the hunt is over, and we did catch a shrew.
it wasn’t a eurasian water shrew (neomys fodiens; wasserspitzmaus), but a southern water shrew (neomys anomalus; sumpfspitzmaus).
but considering that the southern water shrew is much less frequent than the eurasian one, i think we were pretty successful.
as a side-effect, we caught about 20 other mice, mainly apodemus species (a genus of eurasian field mice) – wood mice (apodemus sylvaticus; waldmaus) and yellow-necked mice (apodemus flavicollis; gelbhalsmaus), afaik.
we released them a little farther, so they wouldn’t block the traps (and would not have to sit in a box again).
three interesting side-notes:
- the bait we used, is …peanut butter! the creamy kind. peanut butter is ideal, because it has a strong smell, and it’s sticky.
- in case you’re wondering: the shrew DOES have ears, but they’re well-hidden in the fur.
- in the nightshot picture, note that you can actually see the pupils in the mouse’s little button eyes.
the shrew (let’s call him dewey!) was taken to vorarlberg, where it will be on an exhibition, and afterwards it will be released again.
here are some photos: