How to protect against martens that can cause hundreds of thousands in damages
At first glance, the stone marten seems like a friendly animal. However, those who have already had the chance to encounter it will probably think very differently about it. If it appears as an unwelcome visitor on our property, it can cause significant financial damage as well as inconvenience. Besides gardens, it may also make its home in the attic or even in our car.
But what can we do if we want to prevent an unwelcome housemate from disrupting the peace of our home?
Forced out of their natural habitat, they look for a new home
Many people think they can only encounter stone martens in the countryside or in houses with gardens. However, this is a misconception, as they are becoming increasingly common in urban environments as well.
Due to the shrinking of their habitat, stone martens are being pushed from nature into cities, and they are adapting more and more effectively to urban environments.
Urban stone martens are very hardy; at night they roam the streets in search of prey, and they expand their own territory over an ever-larger area. If necessary, they slip through the narrowest gaps to find an ideal hiding place, and they do not spare our attics or even the engine compartment of our car.
This latter is problematic for the simple reason that, in addition to aesthetic damage, they can also cause serious damage to the car.
Driven by their territorial instincts, stone martens can scratch the bodywork, puncture the tires, and in the worst case even chew through the ignition cable or brake line, thereby creating particularly dangerous situations. They do all this simply to eliminate the already noticeable scent and mark the chosen area with their own.
Solitary pests, but not prolific
For most of the year, stone martens live alone in their dark hiding places, except for their mating season in midsummer. At such times, they may venture out into the streets during the day as well, even though they are fundamentally nocturnal animals.
The gestation period of stone martens is quite long, estimated at 230–275 days, and each litter usually consists of 3–4 offspring, though sometimes 6–8. They remain in the family nest for two months, after which they begin hunting on their own.
They reach sexual maturity at 15–27 months of age, and their average lifespan is around 3 years.
How can we defend against them?
Defending against stone martens is quite difficult, since as territorial animals they are reluctant to leave the environment they have chosen as their home. Many people swear by various home remedies, such as dog hair. Since one of the marten’s feared enemies is the dog, they believe that driving martens away with a few bags of dog hair can be effective. Many also try diesel fuel, vinegar, or even more extreme solutions such as urine, but in most cases these methods are not effective at all.
Various repellent sprays can also be purchased to keep harmful stone martens away. This is quick and easy, but experience shows that it is also a less effective solution. These sprays contain scent substances that stone martens dislike, but they can soon get used to them and return again to the area they had previously claimed.
We can also try electric repellents, which keep stone martens away from our home using ultrasonic sounds that are inaudible to the human ear. If we choose this method, we can be much more confident of success, but when purchasing, we should pay attention to the speakers’ range and, if possible, choose a device of the best possible quality.
If we want to make sure that the stone marten really leaves our home, trapping can also be a good solution. The live-captured martens can be officially handed over, which is a rather cumbersome procedure, but we can also release the animal in a secluded, wooded area if we want it to stop causing trouble around our home.
