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We use hancock live beaver traps

Beavers have played an active role in New England's ecology for thousands of years. As natural "engineers" of the landscape they were agents of change, creating wetlands out of uplands and streams, and providing habitat for a variety of plants and animals. For native peoples, beavers were a source of meat, skins and medicine. As Europeans colonized New England, beaver pelts served as a form of currency, creating an incentive for settlers to move farther west and changing the relationship between Native Americans and Europeans, and Native Americans and beavers.

Intensive hunting and trapping, and deforestation that followed European colonization eliminated beavers throughout much of North America, including sourthern New England. They were re-established in Berkshire County in the 1930s and, thanks (in part) to an active restoration campaign, have since reclaimed most of their former range in Massachusetts.

Description

Beavers (Castor canadensis) are North America's largest native rodents, weighing between 35 and 80 pounds as adults. They can range from two to two and a half feet in length, with an additional ten to eighteen inches for the tail. There is no size difference between males and females.

Long, shiny guard hairs covering thick, soft underfur give Massachusetts beavers a dark brown to reddish brown color. They are muscular animals with large bones, well-developed incisor teeth and a massive skull that supports strong chewing muscles.

Beavers have hind legs that are longer than their fore legs. They rise up on their hind legs to chew trees, gather food or just look around. Although they are slow moving and awkward out of water, they do venture out on land in search of food and building materials. Most of their time, however, is spent in the water.

Beavers have large, webbed hind feet and a flat, leathery tail that serves as an aid for swimming.

Illustration courtesy of Nancy Haver

They also use their tails for temperature regulation, fat storage, as prop while standing upright, and for communication (beavers slap their tails on the water when alarmed). In the water it is easy to confuse beavers with muskrats (another aquatic mammal common in Massachusetts). Muskrats, weighing only two to three pounds, are much smaller than adult beavers and have narrow, vertically flattened tails (as opposed to the wide horizontally-flattened tails of beavers). Both species have small eyes and ears, but muskrat ears are generally less noticeable than those of beavers.

Distribution

Beavers are distributed throughout most of North America from northern Mexico to northern Canada. They are both common and abundant throughout most of Massachusetts. They are absent from southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod, and the Islands.

An important requirement for beavers is water deep enough to provide aquatic habitat beneath winter ice. As a result they are generally associated with rivers, ponds and lakes, or areas that can be converted to beaver ponds. Although beavers are found in areas with steep slopes, they generally prefer fertile valleys with flat terrain and perennial streams that can be dammed to create ponds. These areas also produce an abundance of food preferred by beavers.

Food

Beavers do not eat fish; they are strict vegetarians. As such, they feed on a variety of aquatic plants (especially water lilies) and the shoots, twigs, leaves, roots, and bark of woody plants. In particular, the bark and inner bark of trees and shrubs are important foods, expecially in winter. Aspen, birch, alder, and willow are favored food plants.

4-27-10    I applied eviction fluid in the attic through the vent cap. I trimmed the lattice outside the house, that the client had used for flowers. The client said everything is quiet will go back and seal entry point. 4-28-10    Went back to the post office skunk job that I had my negative air machine at. I removed the machine, disinfected the entire crawl space and seal all entry points.
4-30-10    I arrived at the clients house to remove bird nest in soffitt. Removed birds nest, and disinfected, and sealed the hole in the soffitt. I went into the attic to make sure that no birds had gotten in.
4-30-10    Trenched around 4 x 8 concrete porch, and poured concrete to keep animals from digging under porch.
5-1-10    Client had his 80 year old mother living in a home that the laundry room was being remodeled, the ceiling was plastic and insulation. She said she saw a raccoon paw poke through the plastic and heard chattering. I arrived and removed insulation and plastic, until I found the babies. I removed 4 babies by hand, and 1 with a catch pole. I then set a box trap for the mother.