Guide

Go seeMammals

Muskrat lodges: cattail mounds in the marsh

October to November

Muskrats spend the fall piling cattails and mud into dome-shaped lodges in cattail marshes and marshy pond edges. The lodges are for winter shelter, and the ice 'push-ups' come later, after the water freezes.

Why this time of year

Fall is when muskrats build and reinforce their winter lodges, so the fresh mounds stand in the water before any ice forms.

How to notice it

  1. Scan the edge of a cattail marsh or pond for a low, rounded mound of plant stems and mud sitting in shallow water, usually a foot and a half to a few feet high.
  2. Look at the mound's surface for a rough, thatched look, fresh mud, or stems that have been cut and piled.
  3. Sit still near the water at dawn or dusk and watch for a muskrat swimming with a V-shaped wake or climbing on the lodge.
  4. Do not touch or climb on a lodge, and note that the entrance is underwater, so you will not see a doorway.

Try this with kids: Can you find a pile of cattails and mud in the water that looks like a tiny round hut? Where would the door be if it is underwater?

Word to know: A “push-up” is a small feeding hut a muskrat builds over a hole it chews in new ice, soon after the ice forms.

Safety

  • Stay on the bank or trail and keep off wetland edges and ice.
  • Keep a respectful distance and never handle wild muskrats.
  • Muskrat lodges are protected: disturbing them is illegal in Massachusetts without a permit, so look from the bank and leave them be.

Sources

  • bclss.orgBC Lake Stewardship Society: 'The fall is spent building and reinforcing lodges for winter occupancy'; 'Shortly after freeze-up, muskrats chew holes through the ice in bays and channels up to 90 m away from the lodge to create push-ups.'
  • northernwoodlands.orgNorthern Woodlands (New England): 'Muskrats build these lodges by piling up the plants'; lodges 'about one and one-half to three-feet high'; 'They gnaw four- to five-inch diameter holes and push marsh plants up through the ice.' No fall date for building.
  • dec.ny.govNYSDEC: 'a dome-shaped hut is constructed on a firm substrate using emergent vegetation'; push-ups or breathers are 'pushed up through cracks or holes in the ice.'
  • adfg.alaska.govAlaska Department of Fish and Game: push-ups are 'temporary structures associated with frozen marshes and collapse as snow melts in the spring.'
  • extension.usu.eduUtah State University Extension: 'This October... A muskrat may be building its cozy lodge'; muskrats stay active year-round; 'In early winter, muskrats create smaller shelters called push-ups.'
  • hunter-ed.comNew Hampshire trapper education study guide (Kalkomey, state-delegated provider; secondary): 'Most house and den building occurs in mid-autumn.' The New England timing support for the fall-building claim.
  • massaudubon.orgMass Audubon: 'muskrat lodges are smaller than beaver lodges, and they're mostly made of plants like cattails'; either animal may instead dig a home into a stream bank; the protection for beaver structures applies to muskrat structures too.

Checked against these sources on September 29, 2026.

In the guide for October, November

Also worth noticing