A marten in the house is not a pleasant thing: it makes noise at night, destroys insulation material and leaves excrement and urine in its wake. In the following you will find out how to track down the marten in the house and how to drive it away successfully.

Martens usually come into the house through the roof

Table of Contents

Show all
  1. the essentials in brief
  2. expel martens
  3. marten protection
  4. Marten pets
  5. catch marten
  6. recognize martens
  7. marten hideouts
  8. frequently asked Questions

    9. the essentials in brief

    • Martens can be recognized by their droppings with leftover food and destroyed insulation.
    • Martens can be repelled with a combination of home remedies such as scents, light signals and noise.
    • A marten protection ensures that the marten does not find its way back into the house.
    • Catching a marten with a live trap is only allowed outside of the closed season.

    Drive out martens in the house

    First of all: It is not easy to drive away a marten. Martens are very territorial animals and often come back even after they have been gone for weeks. In addition, martens are very good climbers, jumpers and can also get through small holes and cracks. A hole diameter of 5 cm is sufficient for the marten to enter.

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    Main residence or stopover?

    Martens have several hiding places at the same time, which they use differently. You can recognize a "main residence" by the fact that the marten has created a toilet where it leaves its excrement and that here and there leftover food, i.e. carrion or fruit and seeds are lying around. If you are lucky enough that the marten has only chosen your house as a stopover or has not yet had time to make himself comfortable, it will be much easier to persuade him to stay somewhere else.

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    Drive away martens with smells

    Probably the simplest, if not always successful, method is to drive away the marten with smells. Because of its fine nose, the marten is very sensitive to foreign smells, which it doesn't like. These include, among other things:

    • citrus flavors
    • Mothballs and lavender scents
    • cloisters
    • dog and cat hair
    • animal urine
    • vinegar
    • diesel

    To drive away the marten with scents, you should combine several different ones and hang them up in different places where the marten is staying. It is particularly useful to "pollute" sleeping places and entrances.

    Repel martens with light or noise

    You can find ultrasound devices in specialist shops, which are often equipped with a motion detector and emit light when movement is detected. Experiences with such devices vary. In combination with scents, however, they can be successful. If you have pets or are happy to host bats, you should avoid using ultrasound devices, as these animals also hear the "noise".

    Of course, you don't have to buy an ultrasonic device to bother the marten with noise. You can also create noise yourself, for example by setting up a radio or doing really loud work.

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    Light alone is not enough to keep a marten away. Even noise alone has proven to be insufficient in several cases.

    Drive away martens with electric shocks

    Although this method is mainly used for cars, it is very effective and can also be adapted for attics, walls or false ceilings. When stepping on the cables, the marten is given a small electric shock. He doesn't like that at all and he quickly learns where he is not wanted. It is important here that the cables are laid out in such a way that he cannot bypass them.

    Lock out the marten

    A marten protection for the gutter is a helpful remedy against martens

    Once the marten is out of the house, it's a matter of not letting it in again. In order to successfully lock out the marten, you should block all entrances and steps. Various tools can be used for this:

    • chicken wire
    • Marten belt for gutters and trees
    • gutter protection
    • Wire mats with or without spikes

    Check the attic or similar for any holes, cracks and loose roof tiles and glue or seal them with non-chewable material.

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    closed season

    Never lock out a marten during the closed season! Mustelids often build their nests in attics and give birth to their three to four young there. It is absolutely forbidden to let these little animals starve to death. There is therefore a closed season from around the beginning of March to mid-October (depending on the federal state). Martens may not be caught at this time. However, nothing stands in the way of selling with home remedies. However, you must not block the mother's access to her offspring.

    Keep martens away with pets

    Where a pet already lives, there is no room for the marten

    Martens and cats and dogs are natural enemies. If a pet already lives in the house, it is quite unlikely that a marten will nest, especially if the pet has access to the attic. Targeting a cat at a marten or getting a cat to drive a marten away is not advisable. The marten defends itself and its territory and can seriously injure your pet.

    Catch the marten in the house

    Outside of the closed season, martens may be caught with a live trap. This must not smell of humans or chemicals! It should be set up in a place where the marten can definitely get through and ideally have two entrances. In order to lure the marten into the trap, you should equip them with treats such as egg, dried fruit or dried meat.

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    If the marten falls into the trap, drive it far, far away. You should be at least 25km away from the starting point when you release the marten.

    Is there really a marten in the house?

    Martens are often difficult to distinguish from other intruders such as raccoons, cats or rats because they are all nocturnal and make a lot of noise to draw attention to themselves. A good indication of who has nested in the attic or elsewhere in the house is the droppings. Marten droppings are up to 10cm long and contain visible remains of animals, seeds and other things. Only raccoon droppings resemble this one.

    However, raccoons leave different footprints that look almost like children's footprints. Martens, on the other hand, leave tracks showing a crescent-shaped pad with five toes plus claws.

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    Pine marten versus stone marten

    Pine martens avoid humans

    We talk about martens and almost always mean the stone marten, which is also called house marten because it likes to be close to people. Marten actually refers to a whole family of animals, which also includes badgers, weasels and otters. The real martens include the two species of pine and stone marten that occur in our country. Both species of marten look very similar, with the pine marten being a little smaller with a total length of approx. 80cm and a weight of approx. 1.8kg than the stone marten, which grows up to 85cm tall and weighs 2.3kg. The fur of pine martens is a bit finer, which is why they are also called noble martens and were hunted for their fur for a long time. Although the pine marten population has declined sharply, neither it nor its relative, the stone marten, is under protection.

    Where does the marten nest in the house?

    Martens like to live high up. They don't like staying in the basement. Most often you will find martens here:

    • In the roof
    • In the false ceiling
    • In the wall

    Signs of a marten are rumbling and scratching at night, scratches and gnawing marks at the entrance, eaten insulation and marten droppings.

    If there is a marten female with her young in your house, you will find a nest. It can not only look like a bird's nest made of twigs, leaves and feathers - it can even be a disused bird's nest! But martens also like to use materials from the human world, such as insulating material or fabric, to build their nests.

    frequently asked Questions

    How do you get rid of a marten in the house?

    Martens can be driven away with various home remedies such as scents or noise; there are also a number of marten deterrents in specialist shops. It makes sense to combine different methods and also to lock out the marten with marten belts, gutter protection and wire mesh (€14.99).

    How do I recognize that I have a marten in the house?

    Martens are noisy at night, but other animals also make noise at night. A good indication of a marten is droppings in which food remains can clearly be seen.

    What time are martens active?

    Martens are nocturnal and do not leave their hiding place until dusk at the earliest. Sometimes they make a lot of noise, so that sleeping at night is out of the question.

    Which scents help against martens?

    Martens have a very sensitive nose and can't smell a lot: citrus scents, toilet blocks, mothballs, dog and cat hair and animal urine or faeces are among the smells that martens don't like.

Category:

Animals in the garden