Paul Carter: paulcarter@pacapix.com
Posted: 2025 June 5
After occasionally seeing Asian House Shrew at my house in Phuket (Thailand) I started putting out protein food pellets (Mynah pet food) for them. Since Dec 2024 a shrew has been coming in each evening, usually just before sunset, and taking the pellets. It is probably unusual for these shrews to appear regularly like this, and I have filmed it a few times (links given below). In Jan 2025 (Episode #3) I placed my phone 20 cm from the pellets giving close-up footage and audio; you can hear the squeak it gives each time it takes a pellet.
In June 2025 I saw two shrews together for the first time but on most evenings I am not checking on each visit so there may have been multiple shrews before then. They also gnaw on coconut that I leave out. There is only about 30 m2 of garden outside my fence and they survive in this small area. Predators here include cats, snakes and monitor lizards.
VIDEOS posted on YouTube (most recent first)
Episode #3: 2025 Jan 2. Length: 59 seconds. I placed the phone 20 cm from the pellets giving close-up footage; and you can hear the squeaks each time it takes a pellet.
Episode #1: 2024 Dec 29. Length: 61 seconds. The phone was placed inside the house and against the window.
The animal shown below was caught on my balcony and released back into the garden.
IMAGES posted on iNaturalist from Phuket and elsewhere.
iNat post: Phuket, Thailand: 18 Jan 2019.
iNat post: Bali, Indonesia: 5 May 2022.