You had a marten in the house and have been quiet for a few days? Are you wondering if the marten is coming back or if you can breathe a sigh of relief? Here you can find out more about territories and habits of martens and whether they keep coming back.
Martens have several hiding places in their territory, which they visit again and again
The territory of martens
Martens are loners. Only one marten lives in a territory, unless of course you have a marten nest in the house, then you have to endure up to four young plus mother for four months.
Beech martens have very large territories: they move within a radius of half a kilometer that they call their own. They mark this with scent traces from body glands, urine and feces. Other martens are not tolerated here; if one does appear, there will be noisy turf wars and sometimes broken car hoses, which they bite out of anger when they sense that another animal has settled here.
Martens keep coming back?
Yes! Once a marten has established a territory, it is extremely difficult to persuade it to move. However, martens do not always sleep in the same place, which can give the impression that he has moved away. Martens have several hiding places within their territory, each of which has several (emergency) exits. This means that a marten, for example, can no longer appear in the attic for several nights or even weeks and suddenly it is there again because it was only on vacation in the barn.
Prevent a marten from coming back
As I said, it is not easy to drive away a marten. The choice of measures is large, but the effect is often rather small.
- Repel martens with smells such as cat and dog hair or urine
- Repel martens with light
- All entrances close when the marten is outside
- Adopt an adult (!) cat (cats and martens do not get along)
tips
You should never catch a marten without permission! From March to September or October (depending on the federal state) martens are subject to the closed season. Anyone who hunts martens at this time must expect high penalties. But even outside of the closed season, only hunters are allowed to hunt and catch.