It has small eyes and dark brown to black hair. It is sometimes compared to a shrew, although it most closely resembles members of the family Tenrecidae including hedgehogs, shrews, opossums, mice and even otters.

The Cuban Solenodon is found in dense, humid forests and brush country, as well as around plantations. The Cuban Solenodon is an insectivore and emerges from rocks and hollow logs at night to prey on insects, spiders and lizards.

It is mainly nocturnal, hiding during the day in rock clefts, hollow trees, or burrows which it excavates itself. The Cuban Solenodons obtain food by rooting in the ground with their snouts and by tearing into rotten logs and trees with their fore claws.

They have venomous bites. The venom is delivered from modified salivary glands via grooves in their second lower incisors.