The muskrats found on the East Coast as well as those found in the marshes and the shallow lakes and ponds of other parts of the country are of the house building kind. It should be understood, however, that the muskrat living in houses and those living in burrows in the banks of streams are the same variety, their different, styles of habitation being due to the different conditions of their respective locations. Where streams are swift or where there is danger of the houses being carried away by freshets, they dig burrows in the bank, making the entrance below the surface of the water.
These burrows extend sometimes twenty-five or thirty feet into the bank and the interior chamber is sometimes quite large. Along the streams of the farming sections, much damage is done by muskrats because of these burrows.
The houses of the marsh-dwellers are composed of grass and flags, grass roots, mud, etc. They are of cone shaped structure and to those unacquainted with the animals, they are simply piles of grass and weeds in the water, for that is what they resemble. The entrances to these houses are always deep under water. It is said that the muskrats build their houses with thicker walls when they feel instinctively that an unusually severe winter is approaching.
Muskrat House in a Marsh.
In addition to the house the animals build small feeding places near by. These feed beds as they are called, are constructed in the same way as the houses, but only rise to the level of the water. These beds are the dining rooms of the muskrats, for to them they bring all of their food so that they may have a place to rest while they are enjoying their meal. They also have like the raccoon, a habit of washing their food before they will eat it.
The muskrat is a vegetarian and seldom eats any animal food. In the wild state their natural food is grass and roots, fruit, grain and clams or mussels. They are also fond of parsnips, carrots, artichokes, white flag roots, wild rice, pond lily roots, sweet corn and pumpkin, and will eat almost all kinds of vegetables.
It will be seen that in captivity the food problem would be easily solved. They are very fond of wild rice, and those who have ponds suitable for muskrats and are contemplating the raising of these animals would do well to sow them with wild rice. The rice may be obtained from almost any of the seed houses and it will grow in six or eight feet of water. They are also fond of pumpkins and it is a cheap and satisfactory food.
Some of them will lay up stores of food for winter, but they do not all do this. Where the streams are rapid they can get out to hunt for food at almost all times, and where they are located on lakes and marshes that freeze over in winter they can find plenty of food in the water under the ice. This food is taken to the feed bed to be eaten.