Shrews are fairly commonly found inside, where they come to find shelter or even to invade the nests of mice or rats. I'll bet that you can live trap the shrew (or shrews) and release them. Unless you eliminate their access point, however, don't be surprised if they return! Shrews will eat almost anything and have to eat very frequently. If one is actually living in your home, he has a food source of some kind. He might just be coming and going.

Shrews can be agressive little animals. Don't forget that if you manage to get one in a trap. You don't want a shrew bite.

I just saw a shrew [I think] run through my utility room on its way somewhere in the walls. I know this house has had mice before, but I haven't seen any. I also have a couple holes around the foundation of the house. a couple of days ago I put lanscaping cloth down and rocks on it. Now there is a hole in the center of it with no dirt on the outside - even some of the rocks disappeared. What is that~?! is it related to the "shrew".

I found a shrew floating dead in my dog's water dish recently. The trap to our crawlspace is in the butler's pantry where we feed the dog so I'm pretty sure he got in that way. Even though my dog is a JRT, he has never been one to go after rodents dead or alive so I think this guy just fell into the dish and drowned.

I have something in my ceiling and I have spotted it several times in our furnace room and in one hallway... It is definitely blackish in color and relatively small...it is active during all parts of the day and does not really go for mouse traps with peanut butter on them, or the ones that go along the wall......HELP!!!!!!! it keeps me up all night in our ceiling!!!Urgg....

We have found 5 shrews in our house in the past 5 weeks. They are pygmy shrews and we don't know what to do with them.We have come to the conclusion that the mouse food for our 2 pet mice, might be the reason they are here. It is very difficult to know where to put the traps as we have seen them on so many different rooms. Any help would be appreciated.

I have caught 4 shrews in my house ever since a tornado ripped through my neighborhood. Tornado did mild damage to my home but rattled it pretty good! Never saw one til two weeks after ward! One I just caught on a sticky trap and the darn thing got loose! By the way he was feisty! He made a loud scretching sound! These little guys seem to have upgraded from worms to cherry pop tarts! I witnessed one trying to chew a hole under the base boards once he made it big enough to come through he attempted to drag a poptart into the whole. My question is are they likely to be poisonous?

Not to you. Some types do have a substance in/on their back teeth that is used to kill other small creatures. Most people can not get their fingers in the mouth far enough to activate the glands.

I just live trapped a shrew, which was visiting the kitchen and eating dog food that our dog left out (he spills a bit). I knew it was something different, as we've had mice and the droppings were different. He had been in the trap about 8 hours, had eaten the peanut butter already, and was listless... when I checked the release site, he'd gone, though.

And, yes, Never use those sticky traps!! They are horrible!

After a hurricane in the Maryland area i ended up with a hole in my roof and water damage to the drywall in my bathroom. I removed the drywall but left the area exposed for a day. The next day i found a shrew in my bedroom! I trapped it and released it, but what are the chances that the shrew was in the crawlspace and fell through the hole in my ceiling, survived the fall and then made it's way from the bathroom on the far side of the house to my bedroom? Do shrews climb walls or live in attics?

Hi! I have a rodent in my apartment which I thought was a mouse. But after searching for images I found it was a short tailed shrew. At least it matches the picture. It won't get trapped; it reaches in the trap and pulls out the cheese (I didn't read anywhere that shrews like cheese). It's constantly up and about and driving me a little crazy. I almost bought a sticky trap but decided I didn't want to kill it. Any advice? Should I get a different live trap? or should i just live with it until it dies (I don't think there's a family)? would it be good for preventing insects? Will it bite unprovoked?

Shrews are bold, they will take over holes and tunnels left by other animals so they should not be allowed to remain in your home. They are also a bit fearless and have been known to bite family pets and people if cornered. Very different from the mice we have had. They also reproduce pretty quickly and many of the natural predators that we hope would get them don't like to eat them because of the odor they produce. We were shrew free for about 3 years after sealing up but they have gotten back in this year and are boldly running across the kitchen floor! Back to trapping and sealing up the holes!

I would like to share two pieces of information. To the person who said they tried cheese to trap the shrew and it didn't work, I would suggest using peanut or almond butter. Both mice and shrews seem to like it and they have to work harder to get it and therefore, they usually get caught. My second piece of info. is really a suggestion. Do not ever use sticky traps to trap shrews or mice. It is very inhumane because it makes them suffer a long time before they die. Instead, use either a snap trap or a live trap. Personally, I prefer a snap trap but not because I want to kill the mice or shrews. I really don't want to kill the mice or shrews but when I tried a live trap I was not able to catch the critters. So, I came to the conclusion that I had to use the snap traps and kill them since it's not a good idea to leave them in your home. I hope this helps at least a few people who find and read this.

• Hated to resort...but got glue pads. Caught it in less then 30 minutes. Felt horrible. But found out today...they can climb and r venemous. If bite gets infected not good. Kill them. I felt horrible and guilty. But after what I heard about them today..

We have shrews here in Oregon. My cat loves to hunt them. Two have come into my studio. There is no food in my studio, so I thought it was strange. The cat killed them fast. They haven't hurt my cat. She doesn't eat them. So far none have actually come into the house.

Really, Fay??

I have literally just picked up a shrew, (I think) it walked into my foot in the kitchen and now don't know what to do with it, I've read some websites and they say keep it for a few hours, feed and water it. It's smaller them my thumb. I've put it in a pot with cottonwool the soil here is hard, would it be able to borrow into it if I let it go?

I just trapped a short tail shrew in my house. It's been driving my cat & I crazy. It was very slow & the darn thing must be blind bc it'd walk right out no matter the time of day while I'm cooking in the kitchen it'd come out from under the stove. The only perk about this semi slow moving little guy is he showed me the hidey holes in corners. So, I know of 2 areas. Does anyone know of anything I can use to plug the holes to keep these things from getting in the house?

I have had mice in the house so i got "normal" traps a while back but really didnt like crushing the mice. So I got these "Smart Mouse Trap - Humane Mousetrap" on Amazon. They are GREAT! They do not kill the critter.

So the "normal" traps caught mice and killed them. Last year and this week the traps caught shrews. They get in like the mice and "act' like mice the way they get in but when I trap them I find they are not mice so i guess they got rid of the mice in my basement. Unfortunately this last one caught apparently got hurt by the trap that should not hurt them. I didnt notice until I let it out at the forest preserve near by and he could not move his back legs which were working just fine when I saw him prior to getting caught. I felt bad but....

Get these green house traps they are GREAT! Got mine at amazon. I am not trying to advertise for them but they really work and dont kill or make a mess.

hi all. live traps dont work for my household shrews and i wont use kill traps and my 6 cats seem ineffective, but an old farmer told me to get a 5 gallon bucket. put a tin can opened on both ends with the tops discarded on a dowel or stick and tape it across the top of bucket. smear peanut or almond butter on a spot on tin can. build a ramp or place near something shrew can climb. they go after the peanut butter, the can spins and they fall in bucket. bucket is very safe for transporting to release. worked VERY well for me several times. hope this saves some little shrew lives. they are really neat but alas, not tameable. also sprinkle flour lightly in an area to look for tiny little tracks.

My cat kills shrews in my studio. We haven't got them in the house so far. I don't know what yours are like, but hear in Oregon they are really tiny , maybe half the size of a mouse.

My 2 darling cats keep bringing me live shrews as presents and today I had to trap and release 1 that had escaped their clutches.very cute and not aggressive.I think they'll happily use the house as shelter and a good source of food but prefer being outside.no doubt I'll meet the little chap again soon.Ive read they can die easily through shock/loud noise etc but my local ones aren't fazed at all by being caught and batted by my cats

I had one shrew in my house who was always in my 3 year old sons room. We tried trapping it many times with no luck. I got worried because I heard they are aggresive. So i did alot of research and decided on a snap trap. I first tried peanut butter with no luck. I then did peanut butter mixed with oatmeal with no luck. Finally I found an article that said hot dogs and I put it on the trap this morning and about 10 hours later I finally caught it! Now i can let my son play in his room again!

Do you fasten the hot dog down to the trap?

Our kitty caught a shrew yesterday. Thanks for confirming what it looks like! :)

Hi, I was hoping for some help. After some research, I have figured out what this eyeless mouse is. Its a shrew. Under normal circumstances I would just take it out into the deeper woods, we live in the woods, no neighbors, well anyway, it's going to be around 5-10 degrees the next couple of days and since this little guys eats all sorts of stuff I don't want in my house I don't want to kill it, but its going to be cold, someone please let me know if he'll survive the cold or not, or what I should do with him. Thank you in advance .

They generally live under the snow if there is some. Otherwise they will find a warmer place in the fallen leaves or under a log. It will be OK. That's where they normally live. It's what they do - until they're discovered by a hawk, owl or fox.

I live in a remodeled barn and I have an old pasture and corn fields in my back yard. Actually my back yard IS the old pasture. In the last month and a half I have found 2 shrews in my house. One in an old leftover barn floor room that my furnace is in. And one today in my kitchen sink in the new part of my house. We have had mice in the past but since i found the first shrew i noticed no mice around and even today no mice. It is cold out and there is snow all over my back yard. Because of how the home was remodeled I'm sure there are many access points for them to get inside from the cold. I'm at a loss right now. My son is 9 and scared to play on the floor and I worry about my dog getting attacked. I rent and plan on telling landlord to fix this. But with all the access points and what looks to be a field of places they could be in back yard I just do not have hope in keeping them out of my home. Can I use a shrew repellent INSIDE the house where I know they have been found if my son and dog can not access it? Or is there a poison, like a form of rat poison, that I can place out to kill the buggers. I do not want to catch and release as I feel that they will come right back in

I found a shrew dead on my living room floor this morning! It was about 4 inches long, tiny pointed tail, black sleek hair, no legs that I could see, little feet, the head and body seemed all in one, no neck. Me, my coffee and laptop made a hasty departure. My cat killed it. He says it came in under the old unused radiator in the dining room (I found blood under the table)--I looked and there's a space under the radiator. I put duct tape over it and will use pest foam later. But I'm really freaked out about it. He brought me a mouse last fall, there was 4 more in my storeroom and now this. I've heard--and he often hears--movement in that wall and the one connecting to it. My garden is right next to the house on that side and I'm wondering if it's attracting vermin. I love my garden but I don't want my apartment crawling with creepy nasty things. There's really no foundation or anything under the house on that side by the garden, the wall just goes down to the ground and there's dirt and a crawl space under the house.

Please everyone,don't use sticky traps. They are inhumane and cruel. They will give you lifetime nightmares. If ever safely trapping animals, make sure they don't have babies that will starve, if you remove their nursing mother.

I am infested with them they are intrusive to my body my food and my animals it sounds crazy but they come in through the food from.from.supermarkets as well as the mole holes into the house they are not nice they kill mice that is why you don't see them within three years I have had to replace my furnace, my oiill tank washer n dryer and the fridge is on its last leg due to them I'm sure. THESE ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS! Traditional sprays from Terminex did not work, borax, sugar n castor oil doesn't work , nothing works if you pick up clothing and hairs go flying you have them they have a fewfew long hairs even though they are small they breed profusely and will follow me through the house. I am a vegan ex peta member but the angst that they have caused me is unreal, in my hair, on my body, in all my clothes, in the washer, in the toilet (they r aquatic) I have been not believed because most people cannot see them they r on my cat even I wo n sleep in my bedroom as I lost all my hair once and its finally long again. Go to the supersupermarket and hold a bag of doritos between your handhands the bag will fill up with air but after that you will feel movement, that is them. Sorry if I was too graphic but get them now or they will multiply. As aan addendum, I have Lyme Disease and have wondered if that could be why I get bothered and my roommate is either just oblivious or if it could be meds I am on, my guess is the Lyme. GOOOD LUCK and bbye careful they bite n leave red

Sounds like you have some good meds there if you are imagining that shrews live in bags of Doritos lol!

My post was way too Long I’ll come back this evening and redo it here about my experiences with a shrew that lives with me :)

JAYNE wow girl you need help please read if u get this :

I don’t mean to sound rude but either you have a rodent investstion (unlikely ) or your on meds that are making you paranoid or hallucinate.

they are infested and all over but no one else can See them? they don’t hang out anywhere in humans stuff EVER as they have to eat every hour or they can starve and die within 3 hr so they aren’t in your bed on your laundry or anything of that sort

they don’t crawl on humans or in your hair

they don’t breed profusely either as they are not rodents they are mammals and like to go on their own they don’t usually live in any group

they don’t go after cats and Wouldn’t go near it certainly not on it!!!

they don’t have long hair either.....

How you described it that’s not shrews. And I don’t think it’s any sort of rodent either as they wouldn’t be on you like you described.

sounds like bugs hun ....

Shrews are defintly NOT AQUATIC also

they don’t cause any damage either They are mammals. Rats and other rodents teeth don’t stop growing so they have to chew but shrews aren’t rodents and they don’t chew or make holes nor go inside chip bags ( they come get food and run and are masters of not being detected... they’d never ever go inside a bag freely.

i think you need to talk to someone hun I’m worried For you seriously

i know it’s an old post so I hope things got better I wouldn’t want anyone to live like you are hun and if u need someone to talk To hit me up I’m not trying to be mean or judgemental but no one should live like that. I am psychology major and I really do care.

hugs

Amanda

ps If ur doing better pls let me know I know I don’t know u but seriously the post has me extremely worried and I’m shocked that no one else thought to reach out to you after that post... what medications are you taking? Maybe it’s something for the Lyme disease... hope your ok ok :) not trying to be a jerk I literally just want to help ok :) xx

If you can see him that clearly the pointed snout I would question whether or not it's a shrew shrew that very difficult to see however they do hold dog and cat treats dog toys cat toys under the couch I'm always finding them behind the couch so it sounds like a shrew maybe it's a different kind of bigger one or just a different breed that you can see him better shrews you will find them behind the washer lined up because they have a poisonous sting of that does not kill their fellow shrews but it immobilizes them so that when they need a meal if there's no food around that's where they go they eat each other they really horrible Little Creatures they mammals and they're smarter than I can even Boo at sometimes I think they're smarter than me they are and they say if you have a baby especially if you can see this thing get them out as quickly as possible to have what's called a shrew zapper and the Shrew zapper apparently if you only had seen one and you don't think there's too many more you believe it you would know if there were a lot more because if you don't have the animals they would roll themselves up in paper towels or it's toilet paper you'd be finding little bits of something that they can hiding all over the house believe me I live in a log cabin that has shifted I live on a bug that has a kind of weird wild life as it is not so you're not even to mention these and these things have invaded my home I've had Terminix hear nothing don't get them I've had you know just tried all kinds of different things borax States the dawn kills them if you filling up a container in the sink because the kind I have are aquatic I don't know what part of what part of the country you live in but I live right in bug country in Carver Mass and it's loaded with him down here I mean I see the his fly off of everybody and I know what it is when I see it and actually I'm finding them in food and packaged foods of the little tiny ones and my sister moved into a new apartment I brought my furry coat there and brought home the little tiny ones which are so small that he is that is size of a millimeter if that I can see them but just just pay yearly and so my suggestion to you is get somebody in there who knows how to deal with throughs now or by three shrew zappers if your house isn't too big and doesn't have a lot of crawl spaces you know hidden Ares 3 should do it and just search shrew zapper and it'll come up God bless you I'll pray for you cuz this is nothing nice when they start to take over and they do sorry for any typos I'm talking into the phone good luck honey

Oh yeah one more thing if you can see one there's probably a hundred more I don't mean to be speed up to pray in you but yes they have they have litters of like I don't know 10 230 I think attended 20 every I think it's month like the exact day, when they come in and you don't catch it right away they breathe and they breathe and they breed so my house is loaded I don't know what to do I'm beside myself because they're very invasive into the human body can be depending on the times I have the Aquatic ones the ones that like to swim if you live near Lake bog if you live in Wisconsin is that spog country to or Massachusetts any of those place you might have the kind that I have and the way you know that they're there is by the trail they leave if you can't see them I can see them only after I learned what they were and I learned their habits was I able to see them out of the corner of my eye they move so fast that normally leave the kind I have you can't see now I know down south they have was called a house shrew and that is I believe easier to say I'm not sure but again pointed snout and also if you're looking for the trails of them being here you would see here fly up off the things when you pick them up and likes a you pick up your piece of paper that's on the floor up his might fly up if you have a cat you might think I was just the cat but it's not just the cat and also if you have the Aquatic one you would see trails of water coming out of the sink I always keep something over my sync my sinks that you know the you know that the drains because that I don't want any more coming up then is already coming up now they live on money I haven't wraparound porch and they're out on the porch I used to have two dogs that were very aggressive and they kept everything away and then they died and I have a husky now and he's scared of his own shadow and licenses dog so anyway okay good luck again and feel free to email me jshamon59@gmail.com good luck again

Sorry for the typos

To Amanda and Jay I think you should read up do some research into shrew infestation before you become judgmental and accuse me of being on meds or hallucinating or listen I'm a woman going through the scariest thing that I have ever experienced in my life and that's how you support me go do some research you must be trumper's

YouTube's response would keep anyone who needed help which is why we come here away from him do you realize what you do to someone when you say things like that wow I'm done with this website bullet rompers

Yes we have shrews in our house. Not sure why. Thought we had mice until we caught two

Have you caught anymore??

I have shrews. They look like a small mole. Pointy nose and short tail. We found out they were eating out cat food. We have a nature preserve behind our house. They are coming in our shed that is attached to our house. They are getting in through the insulation. I do use the traps that kill because there are so many of them. My first winter we trapped 15 of them. This year we have already trapped 10 of them. My cats won't go near them because they smell and they screech. I use peanut butter in the traps. We also put the cat food on our table in the winter. They run around in my heat baseboards. I have used flex foam everywhere I can think of to seal up every creavice I can think of but they are still getting in. I know some people don't agree with the kill traps, but we have fields and woods everywhere, I can't see letting them go and have them come back in. I hope this helps!

Yup. I have one that loves to come in my house and just runs around. I’m not worried about it and i actually get excited seeing it. I’ve just decided to let mine do its business while I do mine. It’s been pretty shy but hasnt done anything bad. Mine loves my room mainly. I’m not sure why. But I do know that my shrew doesn’t live 100% in my home. It just comes and goes in at times during the day and night. I know you posted this 15 years ago but I fig I’d let you know that you’re not alone on this. Hope all is well!

Hi,

Does anyone know if a shrew can survive outside in Ontario winters. I live trapped one 2 days ago at 3am. Wasn’t sure what it was, so did a video while still in the trap. We have 2 ft of snow here, thinking it may be a rat I put live trap in a box with insulation, threw in some bird seed, walked far from the house and put it under a tree in the bush, carefully opened the trap before ploughing thru the snow to home. Yes I am a little crazy, won’t purposely kill. So now I know it is probably a shrew, not mole or rat and as of this afternoon still alive. It was at the opening of the box, outside were bunny prints to the box. I left a little mince meat. Also curious, every winter I live trap mice, this winter only 2 mice and no more evidence of more, is it possible this Is one of a litter living in the house.

There was a strange smell in one area, thinking it was mice in the walls or vents I sprayed peppermint in the vent and and baseboards, 2 days later in the room next to the vent my cat showed me where to put the trap. Any information appreciated :-)

Shrew live in the ground, most of the time, like moles. But if it gets cold and they get hungry, they will come in the house like mice. Also, will eat mouse babies. So if you notice fewer mice in your house, it's because you have had a shrew for a while. However, you must exercise caution as shrew bits are poisonous. You will get sick and have to go to hospital.

I had a shrew in my house for a year.

I caught the little critter in a sticky trap.

i knew it wasn’t a mouse. I spent an hour and a half using tweezers, vegetable oil and q-tips, gently getting it out of the trap.

once it was out of the trap, i gently sat it on the floor, i wanted to be certain that i hadn’t injured it in my efforts to free it.

it quickly scurried off behind my sink and dishwasher, an area where I sometimes saw evidence of mice.

I would occasionally see the shrew scurrying around the base boards faster than any mouse.

for a year, I never saw one spider , ant, or any other insect in my home.

for about 3 months, I didn‘t see the little shrew. I thought it probably died.

I had watched a neighbors dog for a couple of weeks, and when I returned the dog, there was still a little dog food left in the bowl.

i noticed that something had been eating the remainder of the dog food.

i thought perhaps I had mice again, so it sat several sticky traps around the bowl before I left for work.

when I returned several hours later the shrew was once again in a sticky trap. That tiny creature had been feasting on the dog food.

I had every intention of freeing the shrew and just turning it loose. It never damaged anything, and kept my house pest free.

Unfortunately, a shrew has the highest metabolism rate of any mammal. They must eat 2 or 3 times their body weight a day, and will actually go into shock and die of starvation within 3 hours if they don’t eat.

sadly, the shrew was dead .

Actually it sounds about right. The shrews I hAve are horrible. Use echo on me constantly with the intent to cause pain. Intense when focused on your brain or heArt by multie shrews at once.

They can use it to make you feel like they are on you when in fact they aren't. They will get on you as well though. 3 go to work with me in a factory which is full of rodents. Buffet to them. One night when leaving I noticed one in my bag as I left. I dumped it out but it got to my car before I did. They spray their venom at you which burns your skin. They can make it extremely warm and potent or a weaker variety depending on mood. Next night I was heading to clock out and they scurried up my pantlegs. They force themselves on you.. Spray you from light fixtures, baseboards, cracks in ceiling. Caulk them you say, foam, flex seal? They urinate in it while wet, on it while dry until it is mush. Then punish you for trying to seal them out. They scent mark me daily. At work I get scent marked by every rodent there. The shrews feast. I have tried to kill them every way possible. When anyone else is around, they are non-existent. All attempts at taking a pic are distorted. Look cartoonish. Due to echolocation. Used a mirror and captured sound waves. Clouds of venom. Clearest video I can get is using a second phone to film screen of 1st. It's horrifying. Isolates you because people will think you are nuts. I assure you she was spot on.Dont believe me? Please come get these and find out. They like to spray your food. Throw parasites on you. Keep you awake. Chew through couch, car seat, whatever to try to bite your butt. The intense focused use of echo is new. Not sure how much damage it can cause. Hurts kidneys. Makes head throb. Gives tightness in chest. These were born in my car pretty recently. I believe I killed their mother in track of driver's seat. Just brought 2 out of work in coveralls. One above pedals burning up my feet already while one is making me feel touched lightly around neck. A third using echo on my lumbar spine from inside my seat. I sit on 3 layered towels as not to get bit by the bold one in the seat. Again, please come take. Free car included. Oh, yes they are killing machines. They appear as streaks of light as they take out mice. Just re itself

I have one living in a garbage can with just a handful of stuff it t in my garage. One day I was in the garage and herd a scratching sound. So I looked in the can and there he was trapped couldn't get out. So I let him out into the snow. Well later on that day he was back and I let him out again. By the looks of it he made a little nest of shredded paper. I am confused because ,he cant get out but keeps going back then waits for me to let him outside. I have let him out about 25 times and he keeps going back. Its winter and I don't just want to relocate him during the cold I am afraid he will die.. he seems very comfortable with me. He seems to like being in a spark plug box. So when I look in the garbage and see him he goes inside box so I can pick it up and let him go outside.once spring comes I will relocate him.the oddities of life are amazing