Its food consists of a wide variety of aquatic plants like pickerelweed, smartweed, cattail, horsetail, bulrush, waterlily, duck potato, and, sedges. Just remember that muskrats are named for their musk glands. Even though the muskrat is mainly a plant eater, it also eats small fish, clams, snails, and even turtles. Since muskrats can have up to 5 litters per year and each litter can contain up to 5 or 6 kits, controlling the muskrat population through trapping is beneficial and important. A skinned muskrat is especially lean, and a long, slow boil would only further remove any residual fat. Second, I needed to add fat to conduct flavor. That means that they need to find food and eat daily, even in cold weather. Chuck Coverdale of Milford, Delaware, said muskrat is an acquired taste. Overall - Muskrat Facts. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habitats.It has important effects on the ecology of wetlands, and is a resource of food and fur for humans. Some of these foods include water lilies, cattails, sedges, wild rice, clover, switch grass, arrowhead, frogs, fish, crayfish, snails and samaras. "The younger generation doesn't want to eat it. However, they will also eat some animal foods as well. In order to do so, however, I decided I needed to do two things. With a basic understanding of where they live and what they eat it's not hard to find an area to trap muskrats. And the ones that are, grew up with it on the dinner table." Reproduction: Females give birth to 2-3 litters per year, each time yielding an average of 4-8 pups. Andrew Zimmern, whose stomach has hosted more animals than Noah’s Ark, has made a career vicariously eating on behalf of the unadventurous among us. Muskrat Behavior. Predators. On Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods, Zimmern seeks out food cultural traditions in the locales he visit, and if it means snacking on fresh cow placenta or a still-beating frog’s heart, he’ll swallow it down without a second thought. Muskrats are rodents that like to live in rivers, ponds, and lakes. First, I needed to “mask the musk” or at least find some way to complement it. They still live in their main lodges, but ice covering the rest of its habitat restricts it to finding food underwater. Muskrats do not hibernate during winter, and they also don't store food in their lodges like beavers do. Muskrats eat the roots, stems, leaves, and fruits of a many water plants, such as cattail, wild rice, water lilies, and rushes. They are most active at twilight. The rest seemed to be a matter of aesthetics. What Do They Eat These rodents are true vegetable lovers and eat a wide variety of them. The size of the litters varies with the seasons, with larger litters being born in spring and summer, and small litters being born in winter. First, because muskrat stew tastes great. Activity: Muskrats are active year-round, and they feed at all times of the day. Muskrats eat a largely herbivorous diet and are often called “dainty feeders“. Food Habits – What does Muskrat like to eat? A fully grown male muskrat is about 16 to 28 inches long from nose to tail and weighs from 1.3 pounds to 4.4 pounds. Use caution when handling live muskrats as they will bite and scratch with their clawed feet. It is native to North America, but has been introduced to South America, Asia, and Europe as well. The muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus), the only species in genus Ondatra and tribe ondatrini, is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat's main predators are mink and otters. Rarely do muskrats attack people unless captured. However, this thinking changes when you actually see a muskrat chase a duck, and now you wonder if they actually do eat ducks. And second, because North Americans consume so many of them. 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