Muskrats are semi-aquatic rodents commonly found in wetlands, marshes, lakes, ponds, and slow-moving streams across North America. Their aquatic environment significantly influences their diet and foraging. Their diet primarily consists of plant matter, reflecting their close ties to wetland ecosystems.
Aquatic Plant-Based Diet
Muskrats are predominantly herbivorous, with aquatic vegetation constituting approximately 95% of their diet. They consume a variety of plants, including the roots, stems, leaves, and sometimes fruits.
Cattails are a particularly favored food source, with muskrats consuming almost every part, from the rhizomes buried in the mud to the emergent stalks and leaves. Other common aquatic plants in their diet include:
Sedges
Rushes
Water lilies
Bulrush
Pondweeds
Smartweed
Duck potato
Horsetail
Various types of grasses
Muskrats utilize their sharp incisors and forepaws to efficiently harvest these plants, even capable of cutting vegetation underwater. Their unique ability to close their lips behind their front incisors allows them to chew while submerged without ingesting water.
Other Food Sources
While primarily plant-eaters, muskrats are opportunistic omnivores and supplement their diet with animal matter, especially when aquatic vegetation becomes scarce. Their secondary food sources include:
Freshwater mussels or clams
Crayfish
Various insects
Snails
Frogs
Small fish
Occasionally small turtles
Mussels can form a significant portion of their diet in certain populations, often evidenced by piles of discarded shells, known as middens, found near their feeding sites. When consuming fish, muskrats typically target smaller, injured, or dead individuals, or even fish eggs, rather than actively hunting larger fish. Muskrats also forage on agricultural crops growing near water bodies, such as:
Corn
Sugarcane
Rice
Carrots
Soybeans
Wheat
Oats
Garden vegetables
Foraging and Eating Habits
Muskrats are active throughout the year, often seen during dusk, dawn, or at night. They employ specific techniques to obtain their food, such as diving to retrieve roots and rhizomes or cutting plant stems just above the water’s surface. A muskrat consumes a substantial amount of food daily, approximately one-third of its own body weight.
Muskrats frequently establish feeding platforms, which are typically constructed on logs, rocks, or small mounds of vegetation. These platforms provide a stable location for consuming meals, offering some protection from predators and harsh weather conditions. Unlike beavers, muskrats generally do not store large quantities of food for the winter. Instead, in colder climates, they rely on submerged vegetation and construct “push-ups”—piles of vegetation pushed through the ice over an opening—which serve as both breathing holes and temporary feeding stations. They can travel considerable distances under the ice to locate food sources.