Shrews in a summer cottage: how to get rid of them?

How to fight shrews with folk remedies

In the war against pests, owners of small plots of land prefer to use home methods. Advantages of traditional methods against shrews: safety, available components. But homemade recipes do not always bring the desired effect: be patient and be creative.

Fill the holes with water

The method is considered safe, often used by summer residents, and sometimes even effective. The essence of the method: a lot of water is poured into the holes that the rodent has dug. If the liquid fills all the chambers underground, the long-nosed mouse will run away from the area. The recipe does not always give the desired effect. Minks with numerous passages are located deep underground. Water simply will not reach most chambers: part of the liquid will be absorbed, and the rest will flood only a small area.

The smell of burnt rubber

Shrews have a keenly developed sense of smell, so rodents cannot tolerate any pungent or unpleasant odors. Some gardeners advise placing rags soaked in gasoline or kerosene around the minks. Others advise setting fire to a piece of a car or bicycle tire by pushing it deeper into the hole. Choking smoke and an unbearable burning smell will scare away the mice and force them to leave the area.

Digging soil in the garden

Another popular method that helps get rid of shrews at home is deep digging of the earth. The method is labor-intensive and time-consuming, but gives the expected effect. It will not be possible to completely get rid of shrews, but it will be possible to reduce their numbers. A pest that is left without a home immediately leaves the area to find a safer place. Some rodents do not go far, making new burrows in the same territory.

Marigolds on the site

The fight against shrews in a summer cottage should be safe. Marigolds, beautiful flowers, will help drive away pests from the garden. To drive the shrew out of the area, you need to dry the plant, grind it into powder and scatter it before digging the soil: the rodents will be repelled by the smell of marigolds.

Another way to expel shrews is to plant flowers around the perimeter of the garden. Rodents will not risk crossing the border and will go in search of another habitat. Any fragrant plants have a similar effect: mint, wormwood, daffodils, Siberian blueberry, castor bean.

Folk remedies

Folk remedies for moles and shrews are almost identical. We list the most effective and budget-friendly ones.

Make repellers from ordinary bottles. You just need to take glass bottles, bury them in the ground, but in a place where they are well blown by the wind at an angle of 45 degrees. Animals will be scared away by the sound of wind in empty containers;
moisten pieces of cloth with kerosene or gasoline and place them around the plantings and in the beds;
if you have a dog, it will also help reliably scare away uninvited long-faced guests;
The smell of expired fish will also scare away shrews, because they have a good sense of smell. Place fish that are already rotten throughout the garden, and especially in holes;
animals cannot tolerate the aroma of legumes. You can safely spread freshly picked green beans throughout the area. It is best to plant the entire area with it at a distance of 80 cm from each other. This can even be done for the purpose of prevention;
Hemp will also help to remove the shrew from the garden or vegetable garden. The plant must be placed in all holes and passages. When hemp rots, it releases an unpleasant aroma that repels shrews. It should be noted that this method will help repel the pest for a long time;
The use of garlic, pepper and onion has also been proven effective in controlling these mammals. Shrews cannot stand the smells of these plants;
reeds can also be used to repel parasites. As a rule, this method gives a good result, because animals are endowed with very sensitive hearing. You need to cut a reed two meters long and insert one thing into each move of the shrew. above the ground surface . When there is wind outside, the reeds will seem to “howl” and this sound will scare away the animals. In just a week, your garden will be free from the invasion of small pests;
Another way to get rid of rodents in the garden: you need to dig sheets of tin, linoleum or slate to a depth of 25-35 cm. Although this method is labor-intensive, it is very effective. It will be necessary to spend a lot of effort and time to create a trench up to 40 cm deep;
as one option: flood the holes and tunnels of shrews. Although you won't achieve much results. You will need about 150 liters of water for this. In addition, all the worms will crawl onto the moisture, which will only worsen your problem. And you are unlikely to be able to fill all the moves.

Try all the above methods and you are guaranteed success!

Shrew repellers

Devices that you can build with your own hands or purchase ready-made ones will help you get rid of rodents. The use of repellers is considered the most humane and safe way. Homemade devices are easy to make, but they are less effective than store-bought devices.

Homemade mechanical

To make a repeller you need tin cans or plastic bottles: you get a device like a rattle. Under the influence of wind, the structure will begin to make unpleasant loud sounds.

Instructions for making a mechanical repeller:

Take a long stick and securely fix it in the ground.
Place a can or bottle on a stick.
Place a metal strip in the container, which will increase the noise.
Place a homemade mechanical repeller where holes are found in the ground in your garden.

A constant unpleasant sound will disturb the rodent. Soon the pest will start looking for a safer and quieter place.

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Ultrasonic

The device emits waves of certain ranges, creating a force field. The repellers have no effect on domestic animals or humans, but rodents and other small pests panic. The shrew begins to rush around, loses orientation and leaves the hole forever.

Depending on the model, the damage radius of ultrasonic or magnetic resonance devices is 10–20 meters (“Tornado 03B”) or even 1 kilometer (“Antikrot”). Externally, the repeller resembles a nail-shaped photocell. Stick the device into the ground and make sure that the radius of the wave affects the entire area. These models require electrical power from the mains.

Damage and appearance

At first glance, the individual is difficult to distinguish from an ordinary vole - a small body, almost invisible ears, gray-brown color. However, upon closer examination, certain differences can be identified: first of all, shrews are much smaller than a field mouse - their body length barely exceeds 4 cm.

Secondly, in individuals the shape of the skull is more elongated, and the nose is similar to a proboscis, with which they break through their numerous underground passages. Shrews do not hibernate and can visit a summer cottage at any time of the year.

The third distinctive feature of the animals is that the length of their tail is much longer than the length of their body, which is not observed in rodents. By the way, the shrew is not a rodent - it is exclusively an insectivorous animal.

Also, the small pest does not eat plantings in the garden, and the harm it causes is only indirect - while breaking through another tunnel in search of food, the animal simultaneously plows up the roots of plants, as a result of which they wither and die.

The presence of 3-4 individuals in the garden can jeopardize almost the entire harvest, so if you notice pests in your area, it is better to take action immediately, without delaying it for later.

Chemical control agents

Toxic substances are used to kill shrews only when other methods do not help, and there are a lot of rodents. Stores sell various formulations that will help get rid of pests in a short time.

Effective chemicals:

" The Nutcracker". Thick dough-like mass of green color. Place the product near the shrew's burrows and wait until the rodent eats the bait. After 3-4 days, the pests will begin to die.
"Hunter Antirodent". Food bait (rounded, hard, red granules). Consumption of the drug per 1 ha is 1–3 kg. The bait is laid out on the area where the shrew has settled. The product attracts rodents, which die from suffocation after consuming poisonous granules.
" Rat Death" The bait has a doughy consistency. The drug is placed near the burrows of rodents, which, after eating the bait, die from internal bleeding and suffocation.

Some summer residents use poisonous gas bombs to drive shrews away from their property. The device is lowered into the hole: the destructive gas spreads through the tunnels, poisoning the rodents.

DIY shrew traps

A reliable, but labor-intensive and expensive way to combat rodents is to install a mechanical barrier. Conveniently performed at the fence installation stage. Dig a fine-mesh mesh around the perimeter of the site to a depth of 1.2 meters. Leave up to 20 cm of free edge on top. It is unlikely that a pest will dive under such a barrier.

A mousetrap with a pleasant-smelling bait is suitable as a trap for a shrew. It's easy to make a simple design with your own hands.

Options for homemade traps:

Pipe trap. To make it, take a small diameter pipe and install shutters at both ends. They should close inward. Leave fragrant bait in the trap. As soon as the shrew presses its nose into one of the flaps, the flap will open slightly: the rodent will easily get inside, but will no longer be able to get out.
Wire trap. Make a spacer, which you then install near the entrance to the hole. As soon as the mouse touches it, the locking mechanism will work. Throw away the caught rodent and install the spacer again. Load the trap until the shrews leave the area.

Some gardeners resort to more radical methods - they install traps near the minks that kill the pest. The device is equipped with sharp rods or knitting needles. When triggered, the trap pierces the rodent's body right through.

Ways to protect a site from pests

If the task is to get rid of shrews forever, you need to act decisively and for sure. It should be remembered that only an integrated approach using various means of destruction will help solve the problem. To dislodge small enemies from your territory, you need to do the following:

Before catching a shrew in the garden, you need to find out how many mammals live in the garden at the moment. For this, mechanical methods of catching animals using ordinary mousetraps or other traps suitable for pests of this type, which should be placed near the minks, are suitable;
The next step is to fill the animal holes with water. This must be done until animals no longer fall into traps;
Next, you should use popular advice and place rags soaked in kerosene or tar everywhere. It is best to dig them in a little near the plants and at the ends of flower beds or beds;
Speaking about how to remove a shrew from the garden, it is worth mentioning another non-standard method - laying out rotten fish over the area and directly into the burrows, which emits a stench that does not allow the individuals to calmly inhabit the territory;
The next step to drive out pests is to install repellers. They can be made with your own hands or bought in a store (or better yet, both). Purchased models should be used in accordance with the instructions and only on flat areas that do not have significant obstacles for ultrasonic waves, and those created with your own hands can be distributed throughout the garden. For this purpose, ordinary turntables or empty bottles dug into the ground at a slight angle are suitable - pests are afraid of their sounds like fire;
If insects have just begun to settle in the area and you have some time left, you can additionally plant fragrant herbs and legumes, which shrews cannot stand;
In cases where it is necessary to immediately destroy the animals, pesticides can be used. There are many substances on the market for these purposes, and the most popular drugs today are Hunter and Nutcracker, as well as Rat Death. Poisoned baits must be placed before entering or inside the burrows. The poison is also dangerous for humans and their pets, so the drugs should be used with extreme caution.

To achieve a long-term effect, all of the above measures must be used in combination with each other - only in this case the animals will stop bothering the owners of the garden.

After the enemy has been completely eliminated, you can take a radical protective measure - dig linoleum or slate around the perimeter of the site to a sufficient depth - this method will prevent not only shrews, but also moles from entering the site.