This species is restricted to patchy gallery forests in the corner of northwest Zambia. They occur in Mushitu forests (evergreen), which are generally no more than 100 m wide, along the catchment of the upper Zambezi River. This habitat is distributed along tributaries and is highly fragmented.

Crocidura ansellorum is known from gallery forests in northwestern Zambia. It is restricted to the Ikelenge Pedicle. The holotype and paratype were collected in 1973 from Isombu stream and another paratype was collected from Nyansowe stream. A new specimen was collected on Hillwood Farm in 1990, in the leaf litter under gallery forest along Kazombi stream (Cotterill 2002). It is possible that this species also occurs in adjacent Congo (it has been collected 4 km from the border with Congo) and eastern Angola, but no surveys have been undertaken for the species in these areas. Expeditions into Pemba did not find it despite the presence of suitable Mushitu forest (evergreen) habitat.

This species has been recorded from the Hillwood Farm private game ranch (~165 km²), and it has also been recorded from the Nchila Wildlife Reserve. Further studies are needed into the distribution, abundance, breeding biology and general ecology of this species.