Shrews don’t damage plants, and they do little or no burrowing into garden beds. They live under leaf litter and grass and might travel along existing mole and vole tunnels. For these reasons, shrews are beneficial in a garden and should not be eliminated unless they become a nuisance.

Diet: Their main food source is insects but they will also eat earthworms, small slugs and snails especially in damp areas. General Ecology: The common shrew is a terrestrial species living almost anywhere and is most commonly found in hedgerows, scrubland, grassland and deciduous woodland.

Each day, shrews eat up to their body weight in earthworms, centipedes, snails and slugs, beetles and bugs, spiders, certain fungi and vegetable matter, and even small mammals. Shrews have tiny, but very sharp teeth which they can use to bite and tear flesh.

Trapping is the most effective control for pesky shrews. There are 2 types of traps which work on shrews. And you need to decide what to choose – a kill trap or a humane live trap.

Foxes Hate Them, Trout Love Them Shrews may be fierce predators, but they’re small, which means they in turn become prey. Many mammalian predators, including red foxes, raccoons and cats, will attack them but rarely actually eat them. That’s because shrews emit an unpleasant musk that some liken to the smell of skunk.

Shrews are tiny mammals that look like a mouse or mole but in fact are not even rodents. These ferocious little predators rarely infest homes or other structures but when they do can cause big issues. Shrews have been known to attack family pets, contaminate food with feces and urine, and emit an awful stench.

Though they are not rodents, shrews are similar in size. This means gaps in building foundations, spaces between windows and doors, and the openings around pipes and conduits are all big enough to allow the pests entry into homes. However, shrews found in houses are typically confused or inside by mistake.

Since they spend most of their time alone and underground, shrews don’t interact with humans very often. Shrews are equipped with venomous saliva that’s toxic to their prey but does little more than sting when they bite people. Bites typically swell and feel painful for a few days.

Shrews aren’t naturally drawn to birdseed or pet snacks, but they will resort to such food if none of their preferred choices are present. Most importantly, keep excess moisture from depositing around your property. Shrews thrive on water supplies, which also attract the mammal’s favorite prey: insects.

Moles will not eat grain-based bait. Shrews are smaller than moles at 4 to 5 inches long. Shrews, like moles, are strictly insectivorous and eat earthworms, grubs and other nuisance insects. If control is desired, use snap-type mousetraps baited with ham, bacon, raw beef, peanut butter or chocolate.

What Do Shrew Feces Look Like? About 2mm in diameter and 6mm long, shrew droppings are dark in color and have a curled or corkscrew shape. The pests usually deposit them in piles. Like the animals themselves, shrew waste tends to have a distinct, unpleasant smell.

Common Diseases Shrews Carry Long-term problems include nerve pain, arthritis, and short-term memory loss. Rat fleas are also found on shrews and carry the bacteria that causes bubonic plague. If left untreated, this disease spreads through the body and can be fatal.

Shrews do not create surface tunnels but may feed in runways or tunnels of other small mammals.

Shrews create dime sized holes in the lawn gaining access to existing mole tunnels. Shrews are insectivores and can be found under logs and other damp, shaded areas where insects live. Many people will leave shrews alone since they eat insects and grubs and are not as destructive as moles and voles.

Shrew poison can be used alongside shrew bait and placed around the home to monitor and kill shrews. Essential oils can be sprayed where you don’t spend a lot of time, as these oils are pungent and have a strong odor. But they work for repelling shrews.

Shrews are outdoor pests that tunnel in residential yards. They either create burrows of their own or use the vacated nests of other pests such as moles and chipmunks. Gardens are popular places to find holes, and shrews often uproot plants while digging.

Shrews are usually smaller than mice, and their noses are much more pointed. Mice have large eyes, while shrews’ eyes are so tiny they’re almost invisible beneath their fur. Shrews have meat-eaters’ pointed teeth and small ears compared to a mouse’s grooved incisors and large ears.

A vole, also called a meadow mouse, has rounded ears and body and is reddish or brown and black in color with a gray underside. And finally, a shrew has a pointed snout, but unlike the mole, a shrew’s front feet are not enlarged. Also, a shrew’s eyes are tiny, but they are visible in most species.