Incredible shrews
Voracious insectivores
Short-tailed shrew
Ecological Wildlife Solutions™ offers clients services and guidance for managing shrews and other beneficial animals and plants in human habitats.
Gram for gram shrews are the most voracious mammals in our forests and fields (shrews rarely reach an ounce in weight). Shrews are energetic pugnacious predators of insects and worms. They are active and tireless year-round, day and night, and they rest little. They eat up to their weight and more daily, mostly protein and fats from worms and insect prey. Shrews are insect-eating machines and more. Short-tailed shrews occasionally eat mice larger than themselves and, often, they are found more abundant than mice.
Short-tailed shrews forage diverse habitats, occasionally patrolling foundations and formal gardens, occasionally entering garages, rarely causing damages. They are commonly found in urban neighborhoods. This is the odd-looking little short-tailed, dark gray “mouse” under the bird feeder and inside the flower bed or caught in a mouse trap. Shrews help control insect populations everywhere they forage. They also scavenge corpses of mice and birds and even large animals like road-kill deer. They are most abundant where leaf litter or deep thatch in tall grass offers high insect and worm populations and sheltering duff crisscrossed by mouse and vole tunnels. Short-tailed shrews make tunnels, too. They connect rodent and mole tunnels into vast foraging networks. They spend most of their time in these tunnels. They are most mole-like of all shrew species–their charcoal gray fur is felt-like, just like that of moles.
Short-tailed shrews are unique among mammals, they are venomous! Blarina toxin, named for the shrew Genus Blarina, enters insects, mice and other prey (as large as rabbits) in saliva traveling along external grooves in the shrew’s incisor teeth. Shrew bites to humans are very rare but reportedly result in minor swelling and pain. Bites from all small animals may result in infections, of course. Don’t handle shrews, let them do their thing–they are the gardener’s best friend even when they nibble an occasional garden bulb during winter!
All shrew species benefit from natural landscape management practices that restore native habitats. Human habitats benefit from the insectivorous habits of shrews.
 Masked shrew Sorex cinereus Madison County, OH |
Tips for controlling shrews around the house:
- close the cracks and crevices and small openings that allow tiny animals and insects into homes and garages (don’t forget garage door seals!)
- manage garbage well by keeping containers firmly closed and clean
- manage pet food well, avoid spilling and remove surpluses (shrews love dog food!)
- clean up seed husk piles accumulating under bird feeders
- maintain uncluttered foundations around homes and businesses, space foundation plantings and remove brush and leaf piles
- feather mulch thin toward foundations so there is too little depth to hide tunnel galleries near the foundation block of homes and businesses
Tips for keeping shrews doing their thing, catching outdoor insects and mice:
- keep cats indoors
- avoid using those little packets of poison bait to control mice outdoors
- allow natural accumulations of litter & duff (loose leaves and twigs & decomposing litter) beyond your landscaping, Beyond Turf…