Muskrat Trapping and Muskrat Control in Georgia

Muskrats are small, semi-aquatic mammals found throughout Georgia and most of North America. Muskrats usually live along the banks of rivers, ponds, and streams, where they build lodges of twigs, weeds, cattails, and mud. They are named for the scent glands located under their tails, from which they emit a musk-like substance that's used mainly to mark their territory.

Muskrats weigh two to four pounds, on average, and have rich, brown fur. Their front feet have sharp claws that they use for grasping plants and prey, and their hind feet are broad and webbed for swimming. They also have a unique tail: It's long and thin like a rat's tail, but it's shaped like a knife standing on edge (that is, the tail is taller than it is wide).

In nature, muskrats are omnivores who feed primarily on aquatic vegetation, but who will also eat frogs, fish, insects, crayfish, carrion, and pretty much anything else they come across. But like most other wild animals in Atlanta, Macon, Marietta, Athens, Roswell, Duluth, and other rapidly expanding Georgia communities, many muskrats have adapted to foraging for food left behind by humans, especially in parks, campgrounds, and other recreational areas.

Muskrats as Nuisance Pests

Muskrats trapping and muskrat control become necessary when muskrats damage earth dams and sea walls by their burrowing and lodge construction. They also can cause flooding when they clog conduits, culverts, and storm drains.

Muskrats are also pests around farms and gardens, where they often feed on growing crops. They especially seem to like eating eggplant, zucchini, pumpkins, and other squash; and they have an annoying habit of taking just a single nibble or two out of every single squash in a planted row, destroying the whole harvest for a few morsels of food.

Rid-A-Critter provides muskrat removal and control in Atlanta and everywhere in North-Central Georgia.

Here are some pictures of muskrat trapping and muskrat control jobs we've done. (More to come: Stay tuned!)