Magnificent Muskrat

November 2007

The Magnificent Muskrat can be found throughout Ohio.  Their preferred habitat is wet areas with water around 5 feet deep.  The muskrat likes to live in marshes where water levels stay at a constant depth. 

This furry mammal is also known as a swamp bunny or water rat.  Although muskrats have poor vision and hearing, they do communicate using squeaks and squeals.  They also have glands that produce a secretion called musk that acts as a warning to other animals in the area.

Muskrats reach around 2 feet in length and weigh around 3 pounds.  The fur of the muskrat is very thick and keeps them very warm. It is nearly waterproof and helps keep them from getting wet.  The typical color of a muskrat is deep brown on its back and a light brownish gray to blonde on its belly.

Photo courtesy of  Terry Spivey

The muskrat’s front feet are small and work like our hands.  They use these feet to hold things and to help with building their homes.  The back feet of the muskrat have four long toes with coarse hairs in between them.  These hairs help the muskrat use its back feet like paddles in the water, helping it to steer itself as it swims along. Muskrats are very good swimmers. 

Muskrats live in a burrow called a lodge that they dig alongside a waterway that has abundant cattails and other tall plants.  These lodges have entrances that are underwater.  Muskrats dig them into the banks along the water into areas of mossy soil, clay.  In addition to the soil they use, muskrats also build with plant material that they find near their home.  Some lodges are small with only one chamber found inside, but other muskrat lodges have multiple chambers and can be pretty large.