Muskrat Emergency! (Or why my husband woke me at 3:45 in the morning)

I was woken up by a hand on my should and an insistant voice calling my name. Good Gordon, not time to wake up already! No. It was 3:45 and Doug was waking me up. Man, this had better be good.

Well, there was an animal in the window well. It was scratching and squeaking and it woke him up. All Doug could say was it had a thick tail. Clearly something must be done about it. After all, it could scratch through the screen and get into the house. Before you know it the house might be infested with shiny, rat-tailed creatures. I guess it was up to me. And yes, he could have taken it out, he said, but he thought I would like to see it. Likely story!

So we headed outside to look and sure enough it was a dear little muskrat caught in the window well and couldn't get out. I put a board in at an angle and out he climbed, slick as you please and waddled away squeaking angrily under his breath about his treatment.

So that was my start to the morning. Needless to say I couldn't get back to sleep so I guess today I will be running on fumes. Doug won't be doing much better. The muskrat returned a half hour later, continued his squeaking and scratching outside the window well, keeping him up as too. He spent the night on the computer reasearching Muskrats and now he is an expert.

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Had a baby skunk do that at work and it wouldn't climb out on anything. The maintenance guy had to do a green beret-like mission, belly crawl to the well, reach over the side and toss it some distance away. He didn't even get sprayed. The well was quickly covered with wire.

So much for AB being rat free! Just sayin...........

Glad it worked out good and it was not a weird space creature

and Tara You are cool up there we are going to be 32 here today  it is already 26 and only 9:15
oh well The birds like all the fresh cold water

Good one Coopslave LOL

The muskrats always seem to migrate through our yard in the fall. My husband likes to catch them and bring them inside the house to show the kids.

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Well, he did look very cuddly in a roundish rattish way. Doug suggested I put on gloves and take him out, but I wasn't taking chances. They have largeish teeth. I imagine he would make a nice coat...or maybe a hundred of them, but he was much to cute to think about that.

I wonder why no one ever made a porcupine coat? I think that would be pretty cool.

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Schipperkesue wrote:Well, he did look very cuddly in a roundish rattish way.  Doug suggested I put on gloves and take him out, but I wasn't taking chances.  They have largeish teeth.  I imagine he would make a nice coat...or maybe a hundred of them, but he was much to cute to think about that.

I think I have a muskrat fur pillow in the studio. I have an aunt who upcycles old fur coats into things.

Good call on the not grabbing him, they will bite through gloves. Why my husband insists on catching them by hand, I will never know ... but he always releases them at a nice slough somewhere.

Only in Alberta is muskrat considered fashionable. Around here, racoons take the couture world by storm.

Our big grizzly bear dog has twice found herself with a muskrat to love....  I first time I came here to help identify the huge rat like creature.  I kept reading that it should smell but then the big grizzly dog had loved it and bathed it really well before we found her snuggling it like a little teddy bear     After some research and asking around I found that they are plentiful around here and with the area being solid clay every single property has a lagoon which the muskrats can be a real pain.  Well I have that lagoon well fenced so huge grizzly dog can't go for a swim    Any muskrat that heads out of fenced area is fair game for some Newfoundland/ muskrat love hehehe

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