However, muskrat lodges are smaller than beaver lodges, and they’re mostly made of plants like cattails, whereas beaver lodges are full of large sticks and logs. Muskrats do not hibernate during winter, and they also don’t store food in their lodges like beavers do. Muskrats reproduce quickly and tend to live together in large families. To properly control either pest, it's important to know the source of the problem. Beavers live in lodges that they build in the pond that their dam creates. In addition, muskrats and beavers build their dens in water, often coexisting in the same lodge. In a pond where two small muskrats shared a lodge and a system of burrows in the pond bank with two beavers, I saw a muskrat come out, and just as beavers often do, take a twig from the cache collected by the beavers and carry it back into the lodge to eat. On occasion, muskrats and beavers have been documented nesting together, sharing both food and warmth during the winter, though typically they compete with each other for territory and food. So if you need to get rid of them you need to know how to do so. Muskrats often push grasses out of the pond onto the shore or a beaver dam, but beavers do the same. A few quick tips can aid in identifying muskrat vs. beaver infestations. Some beavers will also build their homes by digging into the side of the pond or riverbank. FOCUS: Muskrats and beavers are furry mammals that spend much of their lives in and around the water of streams, ponds, and wetlands. Yet, it … As muskrat families grow, their lodges expand to include more chambers and even levels. This is an easy one, because muskrats don’t build dams — only beavers do. They can dig tunnels close to it, damage the vegetation and contaminate the water with urine, feces or themselves if they die near it. The muskrat, together with the beaver and several other mammals, is capable of remaining submerged up to 15 minutes if in a relaxed state. Beaver dams create deeper ponds of water to allow for underwater entrances to lodges, to move food and building materials, and to help protect from predators. Muskrats generally stay close to their homes, foraging for food from nearby resources. In favorable conditions, muskrats may rear as many as 20 young in a single season. Dr Lynn Rogers (black bear researcher in Ely, Minnesota) once had a camera in a beaver lodge and was able to see muskrats and mink living together peacefully. That means that they need to find food and eat daily, even in cold weather. The left overs that can usually be attributed to muskrats are like these delicate, more often stalks than twigs. Muskrats breed quickly, able to have multiple litters a year with half a dozen young in each litter. How To Get Rid Of Muskrats In My Pond One of the problems when you have a pond on your property is that muskrats can be very damaging to it. Many muskrats spend their entire lives within a few hundred yards of their birthplace, but in autumn and spring, some are forced to migrate to less-crowded areas and may wander several miles to establish new home. Deer and ducks usually cut a wider swath; beavers usually graze further out in the pond.