Beech marten - what kind of animal is it?
The beech marten, also called the stone marten, is a small carnivorous mammal belonging to the mustelidae family.
The lifespan of a marten is about 10 years, although there is a known case where a marten lived up to 18 years. Beech martens are found naturally in Europe, America and Asian countries. We will not find this mammal throughout Europe, only in the British Isles and in cooler places such as the Scandinavian countries, Estonia, northern Russia and Denmark. The marten is also absent from the Mediterranean islands. Currently, martens live mainly in buildings and structures that are rarely visited by people (outbuildings, barns, attics and ruins).
Mink breeding. Business plan
As mentioned above, for the successful implementation of this idea it is necessary to draw up an accurate project. If you have already formulated a plan, then opening this business will not be so difficult. According to experts, in this area the maintenance of one individual of this animal averages 65-70 rubles. per month. At the same time, the cost of the skin can fluctuate between 20 and 200 dollars.
Having the necessary equipment, one entrepreneur can maintain a fur farm for one thousand females. If there are twenty females and three males, then during the year you can get 120 animals. Therefore, to obtain 1,500 skins per year, 300 females will be needed. As a result of this, mink breeding, the business plan of which is drawn up according to these recommendations, will certainly bring good profits. And this is one of the main goals of such activities. This will ensure the profitability of mink breeding.
What does a beech marten look like? How to recognize it?
The fur color of the beech marten can vary from dark brown to gray. A characteristic feature is the stripe on the marten's neck, reminiscent of a white tie, which stretches to the chest. However, there are exceptions when the marten does not have this special sign.
Martens do not have hair on the soles of their feet, and the softness of the pads makes the animal move very quietly. The marten is similar in size to a cat, but slimmer. The beech marten is about 50 cm long (without tail).
An interesting fact is that the beech marten can jump up to 3 meters. In addition, she is an excellent climber, so the gap in the roof is enough for the marten to settle in the attic. She has very sharp teeth and strong paws.
House equipment
It is necessary to lay suitable bedding in the house, for example, you can use old rags or hay. Here the animal will be able to hide from unnecessary attention; if the cage is small, then you can secure the house outside rather than inside, which will save free space in the cage. Get ready for the fact that at first, while the animal has not gotten used to it, it will recover in the nest. After some time, he will get used to it and choose a suitable place for the toilet; more often he chooses one of the corners of the cage. In this place it is advisable to install a tray into which a special filler is poured. At first, it is advisable to place the animal’s excrement in a tray, using this to indicate the location. To prevent the animal from accidentally jumping out of the house when you are cleaning the cage, it is advisable to equip it with a special door or latch that can close the exit and entrance to the nest.
Other types of martens
In addition to the beech marten, American martens, Japanese martens, piscivorous martens, Tamil martens and yellow-throated martens are also found in nature. In Russia you can only find domestic and pine martens, so we will focus on these species.
What does the pine marten look like and how does it differ from the beech marten? The pine marten is primarily larger than the beech marten. She does not have a white collar stripe that extends to her chest, but has a yellow or orange patch on her neck. Legs are very hairy. She also has a different fur color that changes depending on the season. In summer the fur is short and dull, and in winter it is fluffy and shiny. Its color is darker than that of the beech marten.
How to recognize whether a marten has settled in the attic?
The marten can be easily recognized: by the noise in the attic, by the destruction of insulation, by damaged cables. If a marten is in the attic, we will know about it, for example, by the presence of feces with a very unpleasant odor. There may be dead birds, rodents, and other small animals in the area. Martens feed on them and bring them to their shelter for later consumption. There may be holes in the material on the roof - this is a very characteristic sign of the presence of martens in the house. In addition, these animals make noise by knocking over objects or hissing. A marten can reveal its presence outside the home, for example, by cutting wires in a car.
When attempts to get rid of martens are unsuccessful... Why does this happen?
You probably have a marten at home and are unable to lure it out since you are reading this article. A trap has been purchased, and so has a repellent device, but the marten still won’t leave the attic... The problem with getting rid of this animal is twofold: firstly, martens are neophobic, that is, they are afraid of new things. If a new object (such as a deterrent or trap) appears nearby, they will avoid colliding with it. However, over time, the marten may get used to these means and will no longer react.
The second problem is the marten's sensitivity to odors. There is a lot written on the Internet about the amazing deterrent effect of broken eggs. Admittedly, this is one of the effective methods, but only if you do not touch it with your bare hands. If we don't follow this rule, the marten will smell the person and pass by the egg.
How to get rid of beech marten.
Feeding
The animal must be fed strictly according to the schedule; uneaten food must be removed from the cage. Usually, the animals get used to the regime in a short time and wait for food to be given. Subsequently, it is necessary to ensure that the animal is not afraid to eat food in your presence. It is advisable, at each feeding, to sit without moving near the cage, avoiding unexpected noise and sudden movements and noises. It is necessary to do this for a certain time, until the animal completely stops avoiding the person.
How to get rid of marten? Effective ways
Method of fighting martens - repellent odors
Martens have a very sensitive sense of smell, which should be used against these pests. For example, the smell of dog hair can repel this animal. There are ready-made liquid scents available on the market that will repel both martens and other rodents.
It was also believed that the smell of the toilet cube would repel the marten. This is an effective solution as long as we do not leave human body odor (we must wear gloves). You must also change the scent from time to time (for example, first the smell of dog hair, then the toilet block) for the methods to be effective, because the marten quickly gets used to even very unpleasant odors.
The method of fighting martens is a live trap.
Marten traps are often ineffective due to improper use. A trap with a tempting treat (for example, an egg or bread with honey) should lie in the attic for at least a few days so that the marten gets used to the smell. Only after time passes, when the food starts to disappear, should we unlock it. Be careful not to leave any human scent behind.
The method of fighting the marten is a deterrent
Acoustic deterrence can be an effective method. The marten repeller operates at an audio frequency in the range from 7 to 65 kHz. This type of device should be installed on a wall or under a roof. However, this is not a long-term method, since the marten will eventually get used to the sound. The Sonic Repeller, unfortunately, can be a double-edged sword if you have other animals in your home who will also hear the ultrasound.
How to get rid of martens - electric shepherd
An electric shepherd can also be effective. It is installed along the eaves of the roof, usually at the gutters. Low voltage may discourage martens from visiting our attic. Be sure to plug any holes or holes through which martens enter your home. We don't have to do this work during the day as we can trap the animal in the attic - we do this after dark when the animal comes out of its den in search of food. Secure attic windows with mesh and apply bird tape to gutters.
A Samarian who sheltered a marten at home: she likes to make stashes and listens to “Echo of Moscow”
ProGorodSamara.ru talked to Vladimir Pimenov, in whose apartment a small predator settled and made a mess
Unusual pets are not uncommon for residents of Samara . Regular readers of ProGorodSamara.ru probably know that city dwellers keep a variety of animals in their homes - monkeys, raccoons, and sometimes even lions. This list can be supplemented by security guard and cyclist Vladimir Pimenov. He cohabits with a marten. We went to visit Vladimir, who, as it turned out, was a regular reader of our portal, talked to him and looked at what the small, furry predator did to the Samarian’s apartment.
When and how did you get it?
— Last year, around August, my friend and I were riding bicycles behind the Kalinin hospital, where the 15th microdistrict is. I’m driving and in my peripheral vision I notice some movement. I stopped, walked up, and looked at the little animal playing. She, of course, was a little afraid, but I gave her a cookie and she came over. I just picked it up and that’s it. She struggled a little, but we put her in a backpack and took her home.
Why did you decide to take her? Do you love animals?
— Yes, it turns out that I love animals more than people, probably.
How did your relatives react to the fact that you brought such an animal?
“I live alone, so no one objected.”
Friends didn’t say anything, they say, she’ll destroy everything, why?
- Oh, no. With Andryukha, we rode bicycles, he took it normally. And another friend came, looked and said: “Vovan, I won’t come to you anymore.” Well, what can you do, let it be so.
When you brought her home, was there such a mess here already?
- No, she arranged it all. I dropped two chandeliers in two different rooms. She still jumps high. It turns out that the marten is a mixture of a squirrel and some kind of fox. She just doesn’t run on the ceiling, but everywhere else.
What was her name?
- Beady, because her eyes are like beads.
What is her character like?
- Very interesting. For example, she makes nest eggs. He hides food in all sorts of secluded corners. Sometimes she hides it so much that it’s unclear how she got there. Since I didn’t know her yet, I decided one day to take her stash, so she bit me like that! Bleeding, although a small animal. She is also very curious - she climbs everywhere, studies, everything is interesting to her. Of course, it is better not to keep such an animal in an apartment. She has so much energy that three rooms are not enough for her.
Have you tried making a leash for her?
- He is. I put it on her when we walk down the street, but rarely. She doesn't like cars and is afraid of street noise.
What does she eat?
- Absolutely omnivorous, eats everything. He loves meat, honey, vegetables, fruits, cookies - everything. I mainly feed her cat and dog food.
Do you give her what you eat yourself?
“And I practically don’t eat at home.” She doesn't give. It doesn’t even let me just cook something. Demands to be treated. The only thing is that once I brought eggs, she loves them very much. She goes crazy over them, especially the quail ones. For her it's just a delicacy. Immediately it starts to rumble. He also loves cucumbers.
What is she drinking?
- Water. I also give it kefir sometimes.
It's a big mess, and are you planning to continue living with it?
- For now, yes, but I'm going to release it. I’ll go to Ptichka in the near future to buy her a squirrel house - a special house for such animals, similar to a birdhouse with shelves inside. I want to go beyond the Volga with her, to see how she behaves there, in the wild. There are martens in the Podgora area, I already found out. I’ll go there, take a tent, and live there with it for three days. I'll put her in the house. I'll feed her for the first time, I'll leave the food for when I leave. I’ll leave her here in the house, and I’ll come back in a day and take a look; if there’s any left, I’ll take her home. If she runs away, then she must live in nature. It’s just that, for example, she wakes up at night at 2-3 o’clock, starts running, struggling, struggling - she still asks to be released, it turns out. I work as a security guard, I guard cottages, and then one day I decided to take her to see how she would behave there on the road and on the spot. I took it, rode the bus, it was in a box. I couldn’t find a place for myself, I ran around this box. She was under a lot of stress.
What is she afraid of?
- Noise. Most often street. Still doesn't like music, any kind. He starts biting and scratching when he hears songs. And if some talk radio is on, “Echo of Moscow,” for example, then she listens. He behaves more calmly.
Why did you decide not to give her to the zoo, for example?
- No, you definitely don’t need to go to the zoo. If three rooms are not enough for her. And in the zoo she will be given even less space, and so on for the rest of her life. Animals should at least have a chance to choose whether to live at home or better off in nature. She has an instinct because she was in the mood to mate. In winter she was furious, running around, but now she has calmed down a little. They, as I understand it, are born in April and by summer they are practically adults.
How long do they live?
- I read that about 15 years - in captivity if.
You didn't keep her in a cage at all?
- No, she came, she was so tiny, she was running around here. She left small piles, I cleaned up after her at first, but it was very difficult. Heavy animal.
Where is her sleeping place?
— She lives on my sofa. She chewed her way into the middle there and now lives inside. As soon as you move, she climbs out and starts running around. A very active animal. Let's just say that if a person has some kind of depression, then the marten is just for him. She will not let him be alone with his bad thoughts; she always jumps, runs, and climbs on you.
What other features do martens have?
“She’s predatory, curious, trying to get everything.” Now everything in my house is closed because she chews everything and makes holes everywhere. They gave me a coat at work - I was guarding a dacha and helped a woman collect leaves, and she gave me a coat. “From my husband,” he says, “carry it.” It’s a good coat, I hid it in the closet, and Bead jumped in and made holes in it. Now she is still changing color. I don't even know what it will be like in the end. In general, I can say that this is a little “monster”. She has so much energy. It creates great chaos.
How do people on the street react to her?
- With curiosity. They come up and ask what kind of animal this is. She arouses interest, but they didn’t ask to be photographed with her.
Do you know anyone else who keeps martens at home?
— I entered queries into the search engine. It’s about how fur coats are mostly made from it, but for someone to keep at home – no.
How do the neighbors treat the marten?
- They all know her. They are normal. She is nocturnal, she runs around, makes noise, stirs, creates noise, and at first I thought it was disturbing people’s sleep. I asked the neighbors on the floor and those above if this bothered them, they said that everything was fine. We didn't hear anything.
Does she perceive you as the owner?
- Not really. But she caresses me. I work for three days, come, she jumps on me, kisses me. He's bored, apparently. Starts kissing, but then starts biting. Her favorite thing is to bite her fingers.
Have you ever found out if her bites are contagious?
- I'm not afraid of it. When I went on a hike, I took mice calmly. It’s as if I’m not afraid of this whole nature.
How does she behave around cats and dogs? Do you have them?
“I don’t have them, but I wanted to see how she would behave with a cat.” But people say, “What are you doing? It’s dangerous for them.” The cats are stronger, they will bite her to death. At work, one man told me a story that his cat was fighting with a marten. Beyond the Volga. The marten—there was a male—gnawed off the cat’s tail, but the cat still defeated her.
That is, she had no contact with other animals?
“I brought her to the cottage that I guarded.” There are two dogs there, she was not afraid of them. And the dogs there are Labradors, kind. They treated her well too.
Tell us the most memorable incident with him.
- Well, this is probably the story with the chandeliers. He dropped two. And I assume that this happened at night. I just can't imagine what the neighbors thought there. I come home from work and the chandelier is on the floor. She probably jumped on her.
Have people ever had negative comments about your pet?
- Not really. It seems to me that I only evoke positivity among people. No matter how much I communicate with people, they somehow gravitate towards me. I do not know how to explain it. Even when I ride a bicycle, sometimes when you stop, someone starts asking me about the bicycle. Now, before the interview, I went to a glass shop where I like to drink coffee, people have a good attitude towards me. They treat cyclists with respect.
How do you call her to you?
- By name, “Busya, Busya.” Sometimes just “ks-ks-ks”, like a cat. But she doesn't really take it very well.
How does she sleep?
- Periodically, 2-3 hours. At night, her hunting time begins. She gets out and starts running everywhere.
What sounds does it make?
- It purrs, coos and growls, it happens.
Do you give her toys to play with?
- Yes, it happens, I go and collect. She will gut them.
What does she like?
— She likes it when you pet her. But you pet it for a while, and it starts to bite. She likes to bite her fingers. She bites to the point of pain. You start to throw it away - it comes back. It happened that I bit my fingers. Doesn't control himself sometimes.
Are there many martens in Samara?
- They say there are a lot of them beyond the Volga. Martens were seen in the Management Forest.
If she doesn’t want to live without you, have you thought about getting her a partner?
“I’ll start it if she leaves for me.” She will have to look for a male and allocate a room for them. You just need to put trees there so they can jump. In general, I'm very used to it.
How to get rid of martens and protect your roof from martens
If you don't want martens getting into your attic, you need to properly design your roof and attic - prevention is better than cure. How to effectively block a marten's path to the roof? The most important thing is that there are no places through which martens can get into the attic. The entrance to the roof must be tightly closed. It is worth keeping an eye on roofers, because even a small leak in the roof will allow martens to get inside. In addition, ventilation and other openings should be covered with steel grilles or perforated metal strips.
Roof ventilation.
In addition to the sprue installed between the cornice strip and the trim, use heavy-duty metal perforated tape. It will cover all inlet holes under the cover. Install tight screens in shingles and chimneys. The same caps are used along the ridge gap.
Soffit is an important element of roof finishing. Regardless of what material it is made of, it must be fastened firmly and tightly. Air enters the soffit through tightly spaced small-diameter holes. The holes can be replaced with fine-mesh metal gratings.
Soffit is an important element of roof finishing.
Insulating rafters can provide effective protection against martens. Mineral wool, laid on top of a rigid sheathing and tightly insulated with roofing felt, is an insurmountable obstacle. It is interesting to note that martens do not like polystyrene foam, especially XPS or PIR boards - they are annoyed by the squeaking noise that occurs when they bite or scratch holes in these insulating layers.
Taming
The next step will be to teach the animal to accept food from your hands. At first the animal will be afraid to eat from your hands, for this reason, at first you can feed it from a wooden spoon. You can achieve results faster if, in addition to simple food, you give some kind of treat, for example, sour cream or regular honey, but only a little. After a certain period of time, the animal will no longer be afraid of an outstretched hand and will independently approach you to get its favorite food or treat. After this, you can try to feed him directly from your hands. At first, the “savages” simply snatch the food, at this time it is necessary to do this carefully. After a while, you can let the animal into the room and teach it to take food right there, using the same methods discussed earlier. With the help of treats you can lure the animal back into its cage. It is strictly forbidden to catch the animal or scare it; because of this, the taming time may increase indefinitely.
The use of such simple methods of education will allow your pet to accept you as a friend. Subsequently, he himself will jump onto your lap, asking for his treat.
- Posted by fenix
Rate this article:
- 5
- 4
- 3
- 2
- 1
(2 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)
Share with your friends!
