The Fur Animals of Louisiana 299 



set by nature, providing physical conditions are to their 

 requirements, has been conclusively demonstrated and 

 proved by the Imperial Valley irrigation project in South- 

 ern California. What has occurred there can best be told 

 by Dr. Joseph S. Dixon, of the University of California and 

 bioloigst of the California Game and Fish Commission, who 

 in his "Rodents of the Imperial Valley" 40 showed that, 

 while the muskrat was unknown in 1904, that in 1920 a 

 catch of 20,000 'rats were secured by trappers in a region 

 that was once nothing but an arid desert covered with 

 mesquite, creosote-bush, and such desert flora. With the 

 coming of water came cattails and such grasses that would 

 supply the muskrat with food. Then came the 'rats. 



However, what has been written in this chapter anent 

 ranching and farming should not deter anyone sufficiently 

 interested in experimenting in farming muskrats in either 

 quite large outdoor enclosures or in smaller pens. Musk- 

 rats can and have been successfully bred in backyards and 

 even in a house. All these animals require are clean quar- 

 ters, plenty of the right kind of food and water, and at- 

 tention. 



What pecuniary returns come from such a method can- 

 not be prophesied, but it is certain that the person so experi- 

 menting will learn many things to his advantage and what 

 he learns may prove of enough interest to spur him on to 

 making a ranching investment. Then, too, the rearing of 

 breeding stock for re-sale should not prove difficult and 

 some side-line income be made. 



Raising the muskrat in captivity will have its draw- 

 backs, but what will be learned as to their habits will be 

 worth many of the troubles and disappointments encoun- 

 tered. Even if one has a 'rat ranch of considerable size 

 he would do well to keep a few in an enclosure where he 

 can study these animals, watch their method of living, their 

 reaction to certain foods, and, particularly, watch them at 

 work building their houses and using their feeding plat- 

 forms, and, especially, noting their reproduction. 



♦"Journal of Mammalogy, vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 136-146. 



