Crawford's gray shrew will eat lizards, small mice, and scorpions, but its main food source is a wide variety of arthropods.

The Crawford's gray shrew has poor vision, so it uses its highly sensitive ears and long nose to hunt down its prey.

When threatened, the gray shrew can emit a musky odor that makes it seem less appetizing to mammalian predators.

This species also conserves water by being nocturnal, unlike other shrews, which hunt day and night to avoid starvation.

To keep from losing any water from its victims, it will bite off the legs and then crush the prey's head so as not to kill it but to keep it fresh and unable to move.

While breathing, Crawford's gray shrew inhales air warmed to body temperature and absorbs water vapor from the nasal walls.

To conserve the little water that shrews do absorb, they find shelter to protect them from the harsh external temperatures.

Even with all of these adaptations to help it survive in the harsh environment of the desert, Crawford gray shrew only lives for a relatively short period (about a year or so in the wild).

Since it hunts at night, Crawford's gray shrew is susceptible to nocturnal hunters, such as snakes and owls.