That would be monsieur shrew, mon ami.

That would be monsieur shrew, mon ami. R.I.P.

Looks tame.

yeah.. i hypnotized it to get the pix... lol

ken

I figured that you had rubbed its little tummy to put it to sleep. I hear they like that, Ken.

(Not!)

Its a possum. Oh...wait...no...it's just playing possum. It's quite good at it.

tj

what are the defining characteristics???

ken

shrews are mostly meat eaters but my horticulture friend swears she saw one eating a plant. They have a pointy nose unlike a vole who has a rounded nose.

You asked how you trap it, Ken. So you KNOW what I'm going to ask you, right? Why? What's it doing?

Most shrew species are considered insectivores, but will also feed on worms. I guess that makes them wormivores. Come to think of it, they'll feed on just about anything they come across when they're out and about...including slugs! Many also nibble on seeds and can be seen under a bird feeder upon occasion.

They are aggressive, fearless little creatures. I had shrews in one property we owned and they terrorized the cats and the dog when they were outside. My cats always had scratched up faces when we lived at that house.

I've never heard of any reason to trap them. We saw no signs of damage of any kind on that property...they aren't rodents.

WOW!! That'a a big shrew compared to what we have here :-) Ours are tiny little creatures, barely 3 inches long (excluding tail). And certainly no match for my cat, who brings me shrew bodies on nearly a daily basis (the ones on the bedroom floor right where I step getting out of bed in the morning really feak me out). His other hunting love are pocket gophers, which resemble rats too closely for me to happy about. But with half the length of tail. And stubbier ears :-)

Get yourself a tough tomcat, Ken, like my boy Pounce. He'll keep your rodent population in check.

Defining charecteristic is that snout.

tj

Oh, my shrews were tiny, too. Tiny but fierce. Those sharp spiney teeth drew blood every time the cats would try to tangle with them.

Ken, not only is the snout elongated, but they have very small eyes and ears resembling their relatives, moles. They do not have the big digging paws of the moles, though.

My mousers did a bang up job this spring/summer on voles. Biggest voles I ever saw and they'd be lined up on my back door step each morning. Then it started. They found out that under the leaf litter around the pond, shrews lived. Poor little things. Those bodies I did not appreciate seeing in the line-up. I consider a shrew a beneficial. BTW certain species of shrew have toxic saliva. Animals won't eat them and their bite can be painful to a human.

I'm glad you mentioned that they should be considered beneficial, Calliope! I think so, too. And I suspect that ken 's shrew is one that would be most common in his location, the Northern Short -tailed shrew....known to have toxic saliva.