# What Do Weasels Eat?

> What weasels eat: Carnivore (mainly mice and voles), foraging style, and seasonal shifts in Farmland, hedgerows, grassland, woodland.

- **Species:** Weasel (*Mustela nivalis*)
- **Conservation status:** Least Concern
- **Diet:** Carnivore (mainly mice and voles)
- **Habitat:** Farmland, hedgerows, grassland, woodland
- **Lifespan:** 1–3 years in the wild
- **Canonical HTML:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/weasel/what-do-weasel-eat/
- **Parent profile:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/weasel/
- **Last reviewed:** 2026-07-16

## Quick answer

The weasel (Mustela nivalis) is the smallest carnivore in Britain and one of the smallest worldwide, with a body length of just 16–23 cm. Its slender, flexible body is built for pursuing mice and voles directly into their burrows. To tell it from the similar stoat: the weasel is smaller and its short tail is plain brown all the way to the tip, while the stoat is bigger with a distinctive black-tipped tail.

## Who should skip this page

Skip this if you need a captive feeding plan from a veterinarian. This page is wild diet, not a pet-care sheet.

## Britain's smallest carnivore

The weasel holds the title of Britain's smallest carnivore and is one of the tiniest predatory mammals anywhere. Its long, slender body can be only 16–23 cm from nose to tail root and the smallest individuals weigh under 50 g. That tiny frame is an evolutionary trade-off: slenderness lets the weasel chase mice, voles, and shrews directly into their burrows — a pursuit no other British predator can follow. They can kill prey almost as large as themselves by biting repeatedly at the base of the skull.

## Help protect the Weasel

Even familiar animals lose ground as wild habitat keeps shrinking worldwide.

[Donate to wildlife protection](https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/donate/)

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Source: Global Animal Guide (https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/weasel/what-do-weasel-eat/). Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0 — free for non-commercial reuse with attribution.