Quote:
Originally Posted by Cazador
My neighbor just told me he has a bunch of shrews in his garage, so I was thinking of starting a shrew colony  . I bet they'd have TINY babies  . What do you feed your mice? Is maintenance a big deal?
Rick |
HA!
First, shrews are terribly difficult to keep in captivity. Their metabolism is so high that they must be fed several times a day. Miss a feeding and they die. Secondly, shrews are bitter to the taste. Owls will feed on meadow mice (Microtus) and white-footed mice (Peromyscus) much more readily than they do on shrews. Shrews are the last choice of prey because of their bitter taste.
Finally, shrews are prone to lipidosis... a fatty disease of the liver... unless they are fed the right balance of foods, at the right frequency.
I am a former researcher on shrews, btw, when I worked at the zoology dept. of Ohio State University in the late 70's.
I am the first (and to my knowlege the only) American to ever observe "caravanning behavior" in an American species of shrew.
So, when Shakespeare chose the name of his play, he was pretty accurate. You cannot "tame a shrew".
