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Need info on voles and shrews
Posted: Jul 19, 2006 9:40 pm
by Patrushka
In the past week, I found a daylily seedling with its roots chewed off and pulled into the ground, a recently planted hosta with a hole next to it where I could see the roots down below, and several leaves of another hosta that were chewed off and pulled into the ground. 
I was certain that the voles were busy devouring my plants again and DH set out some traps. 
The problem is that the critters we caught in the traps do not look like the voles we've caught in the past. They look like shrews. Does this mean that the shrews have evicted the voles and are now occupying their runs? If this is the case, I don't want to trap the shrews. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.
Posted: Jul 20, 2006 7:00 am
by viktoria
Shrews are carnivorous. They do not eat your hostas but, you guessed right, are utilizing passageways created (for them?) by other critters.
Posted: Jul 21, 2006 10:08 pm
by Patrushka
Thanks Viktoria. 
I think we'll wait and see if there is more damage before resetting any traps.
Posted: Jul 28, 2006 2:24 am
by Old earth dog
Shrews are a great asset to the garden. Hopefully they don't spend a very long time in the trap. Their metabolism requires them to eat their weight in food daily. That consists of anything and everything they can over power. Including mice and voles that are twice there size.
Posted: Jul 28, 2006 8:49 pm
by bengal
This topic came up on another forum; someone needed convincing that shrews are beneficial. She got it pretty quickly, after everyone posted. My contribution was the fact that, now that I've had shrews in my garden for about 2 years, it looks great. Minimal Japanese beetle damage, little to no slug damage on anything. I attributed much of this to the shrews.
I may be an outlier when it comes to garden pests. I believe that nature does a perfectly fine job of rebalancing herself without my "help." I can't think offhand of anything I'd go out of my way to kill or get rid of. I had aphids. The ladybugs came. I had rabbits. A hawk came. I have insects...I have shrews. And on it goes, all without my help!
Posted: Jul 29, 2006 1:39 pm
by Patrushka
Thanks OED. I thought I remembered reading that shrews and voles were enemies and that shrew would eat voles. When I searched this time I could not find anything to confirm that. We used mousetraps so unfortunately we eliminated a coupld of shrews. We stopped placing the traps so hopefully there are more shrews out there.
Thanks Bengal. I also read that shrews were beneficial in the garden. That was why I was sorry to find them in the traps. I usually let nature do her job but we had voles several years ago and when they started toppling my hostas I just wanted them gone. This year, when they were back, I wanted to get them under control before they devoured everything. I sure hope the shrews like it here. I'd be happy for them to stay.
Voles were a new experience for me after we moved here. I have never seen a shrew before either.