as a bathroom.  The muskrat does not hibernate and is active year-round.  Living up to ten years in age breeding begins in April and ends with the return of fall weather.  Around half a dozen young are born two to three times a year and the little ones can swim at two weeks of age.     

Unlike the beaver - who occupies only one lodge per lake or stream - the muskrat may build multiple abodes.  However, overcrowding will cause the critter to disperse and to find a new home.   

Last spring Six Deuce had another wildlife encounter and filmed this muskrat cavorting in Silver Creek.