Raising a baby marten

Baby martens are most often found in spring, in attics, in sheds or during roof work. Two species live in Croatia: the beech marten (Martes foina), which is happy to live close to people, and the European pine marten (Martes martes), which sticks to forests and gives birth in tree hollows. Raising a baby marten takes months and is not something to do at home, but the right first aid can save a youngster's life. Here is what to do.

Martens give birth in March and April, usually to two to five kits that are blind and completely dependent on their mother. Their eyes only open at around five weeks, and they leave the den for the first time at around eight weeks.

• If you find a kit in your attic or shed, leave it where it is, even if you have already touched it. Shut away dogs and cats and stay out of that space. The mother comes back for her young, usually during the night, and if she decides the place is not safe, she will carry them one by one to another spot.
• If you had to move the kit, put it in an open box with a cloth at the spot where you found it and watch from a distance.
• It needs help if the kit is cold, injured, covered in flies or fly eggs, if it cries loudly for a long time, or if the mother has not come back even after a night. Sadly, the mother has often been killed on the road or removed from the attic.

If you are planning work on your roof or attic, postpone it until the end of summer so you do not separate the mother from her young.

• Handle the kit only with gloves or through a towel. Even a baby marten has sharp teeth.
• Put it in a cardboard box or pet carrier with a soft cloth and air holes, and close it securely – martens can squeeze through incredibly narrow gaps.
• Warmth comes first. Put a hot-water bottle under the cloth so the kit is not lying directly on it and can move away. Do not give a chilled kit any food or water until it has warmed up.
• Keep the box in a quiet, dark room – no cuddling and no showing it off.
• Write down where you found it and call a wildlife rescue centre or vet straight away. A list of associations and rescue centres is available on our website.

Both marten species are protected by law in Croatia (they are also classed as game), so they may not be kept at home without a permit.

For the first six weeks a baby marten lives only on its mother's milk. From the third or fourth week the mother also starts bringing solid food, and at around eight weeks the young no longer depend on milk, although they need several more months to become independent.

• Never cow's milk – it causes diarrhoea and can be fatal.
• Rescue centres use kitten milk replacer for martens. Always agree the type and amount with a vet or rescue centre.
• Later, meat-based food is introduced, followed by whole prey such as mice and chicks, along with eggs, insects and fruit – martens are true omnivores.

Feeding at home is only an option if the rescue centre tells you to, until they come to collect the kit.

• The kit must be warmed up.
• Feed it while it lies on its tummy, never on its back, because milk can get into its lungs.
• Give the milk slowly, drop by drop, with a small syringe without a needle, and let it lick or suckle by itself.
• Feeds are small – experts reckon that a single feed should not be more than a few per cent of the kit's body weight, and very young kits are fed often, day and night.
• After each feed, gently massage the tummy and the area under the tail with damp cotton wool so the kit can pee and poo.

A marten raised by people, without its siblings, easily loses its natural wariness. After release, such an animal wanders into houses, henhouses and garages, looks for people and food, and soon becomes a “pest” that ends up getting killed. Nor should it lose its fear of dogs and cats.

That is why rescue centres raise young martens together, in groups of the same age, with as little human contact as possible. They have to search for their food, and later they learn to catch live prey. This simply cannot be achieved at home, so the kit should not be kept any longer than necessary.

Young martens become independent at around four to five months, so they are usually released from rescue centres in late summer or early autumn.

• The release is gradual: the young martens spend some time in an acclimatisation enclosure at the release site, and after it is opened, food is still left out for a while.
• Pine martens are released into forests with tree hollows and dense canopies, and beech martens into a quiet area with plenty of shelter, but not near villages or poultry farms.
• They are released at dusk, as martens are active at night.

Martens can carry fleas, ticks, intestinal parasites and diseases that can be passed on to people and pets, and as carnivores they could in theory also carry rabies. So do not touch them with bare hands, wash your hands after every contact and keep pets away. If a baby marten bites you, rinse the wound with soap and water and see a doctor.

When someone contacts me about a baby marten they have found, the first thing I ask is: has the mother had a chance to come back? Very often it is enough to leave the kit alone and wait for nightfall. If it really is an orphan, warm it up, put it in a quiet box and hand it over to a wildlife rescue centre as soon as possible, where it will grow up with other martens and keep its wild nature.