The Fur Animals of Louisiana 271 



While the snapping turtle is unquestionably a menace 

 to the muskrat in the north, there is very little evidence 

 pointing to it as an important natural enemy in Louis- 

 iana. 



Floods take their toll of the muskrat young frequently. 

 By this is not meant the infrequent crevasse inundations, 

 but the high waters that cover the coastal muskrat lands 

 from the gulf tides. There seems to be no guarding against 

 catastrophes of this kind and the fact that the adults are 

 not adversely affected by such floodings means that breed- 

 ing is not unduly interrupted, although the mice suffer. 



Droughts, when they come to the Louisiana marshes, do 

 great damage. Prior to the 1924 and 1925 exceptionally 

 dry spells, the state had not had such a visitation in over 

 twenty years. 



The more or less serious consequences that come with 

 and follow exceptionally dry periods include the drying up 

 of fresh water ponds and shallow bayous, and excess of 

 salt water in normally fresh streams; the killing of vege- 

 tation and the disastrous fires that sweep the marshlands 

 not alone burning off the vegetation but burning deep into 

 the humus or peat of the marsh floor. 



At such times the muskrats roam about in large num- 

 bers seeking wet spots, which become unduly crowded, and 

 the mortality becomes very high. These drought spells, 

 with their lack of food and water, have a tendency to stop 

 breeding activities and a short fur crop the following 

 winter trapping season is an inevitable result. 



The damage done muskrats by domestic animals is prac- 

 tically nil, save, of course, that done by hogs. As one 

 trapper put it: "Oh, dose hogs. She do ten times more 

 damage than all the belette (mink), alligator, hawk and 

 h'owl, put togedder in one." 



Trappers, when they are in the marsh during the three 

 winter months given over to trapping, have a habit of 

 carrying out with their families, one or more cats. Such 

 cats frequently "go wild" in the marsh and prey on the 

 muskrat mice, but our biologist made a noteworthy obser- 

 vation on feline reaction during one of his experiments. 



