85 replies to this topic

[Isaac Szabo]

A buddy of mine likes to eat them.

[Matt DeLaVega]

Muskrats sure seem to love them. I sometimes see nice neat piles of opened undamaged clam shells.

Some recipes for them on invasivore. http://invasivore.org/tag/asian-clam/

[Moontanman]

Muskrats sure seem to love them. I sometimes see nice neat piles of opened undamaged clam shells.

Some recipes for them on invasivore. http://invasivore.org/tag/asian-clam/

Muskrats are herbivores, maybe otters or raccoons, muskrat is very good to eat btw. Cool link btw.

[Moontanman]

Evidently I am going to have to eat some crow as well...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskrat

Plant materials make up about 95% of their diets, but they also eat small animals, such as freshwater mussels, frogs, crayfish, fish, and small turtles.^[4][5]

[Matt DeLaVega]

You may be right, but I was told that the neat piles in one spot were from muskrats. It sounded odd to me, but when I googled it, I found quite a few references to that being from muskrat.


Oh, I see you just found some info on it as well. I thought they were herbivores as well.

[Moontanman]

They are dieing most likely.

It's beginning to look like you might be correct, it does look like the ones in the greenwater tank are dying and being dug up by the chubs and eaten, the catfish might be in on it as well. I can't imagine why they are dying in this one tank and not in the other that has clear water.

Anyone have a clue to give me?

[Moontanman]

You may be right, but I was told that the neat piles in one spot were from muskrats. It sounded odd to me, but when I googled it, I found quite a few references to that being from muskrat.

I have trapped muskrats when i was a kid with my grandfather, we sold their hides and ate the muskrats, as i showed in my above post I googled it to be sure and it says they do eat mussels, I never saw that behavior when I was trapping them.

[Moontanman]

I like freshwater inverts, too bad there are no freshwater oysters...

[Matt DeLaVega]

I like freshwater inverts, too bad there are no freshwater oysters...

I know or a fully freshwater shrimp large enough to enjoy.

[Moontanman]

I know or a fully freshwater shrimp large enough to enjoy.

I've raised oysters in a marine aquarium but we do have large freshwater shrimp here in NC, I've caught them in minnow traps, several inches long with long pincers. Macrobrachium species

[Matt DeLaVega]

I've raised oysters in a marine aquarium but we do have large freshwater shrimp here in NC, I've caught them in minnow traps, several inches long with long pincers. Macrobrachium species

Full fresh life cycle? Or brackish larval stage?

[Moontanman]

Full fresh life cycle? Or brackish larval stage?

I think they have a brackish larvae stage.

[Matt DeLaVega]

I think I have now steered your topic way off.

The brackish thing makes it hard. I like the idea of aquaculturing freshwater prawn, but due to their brackish larval stage it makes it difficult to do a backyard, homestead type setup. You have to rely on someone else to sell you stock. I tried those great big Australian Red claw crayfish, to make homemade lobster, but found that they did not breed as quick, and were more cannibalistic than claimed. I might have to try to eat some corbicula and see what I think. I also intend to try the to eat some of the trapdoor snails that are in my local reservoirs.

[gzeiger]

They do.

As to who is eating your clams, you might be surprised. I once watched a larval salamander lie in wait for a very small clam to open up, then pounced to grab the siphon and eat it.

[gzeiger]

Snails big enough to collect by hand are very good eating.

[Moontanman]

Snails big enough to collect by hand are very good eating.

I was under the impression that eating snails was dangerous due to parasites..

[Matt DeLaVega]

Parasites are a problem when eaten raw or undercooked. Otherwise it is a non issue.

[Moontanman]

Parasites are a problem when eaten raw or undercooked. Otherwise it is a non issue.

Makes sense, nest time I grow out a large number of Colombian rams horns I just might give them a try..

[dac343]

I know the discussion has moved past muskrats and mussels but wanted to share these photos of a muskrat midden here in KY.

[gerald]

Wow, that pile looks like all native mussels, and quite a diversity. Around here (central+eastern NC) the muskrat middens are usually 95-99% Asian Corbicula. Are Corbicula present there and muskrats are not choosing them, or is that a Corbicula-free stream?