The food is a reflection of their way of life and characterizes martens as courageous survivors. Join us as we take a look at the complex menu with some surprising favourites. You can find out what martens like to eat here.

Meat food is the top priority for martens

Table of Contents

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  1. the essentials in brief
  2. What do martens eat?
  3. What is favorite food?
  4. What do young animals eat?
  5. frequently asked Questions

    6. the essentials in brief

    • Martens eat small animals, insects, fruit, nuts, eggs, carrion and kitchen waste.
    • Martens prefer to eat raw and cooked eggs, birds and chicks. In summer, martens particularly like to eat sweet berries and juicy fruits.
    • Martens like to eat cables, hoses and insulating wool on the car and cause great damage with this inexplicable bad habit.

    What do martens eat? - Meal plan

    Martens are omnivores with a special fondness for meaty food. Basically, martens eat everything they can kill or get their hands on. This flexible diet results in a wide range of foods with animal and vegetarian dishes. The following table gives an informative insight into what is on the menu for martens:

    animal food Vegetarian Food other food
    birds fruit kitchen waste
    rodents Berry carrion
    vertebrates nuts eggs
    insects chestnuts cat food
    poultry sunflower seeds rumen

    Habitat and season have a decisive influence on the actual food preferences of martens. In southern Germany, the table for martens is set with different dishes than in the north of the country. In spring, the robbers taste different bites than in summer or winter. The following sections take a close look at Mr. and Mrs. Marder's extensive diet.

    Animal food predominates

    Martens mainly eat animal food

    Martens are predators and are born with an irresistible hunting instinct. The nocturnal predators are lithe climbers, nimble ground walkers, responsive hunters and very brave. Because of these characteristics, many animals are included in the prey schema, as the following overview demonstrates:

    • birds: Garden birds, waterfowl and migratory birds, from A, such as blackbirds, to Z, such as chiffchaff, their chicks and eggs
    • rodents: mice, rats, rabbits, hares, squirrels, guinea pigs, hamsters
    • Vertebrates and Amphibians: frogs, amphibians, toads, snakes, salamanders, worms
    • insects: Likes moths and fat moths, beetles and their larvae, preferably nocturnal species
    • poultry: chickens, ducks, runner ducks, their chicks and eggs

    A real fighter's heart beats in every marten. In a pinch, it will also take on larger prey such as a pheasant or turkey. Of course, martens prefer to target smaller animals that do not require a great deal of strength and energy to hunt. Martens are not spendthrift. If prey cannot be eaten on the spot, it ends up in a secret pantry for bad times.

    If the marten enters a stable with poultry, its hunting instinct gains the upper hand. Instead of being content with a single chicken for the acute food need, the robber continues to rage. Experts suspect that the reason for the massacre was that chickens and ducks fluttering about in panic fired up the hunting instinct again and again. In the worst case, the bloodlust will only end when all the animals have been killed. The unlucky ones and the perpetrators are both victims of their instincts. The best protection against the slaughter is a marten-proof stable building.

    Vegetarian food provides variety

    Martens even eat peanuts

    Rising temperatures awaken an appetite for juicy fruit in martens. Harvest fruits like apricots, peaches, cherries and apples are enjoyed by hungry martens. They won't walk past lush berry bushes without munching on sweet raspberries, delicious blackberries or crunchy gooseberries. When the fruit season is coming to an end, martens don't have to starve because it's nut season. Hazelnuts, walnuts, beechnuts or chestnuts cannot resist the strong teeth and provide important nutrients for the upcoming winter. By the way, martens love to nibble on sunflower seeds.

    Other food - martens eat what's possible

    Martens are very adaptable. The clever fur carriers adapt to changes in the food supply even before their stomachs growl the next time. When meat and fruit are hard to find, alternative treats come to the table. The following overview summarizes what other martens eat:

    • kitchen waste: the organic waste bin exerts a magical attraction on martens with leftovers of all kinds
    • carrion: dead animals eat martens completely and thus make themselves useful as furry health police
    • eggs: preferably raw, but also cooked and peeled as a tasty snack between meals
    • cat food: cheeky martens eat every cat's bowl empty, whether the cat is standing next to it or not
    • rumen: Tripes and other dog food will only eat martens in the absence of the authorized boarder

    The cat food category includes other feeds that people offer to livestock and wild animals. When hungry martens roam the garden, hedgehogs lose out at the feeding ground. Because stone martens are excellent climbers, every bird house is inspected for food and mercilessly plundered. Reaching fat balls is child's play for martens. However, this mouth robbery is punished with severe stomach cramps and diarrhea due to the high fat content.

    digression

    What do martens eat on the car?

    Marten bite ranks in the inglorious fourth place among the most common insurance claims on motor vehicles. So much for the sober statistics of the GDV (General Association of the German Insurance Industry e.V.). The damage is caused because martens like to nibble on car cables. Scientists and the automotive industry alike are concerned with why wild animals grab cable hoses, whether they prefer to eat thin or thick cables. Sometimes car martens steal the insulation material installed in the vehicle. Because this damage is often to be lamented during the mating season, female martens are suspected, who build a cozy nest for the offspring with fluffy insulating wool.

    Curious about the ultimate tip against marten damage to the car? Then please take a look at the following video:

    youtube

    What do martens like to eat most?

    Contrary to popular belief, car cables are not the favorite food of martens. However, the actual favorite dish is difficult for nature lovers to cope with. Martens prefer to eat birds, chicks and eggs. In summer, ripe fruit is the most popular treat, and it's easy to let a careless mouse or bird get away with it.

    tips

    Traces of feces give a meaningful indication of who is sneaking through the house or garden at night and in fog. Marten droppings are clearly recognizable because the droppings are 8 to 10 centimeters more than twice as large as hedgehog droppings. Hedgehog droppings are twice as big as rat droppings. For a length comparison, simply hold a match next to the suspect excrement.

    What do young martens eat?

    In human care, martens can also be fed with cat food or meat of all kinds

    Baby martens are dependent on mother's milk or rearing milk until they are 8 weeks old. Only after a two to four week adjustment phase can the small stomach absorb and process solid food. Young martens are completely weaned in the wild and in breeding stations by the 12th week of life at the latest and have turned into little sweet tooths. This is what young martens like to eat:

    • fruit: preferably sweet, local berries, like ripe mango, delicious banana, juicy kiwi
    • small animals: Mice, day-old chicks, insects, frogs, larvae, earthworms

    In breeding stations, young animals are served further treats that the mother marten cannot bring. These include chicken hearts and gizzards, raw and unseasoned, and nutritious junior cat food.

    frequently asked Questions

    What do martens like best?

    Martens are avid carnivores with a particular fondness for birds, fowl, chicks and eggs. Of course, the predators do not like to define themselves as omnivores. Especially in summer, the menu is expanded to include sweet vitamin bombs, such as raspberries, cranberries, gooseberries, blackberries, as well as peaches, apricots, plums and cherries. In autumn, martens like to nibble on nuts such as hazelnuts, walnuts or chestnuts.

    What do martens eat in winter?

    As masters of adaptation, martens adjust to the cold season in good time. For this purpose, the clever robbers set up secret hiding places filled to the brim with all sorts of delicacies such as fruit, nuts, eggs, insects, beetles or the remains of prey. Because the stockpiles do not last a whole winter, martens continue to hunt birds, mice and rabbits. Fatally, numerous prey animals hibernate. If they are not lucky enough to hunt, hungry martens often turn to the rubbish bins in the hope of finding something edible in them.

    Why do martens eat the cables in the car?

    Experts have been trying for years to find a scientifically based answer and reliable proof of this bad habit. The focus is on the following thesis: martens use scent marks to mark every car that is parked in their territory. If the marked vehicle drives into a different area, the strange smell drives the local marten to incandescence. Furious, he attacks the car, where cables, hoses and insulating materials are mauled with sharp teeth. It is believed that severe damage to the car is always due to the second marten.

    In our garden we found an emaciated young marten. What food can we feed the approximately 4-month-old cub with?

    Young martens like to eat prey animals, supplemented by fresh fruit. You can purchase day-old chicks and mice as frozen food by mail order. Feeding with cat food, especially Animonda kittens, is better practice for the marten layman. Serve with chopped berries or tree fruits of local fruit species once a week. With this diet plan, the young animal quickly puts on fat deposits. Please note that raw beef and pork are unsuitable for martens.

    tips

    Martens are very welcome in the natural garden because they like to eat numerous pests. Mice and rats have a bad hand where a marten roams at night. Furthermore, the robbers act as useful pesticides for voracious larvae, such as the dreaded cockchafer larvae and other grubs.

Category:

Animals in the garden