Muskrats can be removed through trapping, habitat modification, and physical barriers that prevent burrowing. The right approach depends on whether you’re protecting a pond, a dam, or landscaped banks, and most states allow property owners to take action when muskrats are causing damage. Here’s what actually works and what doesn’t.
Recognizing Muskrat Damage
Muskrats are semi-aquatic rodents that burrow into the banks of ponds, streams, and earthen dams. Their tunnels weaken levees, cause banks to collapse, and can breach water-retention structures. If you’re seeing holes along the waterline, eroded banks, or sections of shoreline slumping into the water, muskrats are the likely culprit.
Before you act, make sure you’re dealing with muskrats and not beavers or nutria. Muskrats are small, roughly the size of a large rat, with thin tails that are flattened side to side and nearly hairless. Beavers are much larger with broad, flat tails. Nutria are about five times the size of a muskrat and have round tails and distinctive white whiskers. Neither beavers nor muskrats have white muzzles or white whiskers, so that’s a quick way to rule out nutria. Identifying the animal correctly matters because the control methods and legal rules differ.
Trapping: The Most Effective Method
Trapping is the most reliable way to remove muskrats that are already established on your property. Two main trap types are used: body-gripping traps (sometimes called Conibear-style traps) and box or cage traps. Body-gripping traps are designed for quick, lethal kills and are placed directly in the muskrat’s travel path, typically at burrow entrances or along underwater runways where the animals swim between feeding areas. Cage traps capture the animal alive and are legal for muskrats in most states, though you generally cannot use a cage trap designed to catch more than one muskrat at a time.
Placement is everything. Muskrats follow consistent travel routes along the water’s edge and through shallow channels. Look for flattened trails in the vegetation, muddy slides on banks, or underwater paths where the bottom has been worn smooth. Set traps directly in these runways or at the entrance to a burrow, partially submerged. If you’re using bait with a foothold trap, many states require that any carcass used as bait be completely covered at the time of setting.
One critical rule: you cannot disturb a muskrat house or den, and in states like New York, you cannot set a trap on or within five feet of a muskrat house. Trapping regulations vary significantly by state, including which trap sizes are permitted and during which seasons. Foothold traps set in water for muskrats often have size limits (5¾ inches or smaller in some states when certain other seasons are closed). Check your state wildlife agency’s rules before setting any traps.
Legal Rules You Need to Know
Most states allow property owners to remove muskrats that are damaging property, even outside of the regular trapping season. However, the rules around what you do with the animal afterward can be strict. In New York, for example, if you take a muskrat during the closed trapping season, the carcass must be buried or cremated immediately.
Relocating muskrats is illegal in many states. You cannot live-trap one and release it in a park, on public land, or on someone else’s property. Relocation spreads disease, stresses the animal, and simply moves the problem. If you’re not comfortable handling removal yourself, contact a licensed Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator. These professionals are trained in legal removal methods and can handle disposal properly.
Reinforcing Banks and Dams
Killing or removing existing muskrats solves the immediate problem, but new ones will move in if your banks remain inviting. Physical barriers are the best long-term solution.
Riprap, which is a layer of large rocks placed along the shoreline, makes banks too difficult for muskrats to dig through. For additional protection, you can add a 6- to 12-inch layer of sand or pea gravel against the bank, or lay 1-by-2-inch mesh wire directly against the soil before placing the rock. Banks should be stabilized at least two feet above and three feet below the normal water surface to cover the full zone where muskrats tunnel.
For earthen dams specifically, a more permanent fix involves cutting a narrow trench down the center of the dam and filling it with concrete. The trench should extend three feet below the waterline and rise to at least one foot above the normal high-water level. This creates an internal barrier that muskrats cannot penetrate, even if they attempt to burrow from either side.
Wire Mesh Exclusion
If riprap isn’t practical for your situation, galvanized wire mesh alone can discourage burrowing. Use 1- or 2-inch galvanized wire and lay it flat against the bank, securing it every few feet with stakes or anchors. The wire should extend from about one foot above the waterline to at least three feet below it. Muskrats won’t chew through the wire, and they’ll typically move on to easier digging elsewhere. This method works well for smaller ponds and lagoons where full riprap coverage would be expensive or visually unwanted.
Water Level Drawdowns
Lowering the water level in a pond or lagoon by several feet is a surprisingly effective control strategy. Drawdowns expose burrow entrances that were previously hidden underwater, forcing muskrats into the open where predators like foxes, coyotes, and raptors can reach them. It also eliminates the steep, submerged bank profile that muskrats prefer for digging.
This works best during winter, when muskrats are most vulnerable and alternative food sources are scarce. A drawdown won’t eliminate every muskrat on its own, but it disrupts their habitat enough to reduce populations and pairs well with trapping during the same period.
What Doesn’t Work
Mothballs are one of the most commonly suggested home remedies for muskrats, and they’re both ineffective and potentially dangerous. Mothballs are nearly 100% active pesticide, either paradichlorobenzene or naphthalene, designed to release toxic gas inside airtight containers to kill clothes moths. Used outdoors, the gas dissipates quickly and has little to no repellent effect on muskrats or any other wildlife. Meanwhile, anyone nearby breathes in the fumes, which can cause headaches, nausea, eye irritation, and with longer exposure, liver and kidney damage. Using mothballs as animal repellents is not an approved use and violates their labeling.
Castor oil, predator urine, and other scent-based repellents are similarly unreliable. No chemical repellent is currently registered as effective for muskrat control. The animals live in and around water, which dilutes and washes away any substance you apply to the bank. Your money is better spent on wire mesh or riprap.
Safety When Handling Muskrats
Muskrats can carry several diseases transmissible to humans, including tularemia (a bacterial infection spread through contact with infected animals) and leptospirosis (spread through contaminated water). Always wear gloves when handling muskrats, whether alive, dead, or when working around their burrows. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water afterward, even after removing gloves.
If you’re mowing or doing any mechanical work near muskrat habitat, wearing a mask can reduce the risk of inhaling bacteria stirred up from the soil. Avoid drinking or swallowing untreated surface water from ponds or streams where muskrats are active. These precautions are simple but important, especially if you’re doing repeated work around infested waterways over days or weeks.