It inhabits a wide range of habitats including vineyards, olive groves, terraced farmland on hillsides, dry Mediterranean shrubland, coastal sand dunes, rocky areas in mountains, and damp densely-vegetated patches near to water, including tidal marshes and coastal areas (Biedma et al. 2019). On the Isles of Scilly, where there are no other shrew species, footprint tunnels surveys recorded it in all surveyed habitats - foreshore, coastal grassland, scrub and heathland (Mathews et al. 2018). It tends to avoid dense forests (Vlasák and Niethammer 1990, Libois et al. 1999), exhibiting a preference for habitat patches with structural features typical of recently cut woodland, such as high shrub cover and low tree height (Mortelliti and Boitani 2009). Small, soft-bodied insects form a major part of its diet (Vlasák and Niethammer 1990), though it will occasionally consume molluscs, amphipods, annelids and small vertebrates (Palomo et al. 2007).

Gueldenstädt's Shrew (Crocidura gueldenstaedtii) is found from the north and west coasts of the Iberian Peninsula and eastwards through Italy to the Balkan peninsula. It is present on some Atlantic and Channel islands, and on most eastern Mediterranean islands including Cyprus, Crete, Corsica, Menorca, Elba, and Capraia. It also occurs in the Caucasus and southwestern Asia (including Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Iraq, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, western Iran) where it has been recorded up to 2,470 m. The southernmost edge of its distribution passes through the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. Its unusual distribution might be the result of varying range expansions following global cooling, but is more likely to result from occasional introduction by mariners and traders in ancient times (Dubey et al. 2007, Mittermeir and Wilson 2018).

All Soricidae are protected under Appendix III of the Bern Convention. No specific conservation actions are recommended, but this species would benefit from further genetic studies to solidify its taxonomic status, as well as population and distribution research.