Questions about the abundance and behavior of weasels. Are there suburban weasels? (1 Viewer)

[Avon Avians]

Hello, folks!
I have some questions concerning the abundance and behavior of weasels (long-tailed and short-tailed) in New England, particularly New Hampshire.
I've had an interest in mustelids for quite some time. Even still, they are among my favorite mammal groups!
I have never seen a weasel in the wild, though, which disappoints me.
However, shortly after moving from CT to NH, I heard of an interesting report in which a short-tailed weasel invaded a public Shaw's supermarket!
Apparently, the weasel had entered the supermarket in search of mice. My dad says that there were mousetraps in the building to confirm that.
However, it apparently got sidetracked by the aroma of the seafood section, where it was seen investigating the area.
This happened in New Hampshire only a few weeks or months before we moved here.
Since I heard this story, I've heard of other reports of weasels invading buildings. They apparently show little fear of humans.

This, along with a few other things, had me thinking. Are there weasels in suburbia?
If not, then why?
Weasels seem well adapted to life alongside humans. They are rather bold, and able to shelter and live almost anywhere that mice, rats, and chipmunks can.
And food is readily available to them, in the form of these small rodents.
I know that they prefer to live near water. But so do raccoons, and they have certainly utilized suburban and urban habitats.
And if they don't live around humans, where are they most abundant? I'm also trying to capture one on my trail camera!

I would love to see a weasel in our backyard, which is rather undisturbed for a suburban area. In fact, we still get bears here.
However, I do have a slight concern that one could possibly enter our house. We have a guinea pig, which would certainly be at risk if a weasel was able to enter our house.
We have had mice in our house in the past.

But aside from that risk, I'd be very open to attracting them to our yard, or in other words, making it a "weasel-friendly" yard.
We would certainly benefit from their tenacious mousing abilities!

But anyway, if anyone would like to share their experiences about them, including how they behave and where they live, this is the place to write about it!
(By "weasels" I mean either short-tailed, long-tailed, or least weasels, or Eurasian stoats and weasels. I'm not including minks, polecats, martens, or fishers.)

Thanks! God bless!

 

[Sangahyando]

Good question. Can't say I remember seeing a stoat or weasel within a human settlement more than once, however that's not saying much, considering how difficult they are to see relative to their abundance. Here in (continental) Europe, Beech Martens are common within densely populated areas, and probably the easiest mustelids to see for most people (also infamous for sabotaging cars on occasion). Not sure if their occurrence in towns has an impact on smaller mustelids though.
Otherwise, all of my encounters with stoats and weasels were during the day, in the countryside (unlike with other mustelids, which are more easily encountered during the night or twilight). It's a good idea to pay attention to rustling in the undergrowth, particularly under hedgerows or shrubbery in open country, or at the edge of the forest.

 

[Richard D]

In the UK I probably see a Stoat or Weasel in my town about once every other year, but very much on the outskirts of the town or in churchyards or parks. I don't recall ever seeing one in the denser more built up areas.

 

[Avon Avians]

Good question. Can't say I remember seeing a stoat or weasel within a human settlement more than once, however that's not saying much, considering how difficult they are to see relative to their abundance. Here in (continental) Europe, Beech Martens are common within densely populated areas, and probably the easiest mustelids to see for most people (also infamous for sabotaging cars on occasion). Not sure if their occurrence in towns has an impact on smaller mustelids though.
Otherwise, all of my encounters with stoats and weasels were during the day, in the countryside (unlike with other mustelids, which are more easily encountered during the night or twilight). It's a good idea to pay attention to rustling in the undergrowth, particularly under hedgerows or shrubbery in open country, or at the edge of the forest.

But you say you've seen at least one weasel/stoat in a suburban town?
Here in New England, it's practically the opposite. Our two marten species, the fisher and the pine marten, are about as rare as can be, while our two weasel species have been the most successful mustelids overall.
The only carnivores that would compete with weasels in suburban areas around here are cats, raccoons, skunks, and the occasional fox, which are less common in suburbia around here than in Europe or at least the UK.

Aren't badgers rather common in Europe as well, including in the suburbs? There are no American badgers in New England, and where they do live they rarely live near human settlements, except occasionally for farmland. They are also nothing like European badgers.

The only wild mustelids I've ever seen were river otters, although I'm not complaining. They are a pleasure to see!

(I also believe that weasels are nocturnal, but they can be active during the day as well.)

 

[Avon Avians]

In the UK I probably see a Stoat or Weasel in my town about once every other year, but very much on the outskirts of the town or in churchyards or parks. I don't recall ever seeing one in the denser more built up areas.

Well, our town is not overly urbanized. There's barely any road traffic, and animals rarely end up as roadkill here. We occasionally even get a black bear roaming around this town. So I guess there's still a chance that we could see one here.
But I still wonder why weasels haven't more successfully adapted to urbanization.

 

[Jefrs]

Weasels are a dedicated scourge of rats, despite being smaller than they are. Farmers encourage them. Weasels may be considered nocturnal, but that is when their prey comes out, they will hunt anytime.
Not darkest suburbia here, there's a farm just up the road.

 

[Avon Avians]

Weasels are a dedicated scourge of rats, despite being smaller than they are. Farmers encourage them. Weasels may be considered nocturnal, but that is when their prey comes out, they will hunt anytime.
Not darkest suburbia here, there's a farm just up the road.

But how do you encourage them? By just not trapping them?
In a well-established habitat, I'd imagine that weasels would control the numbers of rats and mice.

But what's so confusing is that since rats and mice have obviously adapted to live in suburban areas, and even the biggest cities, why haven't weasels followed them into those habitats?

It's neither the absence of food, nor of shelter.
I would imagine that the abundance of rats, mice, and the eggs and nestlings of pigeons, starlings, and sparrows would be enough food for them.
And they could scavenge for insects, earthworms, meat scraps, and cat food if they were desperate.

It's not shelter either, since a weasel could shelter anywhere a rat could.
If anything, they should be better adapted to urban areas than foxes, which would have a more difficult time finding sufficient shelter.

What's even more unusual is that at least one weasel subspecies, the Egyptian weasel, has adapted very well to urban areas in Egypt.
It can apparently survive not only on meat but on fruits and human rubbish if necessary!
So apparently, weasels can even evolve into "pseudo-omnivores" if the need arises.