Pond Problems

One major problem that pond owners come across on a frequent basis is the infestation of muskrats into their aquatic environment.  The reasons why you might want to get rid of this pest include the following facts: their building activities may cause flooding and damage, tunnels drain water away from the pond, den-digging destabilizes the bank of the body of water, completely strip the nearby areas of vegetation, and they also devastate populations of aquatic life within the pond.  

To rid you of these problems I’ve compiled a few tips that have been used successfully by pond/lake owners in the past.  First of all, if you have aquatic vegetation or weeds, you need to try to get rid of these as soon as possible.  You can do this fairly easily by treating these plants with algaecides and/or herbicides, which you can purchase online or at a local store. The reason for this is that you are in effect destroying the food supply of this animal, causing them to hopefully move on to “greener pastures” (or in this instance a greener pond) for the food resources they are seeking to fulfill their appetites.

If your pond is free of most aquatic plants and you still have issues with the muskrat population, you can try changing the pond environment by putting in an aeration system.  This system causes a continual movement of water, which discourages muskrat infestation and decreases the chances of weed growth.

The next step you could take to eliminate present and future populations of muskrats from coming to your aquatic environment is by putting in a fence around your pond.  This fence must be at least 2 feet high (so they can’t get over it, and 6 inches deep (so they can’t burrow under it), the only downside to this method is the fact that it can become rather pricey (especially if you have a large pond).

The last step you could take is to set up traps which you can purchase at a local hunting store.  Bait these traps with apples and peanut butter, if you catch a muskrat and want to relocate it, make sure you free it at a location that’s at least a mile away from your property. 

You can find a complete list of pond maintenance products on Sanco's pond products page or feel free to contact our helpful staff.