The muskrat primarily consumes aquatic plants, including stems, roots, leaves, and buds, and also eats mollusks, crustaceans, and small fish. The species obtains food by gnawing on plants with its sharp teeth and gathering it in the water or on the bank. Its diet consists of aquatic plants, reeds, cattails, water lilies, mollusks, small fish, algae, sedges, and reeds. The feeding strategy involves foraging and grazing; the daily food requirement ranges from 200 grams to 0.5 kilograms. Young muskrats are fed milk. Predators include golden eagles, eagles, alligators, rough-legged hawks, martens, stoats, common vipers, mustelids, western rat snakes, and rattlesnakes.