Shrew Hunt!

For the past two days I have been tracking what I thought was a baby mouse. I first spotted this very small "mouse" when he awoke me in the middle of the night as he was on my Kleenex box on the floor of my room. 

I set two traps overnight the next day and awoke to find that BOTH traps were missing the peanut butter and candy bar bait but neither trap snapped. Today is my day off. I had an early morning of caring for a neighbors dog and then was in Anchorage in the morning. This afternoon I decided to take a nap.

I awoke to noises of the "mouse" only to find that he had climbed up the curtains, across my nightstand (stool), and was IN MY BED!! I ran to the kitchen to get a pot (not sure what I was going to do). When I re-entered my bedroom he was on my nightstand and as I had a closer look I noted it was unlike any mouse I had ever seen. Upon the brief 1 second glance I realized it was not a mouse but a shrew. I opted not to swing to kill it in my bedroom but instead trapped him underneath the pot. 

Watch the following videos to see what happens next...

Outside and out of my room!

After I finished removing this shrew I walked back into my living quarters only to see ANOTHER shrew scurry across the floor from my bedroom into the kitchen. I followed it and grabbed a mug (it was the closest utensil to me). I covered it with the mug on the floor.

Shrew #2

I then proceeded to cut up my cereal box so that I could slide the cardboard under the mug to transport the shrew outside. This time I would not free it but instead kill it, and that is what I did. 

I left to go teach a guitar lesson and when I returned I found my host mom ready with sticky traps. As we went to set them around the lower level we noticed we had caught a third shrew in a mouse trap. Three shrews in one day, I'd say those are pretty good stats. :)