It's Marder time, lock away your cars!

Well, it's that time of year again.

People who are new in Germany or don't own a car will not know what on Earth I am on about.

The "Marder", or in English, a "Pine Marten", is a vicious little mammal that enjoys chewing on hot rubber or plastic. To prevent these animals getting into your car's inner bits and bobs it's recommended that you park you car in your Tiefgarage. Other preventative methods are to place rolled up mesh wire under the engine compartment of your car.

It may well be worth looking at your insurance to see if you are covered for Marder damage.

See the photo for what they look like.

Take care out there!

G

It looks too cute to be a pest!!

My German boyfriend was trying to explain to me about these little critters. I thought he meant a possum!

What is it about hot rubber or plastic that makes it taste so good to them?

It might be some deficiency in their diet or something. I know that's why porcupines chew brake lines in the states.

it seems to be connected to their territorial behaviour because they get more destructive during mating season (it's spring time now) and prefer attacking cars they don't know yet, or better: cars that have the smell of other marders on it. I got two damages just after I moved in, since then never again. they just leave their dirty traces, climb up the front window and slide down the rear window.
In spring they also love biting car antennaes (?), it's more of a show off.

Parking in an underground garage helps, but it's not certain to keep them out. I know that from experience.

Little bastards have eaten my windscreen washer hose

Which is, however, better than when they once happily dined on all my electric cable insulation . .

You are however covered on your TeilKasko.a gamekeeper told me once that it is the young ones that are testing their teeth.B.M.W. rubber piping seems to be a real delicacy for them

They are clearly pissed off about global warming and choosing to attack our cars, especially petrol guzzling 4x4's.

Anyone had their Toyota Prius attacked? Huh. I thought not - thus proving my theory.

I always that they were referring to possums, too! Looks like a ferret.

They are Weaselie,Stoatie, Ferretie type critters.

It wouldappear that the warm rubber of engine hoses is some sort of Afrodizzyac affridyzi affrodisyac turn on for them..

You will often see paw marks all over your car and regullarly see your antenna have been chewed!

If you listen carefully late at night, especially at this time of year, you will possibly hear them fighting !

Still look cute though!

yes, they do look cute but if I see one chewing away at my Alfa's cables or antenna I'll be wearing it as a shoe!
have lots of paw prints on my motor but no damage as yet.

Grinner's pic is too cute. The one my auto service garage uses to sell their €200 marder defense system is this:

We had a Marder defence system fitted to our car when we bought it new - all you hear is an electronic "tick" sound every 20 seconds or so - worth every penny as we haven't had any problems.

I would especially reccomend anyone living in Feldmoching as from our Balcony I see One Marder running under and over the cars nearly every night.

What is a Marder defence system? Does it zap the little critters?

Annoys them with high pitched noises, also annoys anybody who lives within hearing distance of that dammed tick.

There are two types of Marders, Steinmarder and Baummarder. I believe Randy's pic shows a Baummarder, which typically does not chew on automotive bits. The one to look out for is the Steinmarder:

sooooooooooooo cute

would look a lot cuter without teeth.

Aye the Pine Martens aren't the ones that chew your cables, its the Beech Marten.

I saw one of these once at the Alte Heide graveyard... they are really cute, but I was surprised by how tiny they are. Smaller than a squirrel, even!

I don't have a car, but do they bite bicycle tires or wires?

If it was smaller than a squirrel then it was probably a stoat or a weasel and not a marten.

Or a small squirrel? Probably a smoker.

They're not smaller than squirrels, in fact, the one I saw last year was about the size of a cat, only with shorter legs.

They say it's as big as four cats, and it's got a retractable leg so as it can leap up at you better and you know what, it lights up at night, and it's got four ears. Two of them are for listening and the other two are kind of back-up ears, and it's claws are as big as cups and for some reason it's got a tremendous fear of stamps, it's got magnets on it's tail so as if you're made out of metal it can attatch itself to you, and instead of a mouth it's got four arses.

No man's car is safe.

Is it allowed to make fur coats out of them? Maybe if you leave one in the car, that will scare them away. Especially if you leave the head on. A fur coat made of 20 of them with heads hanging out the back, that should do the job. Fashionable yet functional.

I'll try to catch one to contribute to the fur pool...

would these things make nice coats? I see some marketing value here.

I thought you were taking the piss at first but there seems to be a consensus, I am very worried about bringing my baby to Munich, especially as the soft top has holes in it!

Do they like fibreglass? How the hell will I tell my insurance company that my car has been eaten! Well I woke up this morning and my car seems to have been eaten! And to top it off the buggers will probably leave the radio so I get busted by GEZ!

Is there any other weird s**t that happens in Munich that I should know about?

I agree they sure would make a good fur coat. Good excuse to either get chrome pipes or silicon hoses!


Sounds like my mate’s wife to be!

We were told by our neighbours that our gas guzzling 4x4 was safe because of its ground clearance. It this true? It sounds a bit strange that these things that streak about in the treetops but would have a problem with the short distance from the ground to the delicious contents of the 'beamer'.
I think its garage time!

Its nothing about taste, is just behavior. Those nice little fellas just have a crush to get on tight places, and they also have a major need to chew stuff to control the size of the teeth...and inside a car there is not much to chew beside plastic and cables.

Anyone that ever had a ferret knows how is funny to see that, when they scape the cage, they manage to hide on the worst possible places for a human hand/arm reach it.

They don't like the smell of dogs, so you can put a few stockings full of dog hair under your wheel arches at night. Don't ask me if that even vaguely works, but people have taken bags of dog hair from me for that purpose.

I am thinking I may have to borrow the snake found in the backyard, I am sure that tied under the bonnet will do the trick!

Where do these creatures live? What is their preferred habitat? Are they widespread across Munich or localised to particular districts? Is it only at night when they're active?

Answers would help me assess the risks.

Thanks.

JG

We leave the Carrera GT and the Enzo in the driveway most nights.
Marders seem to go for the Enzo only.
So! stick to the ould Carrera.

These little critters live absolutely anywhere from between Erding an Holzkirchen... They can often be see taking the S2 or the S4 into town where they then take the U4 from HBH out towards thei favourite part of town near the Arrabella Hotels!!

They are cleaver little buggers!

Maybe other TTers Have seen them in their "hood..

... and they're too quick for the "Fahrkartenkontrolle!"

If you ever need a chauffer just give me a nod!

Thanks!
Will do should the need arise.
The good lady wife looks after these things
usually.

I would never let my GF drive my car when we were in England, kind of coming to bite me in the ass now, as she won’t let me share hers in Munich!

I am going to have to bring mine over! Just hope the little critters don’t eat it.

I think you're mixing up marders with teenagers. Feckin' bastard nuisance they are.

Apparently they also don't like fish, so keep a steckerl fish under the bonnet too.

Have héard the dog hair one myself.The worse thing that can happen happened to a neighbour.His BMW was attcked and he got it fixed.Next day another one in a different place bit through his petrol pipeline.He was covered on his insurance but he has to pay the first € 150 up front so that set him back € 300 in a couple of days.Not his favourite animal now.

HellsAngel would a pair of the wifes knickers not do as a substitute?

Mik.. I've seen your wife.. Just leave a picture of her under the bonnet... Will stop thieves too!

maybe try one of these
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTDDlWtnvSE

One of these little bastards seems to take the trouble to break into the tiefgarage in my building and put muddy footprints all over the front of my car, then shit on the bonnet. Fortunately no serious damage. First I thought I was going mad, that I must have parked my car outside somewhere and forgotten about it, but now it's happened twice I'm sure that it must be in the garage. No idea how the little shit gets in, it's a new building, 10 years old only and the door fits tightly, but if ever I catch him ...

There are probably loads of ventilation holes/gaps in the Tiefgarage to let the fumes out. That's how they get in.

OK, what stops these little rodents? My engine light came on over the weekend and I took my car into the dealership today and they said a marder ate the wires (or chewed through it). So, now I have to pay 150€ for the insurance to cover the 400€ of damage. This has happened to both my car and my hubbies (both BMWs, go figure). I'm thisclose to putting poison in the engine compartment (but I wouldn't for fear of killing something else unintentionally).

Any ideas?

I'm glad someone posted about these little guys, I saw something dash across the road in front of my car last night, and being from Texas, I recognize a lot of critters, but wasn't familiar with this one. Are they kind of the size of small cats, and have short legs and a fluffy tail?

Regardless, it's good to know it wasn't one of these: