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Shrew or Mole? Mouse or Vole?

mole_vole.jpg
Illustration by Adelaide Tyrol

When it comes to nature, we tend to stuff things we don’t know into pigeonholes that are already defined by the familiar. If someone tells me their cat has left a “present” of a dead “mouse” on the doorstep, I ask the usual questions: How big is it? What color is the fur? How long is its tail? What size are the eyes and ears? How pointed is its nose? Chances are that it’s not a mouse.

Often, here in northern New England, the deceased is a 4- to 5-inch-long northern short-tailed shrew, with its dark gray fur, inch-long tail, pinpoint eyes, sharp nose, fur-covered ears, and stubby legs bearing sharp claws for digging. And the cat is not necessarily leaving the shrew as a gift: short-taileds have glands on the hips and belly that emit such a strong, musky odor that most predators can’t stomach the idea of eating one. Snakes and owls actually partake of the pungent, as do other shrews, which have a poor olfactory sense.

With a metabolism that is 60 times the rate of a human’s, shrews are more often the predator than the prey. Wielding sharp teeth, short-tailed shrews can consume more than their own weight each day, so they are not fussy about who or what they eat. Insects, worms, and spiders are fair game, as are centipedes and salamanders. Meadow voles are a popular item on the menu, along with mice, snakes, small rabbits, the hatchlings of ground-nesting birds, and even other shrews. Unique among mammals, the bite of a short-tailed shrew contains a poison that can paralyze and even kill its prey.

As they tunnel, short-tailed shrews navigate like bats and dolphins: they emit ultrasonic clicks that reflect back to their ears to create an aural picture of the surroundings. From as far as 2 feet away, a short-tailed shrew’s echo-location helps it to find solid objects, holes, and places where grass may block a runway. Their sixth sense may even serve to identify predators and prey.

When the north wind blows, the short-tailed shrew’s short summer coat grows longer and turns a darker shade of gray, making it appear very mole-like. But moles are larger and more robust insectivores with powerful front shoulders and outsized front feet and claws. The star-nosed mole has a 3-inch-long tail and an unmistakable sunburst-shaped nose bearing 22 pink rays that encircle the tip. Another species of local mole, the hairy-tailed mole, is about 6 inches long. They have a short, furry tail, and their backs are covered with fur that ranges from dark gray to black. Each day, one of these feisty, 2-ounce critters can eat more than its own weight in earthworms, snails, millipedes, slugs, and insects. Its winter tunnels lie 10 to 20 inches beneath the surface.

The short-tailed shrew most closely resembles yet another species, the meadow vole, but voles are tawny brown in summer, turn grayer in winter, have a blunt nose and a tail that ranges from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches long. They have beady black eyes, short, rounded ears, and chunky bodies that measure 6 to 7 1/2 inches with the tail. Voles tunnel below the surface and create runways in the thick grass. Their food includes grass, seeds, grains, and tubers. Mice are blamed for much of the damage done by voles, which eat prodigious amounts of roots, countless flower bulbs, and are so fond of bark that they often girdle and kill young shrubs and trees. And meadow voles can produce up to 17 litters each year!

If you look carefully at short-tailed shrews, moles, and voles, they don’t resemble mice,  which have large, prominent eyes, big ears, and tails about as long as their bodies. Our two common species are the white-footed mouse and deer mouse. White-footed mice are reddish brown, with a dark patch running along the back. Deer mice have brownish-gray fur and are nearly 7 to 8 1/2 inches long, including the 3- to 4-inch-long tail. Mice eat as much as a third of their weight in food each day, including lots of seeds, grains, nuts, and fruits. A third or more of their diet consists of animal foods such as small insects, grubs, and worms. They cache sizeable stores of food as autumn days grow short.

When a wintering “mouse” appears in one of the live traps I set in our porous, Civil-War-era house, I look closely. Shrew? (Sharp nose, short legs and tail.) Mole? (Big shoulders, claws, and a longer tail.) Vole? (Brown, big, blunt nose.) Mouse? (Big ears and eyes, very long tail.) I handle them carefully on our journey of at least 2 miles, the minimum distance from which they won’t later return. And I am especially careful when moving a shrew so as to avoid its painful, toxic bite.

Discussion *

Jul 11, 2023

Shrews look like a cross between a mouse and a mole or something like that. That’s what I always thought. Come to find out they aren’t. They have they’re own category. Lol

Jonathan A. Polanchek
Nov 19, 2020

I have not seen the creatures tunneling outside the house. In my back yard, I started noticing the “give” in the ground as I walked on it and saw that the give went in more or less straight lines. Neither the grass, flowers or vegetables in my garden have suffered.

In November, I started finding holes seemingly going straight down outside close to the house and the barn. We have had mice in the basement regularly, but never seen these holes.

Are we being visited by different animals? I’m mostly concerned with the holes near the house now as I assume that these critters are moving indoors. I fill in the holes and they reappear. What should I do?

Ken Eisenstein
Oct 19, 2020

Dear Michael,

I am plagued by tunneling pest in my vegetable garden. I assume the Voles are eating my plants. I thought hardware cloth under my raised beds would work, but it didn’t. Any idea how high Voles can jump? Thanks for this article. Len

Leonard Poulin
Oct 17, 2020

I live in the country with a large wooded area 15ft from my garden. We have a lot of voles, moles, rabbits,raccoons, groundhogs, deer and turkey. I want to keep in particular the voles and rabbits out of my newly made garden.I have read to dig a hole two inches down from the soil level and put 3 ft of 1/2 inch hardware cloth bent 2 inches perpendicular at the bottom, and this would keep the voles and rabbits out. do you think this would work? My bed is 16ft square.

Karen Reilly
Sep 02, 2020

Thank you for this excellent and informative article.

Emily Meyerson
May 09, 2020

This morning saw a very slow moving dark grey furry critter in the kitchen. My macho cat was just looking at him without concern. I scooped it up easily in a dust pan and threw it outside. It was 5-6 inch shape like a cylinder and as I said moved slow even with a cat following it. Vole, shrew or mouse? Going with first two. I live 60 feet from the woods and this is the second one like this in my house in 10 years.

Eddy
Jan 24, 2020

Last evening I saw a very small rodent as I was passing a theatre downtown.  It seemed too small to be a mouse, being a little bigger than a ‘loonie’ and roundish, definitely not elongated.  The tail was no more than 2 inches long and the fur was grey.  It was scuttling around some very low shrubs looking for for ?insects.  What might it be?

Barbara
Oct 31, 2019

3 a.m.  Cat brings in a mole [dead]. It is approximately 4”. But it has a white, a red and another white stripe from it’s head to it’s nose. It also has a green nodule [looks like and is the size of a small pea [green] on each front foot. I didn’t get a picture, just wanted it off my bed. Have seen a lot of moles, etc. growing up in country, but not like this one.  Thanks

JoAnn Silvernail
Aug 30, 2019

This morning I got up early and entered the kitchen. I saw an animal the size of a mouse come out from under the counter and move 15 feet in 2-3 seconds before going under another counter. I’ve never seen a rodent move nearly that fast. What could it have been.

Ed Giorgio
Dec 26, 2018

The rodent you saw is almost certainly an ermine, Deborah. See the cover of our winter 2016 issue.

Dave
Dec 23, 2018

We saw a white (not grey or tan) rodent in the collapsed stone wall near the house. The body appeared to be 3-4 inches with a thin tail about the same. Didn’t get a very good look at it before it went underneath the rocks. This area is full of chipmunks and garter snakes in the warmer weather.

Deborah J Volpe
Dec 15, 2018

Hello everyone,

I came across this thread by accident trying to identify what I had at my house this morning, but from all the replies I have come to the conclusion it was a shrew, as it was a younger one I think at 2-3im. long, with a pointy snout, short legs, and sharp little claws, five I think, and also had no ears, or eyes, and his favorite meal of last night or this morning was peanut butter, but he, or she chose the wrong place to find it, as it was on a trap in my garage. if he squealed, it wasn’t for long, as the trap got him on the head, and I know that was an instant kill with no suffering. WE usually get a deer mouse about once a month that comes under the garage door, and they are all white on their bellies, and grey on top with long tails and beady little eyes. Just thought I would let you guys, and gals in on my critter story.

Thanks, and have a great weekend, and holidays, coming up. Gary.

Gary
Apr 07, 2018

Dear Mr. Caduto:  I was very fascinated by your website.  As I have been searching to find out what I might have in our wood pile.  For several years now, I get 4 cords of wood, which I have delivered and I stack on pallets.  I have encountered the usual mouse, as we live within 100 feet of woods so mice I am familiar with in the wood pile and in our house.  However, this fall as I was removing the wood from the pile that had been delivered to the stacking area, I had about 20 pieces of wood left to stack.  Well, did I get a fright.  As I had two pieces of wood in my left hand and was taking a third with my right hand, this fiesty little grey rodent litterally ran out from under the remaining wood and ran around my feet squeeking!  I have never encountered this before.  Especially, for a rodent in which I had not cornerned.  I then proceeded very carefully to use my ergoonmic snow shovel to carefully move each piece of wood toward myself, as I knew this creaturel was hiding under the remainining pieces of wood.  When I finally reached the last piece this rodent actually was quite upset and moved away about 15 feet squeeking as if he was upset his “home” had been dismantled.  I have been attepting to find out what type of rodent this is.  And I believe according to your description and your fellow readers, I have a shrew.  A few weeks ago-mid March, I was walking toward the remaining wood pile, which now consists of 20/30 pieces of wood, and if I didn’t hear his whistle.  As if telling me, leave his home alone!  As I was removing the wood very carefully, he had scurried about 10 feet away and whistled.  As I get my wood at night to bring into the house.  I am now using a pole to remove the tarp carefully and moving each piece of wood before I pick it up.  Possibly your other readers have had similiar situations.  I certainly will not trap the little guy, as I am sure he is eating the spders and bugs that like to nest in the wood pile.

Hannah
Mar 23, 2018

I’m hoping you can answer a question- last night my husband heard a sound, and when he went to check, some sort of small animal was scratching at our dog food bag, trying to get in.  IT was definitely not a mouse, as it was closer to guinea pig sized.  In the dark it appeared fuzzy and maybe dark gray in color, and did not seem to have a tail.  It was very bold- we’ve had mice get in before, but never has a creature climbed the steps to the main floor of our home before (it’s a raised ranch, and our two dogs stay upstairs)- they always have stayed in the basement.  When it saw/heard him it ran down the steps and disappeared, and it was FAST.  My coonhound thinks mice are tasty snacks, but he wouldn’t go near whatever this was last night.  Any ideas?

Sandra
Dec 13, 2017

How do you catch a shew?  My cats have killed two plus a mouse, just this year.

Cheryl
Nov 27, 2017

This answered some questions for me, especially as to why the feral cats don’t want anything to do with ridding the neighborhood of this little rodent. Noticed the shrew likes the dry cat food and made at least 50 trips from the bowl to the back of the outside house I have for the stray cats.  Maybe I’ll have to put cat food in the “mouse” traps.

Kathy
Oct 19, 2017

I was happy to see your very accurate article! It’s difficult to find correct information about these species online, because wives tales often predominate. One thing I will mention though, is that shrews do eat bird seed. They will also eat sweet corn that is cut off the cob and offered to them in a cage situation. At Blendon Woods Metro Park in Columbus Ohio, there is usually one shrew that lives directly under the bird feeder near Walden Nature Center. This shrew is overweight and eats bird seed predominantly.

Kit Goodwin
Aug 27, 2017

Reading the above comments, I am 98% sure that what we have living in our garage and in between the wall adjacent to the garage are indeed the northern short-tailed shrew !  I’ve been calling them mice ! Our 3 cats have been catching them for past 2 years and it wasn’t until one cat left a field mouse and this shrew (?) few inches apart on door step that I realized we are not dealing with mice in the garage ! Does anyone know IF shrew would do this like mice do ?

Jenny G
Jul 28, 2016

We have lots of shrews up this way…myself and other households find drawers and boots stuffed full of dog kibble!  They tour the kitchen and dog dish whether we are there or not, at all times of the day.  I caught one easily by putting a dog kibble in a mousetrap.  Interesting to me, our Blue-Heeler/Husky cross dog kills mice, squirrels, groundhogs, even houseflies in a flash…but she shows absolutely no interest in these shrews strutting in plain sight, decimating her food supply.  I cannot smell the shrews, But do you suppose it is smell that is deterring our dog?

PJ
Jul 19, 2016

I caught what I believed to be a short-tailed shrew in the wall of my basement. It was incredibly easy to catch and actually let me touch it when getting it into a container to move. It had the five toes, dark grey velvety fur, pinpoint eyes and long nose, but the behaviors was really off from what I have been told.It seemed more frantic being in the wall then it did being trapped and relocated. Am I wrong in thinking shrew?

Kelsie Hammond
May 23, 2016

To:  Nancy Verba → in Wonder Lake Illinois

Hi Nancy:

Most likely you’re seeing meadow voles and/or shrews. Meadow voles often frequent the ground beneath feeders to eat seed.

Short-tailed shrews can often be seen in similar locations, but would most likely be stalking a meal of meadow vole.

If, when the snow melted from around the base of your feeder this springtime, you noticed shallow burrowings along the surface of the ground, and little piles of bunched up grass, then you definitely had meadow voles.

Best,

Michael Caduto

Michael Caduto
May 23, 2016

Patricia → in Bridgewater, NH

The ultrasonic echolocation sounds made by a shrew are above the range of human hearing.

Shrews do, however, make several other sounds that humans can hear, especially when they’re being territorial. It’s possible that, with the number of critters you had living in your roof space, the shrews were encountering other animals and marking their territories with calls.

Thank you for sharing your interesting experience.

Best,

Michael Caduto

Michael Caduto
May 23, 2016

To: Lisa Jean → in Ontario, Canada

Dear Lisa Jean:

It’s hard to tell for certain without more details, but—judging from the size, color, boldness of the animal and it’s fondness of dog food—the animal that was eating your dog’s food was likely a northern short-tailed shrew. Hungry shrews will commonly come out into the open to get food.

Best,

Michael Caduto

Michael Caduto
May 23, 2016

To: Kendra Moll → in Du Quoin, IL
Nov 14, 2015

Dear Kendra:

From your description—yes, it sounds like you had a northern short-tailed shrew. The fact that you couldn’t see any eyes or ears is a major clue, plus the short tail. I also know from experience that, when distressed, shrews emit a piercing, high-pitched call.

Good observation skills!

Best,

Michael Caduto

Michael Caduto
May 23, 2016

To: Lois Hoyt → in United States
Oct 28, 2015

Hi Lois:

Setting aside the nursery rhyme, Three Blind Mice, there are no short-tailed mice. You likely saw a vole or mole, but it’s hard to tell without more specifics. Both can reach the size you describe.

Keep looking!

Michael Caduto

Michael Caduto
May 23, 2016

To Barbara →
Oct 25, 2015

From your description, and the fact that your critter was going after seed, it does sound like a meadow vole.

Shrews are largely carnivorous, but they will eat seeds, especially when food is scarce during winter months.

Thank you for writing,

Michael Caduto

Michael Caduto
May 23, 2016

To Nancy Goodenow:

It does, indeed, sound like the small mammal that your dog brought home is a shrew. Please email the photo to me and I’ll try to identify it.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Thank you for writing,

Michael Caduto

Michael Caduto
Feb 17, 2016

I am wondering what I have eating sunflower seed outside by my bird feeders. Long 4 or 5 inches dark gray no apparent ears or tail. I have some burrowed under choke cherry trees and under a bird bath. Are they shrews?

Nancy Verba
Jan 20, 2016

I’ve read your article dated 2005 and wondered if you were still available on that subject.

I believe I’ve identified the critters to be shrews because of the sound they make…echolocation?? We have them in between our roof (metal) and insulation. They run along and then make this short ‘brrrr’ sound. We’ve set traps outside and caught mice, voles and only 3 shrews. We’ve been able to identify through your article…mice with white bellies, voles with golden brown fur and four ‘fingered’ toes and then finally the shrew with the pointed snout and five ‘fingers’. We’ve cut the noise down considerably with the catching of the three shrews but can’t seem to get the last (we hope) one. Now, with the cold of January on us and some snow on the ground, we don’t hear them much at all.

My question was about the noise we hear….about every 2 feet or 10 seconds…is it the echolocation or are we not able to hear that frequency?

Thanks
Jon & Patricia

Patricia
Dec 30, 2015

I believe I have a shrew living in my house. At first I thought it was a regular mouse, but then I got a good look at it.  It’s approximately 3 inches long, dark in colour, and appears not to have a tail.  It’s very bold and loves my dog’s food.  I have been unsuccessful trapping with regular mouse traps.  Any suggestions?

Lisa Jean
Nov 14, 2015

My 6 month old kitten has caught two of what I thought were mice, but they had short tails and I couldn’t see ears or eyes. She is an indoor/outdoor cat so I’m not sure where she is getting them from. I couldn’t see its teeth but I did hear a high pitched squeal before she killed it.

Would anyone know what it might be? I tried to look it up and the only thing that came up was a northern short tail shrew. I know I have mice in the house but could there be shrews, too?

Kendra Moll
Oct 28, 2015

I live in Maine. Are there any short tail mice…or would it be a vole or mole??  I saw something yesterday about 6” long w/ a short tail. 

Lois Hoyt
Oct 25, 2015

A shrew wouldn’t eat birdseed, would it? So if what I caught in my birdseed bag in my house is definitely not a mouse, then it must be a vole, right?

I have what I thought was a mouse in my house and I’ve been trying to catch it to release it.  This morning I saw something moving in the bag of bird seed so I quickly closed the bag and took it outside. Yay!!! It had a short tail so not a mouse, but it was mouse sized. The snout wasn’t really long but it wasn’t really rounded either. Its fur was brown.  I tried to get a picture but it kept moving and I let it go.  I think it was a vole, especially since they’re herbivores whereas shrews are carnivores, plus I think shrews are smaller than mice and more gray. I know that we have mice, shrews, voles, and moles around here; I live in Long Island New York if that helps. Thanks!

Barbara
Aug 01, 2015

Nancy, from the description given above, it sounds like a shrew! My dog caught one this afternoon. My shrew had black teeth and a pointed head as well. If you managed to hear the capture, it gives out high pitched squeals.

Susan
May 30, 2013

I had a mole/mouse brought into the house this a.m. by a small dog.  It was wet, dead but not mutilated.  It is very small.  I photographed it pretty well up close.  The head is more pointed than I have seen on mice here in Oregon, USA.  The teeth are black.  Would you like to see the photos…I can email them.  It is very small.  I photographed in next to a penny.

Nancy Goodenow

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