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Danger of Fouine?


WJT
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I didn't want to hijack yet another thread so thought I would start a new one. After reading the thread discussing the buzzards and the threat they may be to a kitten reminds me of a question that I have been meaning to ask Chris (a very popular fellow [:)]).

We have a fouine or a polecat of sorts. We have only seen it a couple of times and appears to be rather large and dark or black in colour. We believe it may have been living in the loft prior to us buying the house and just after. We haven't heard anything up there since so at least hope it is no longer up there. We returned last week after being in the UK for several months to find it has left mess in very strange places presumably marking territory. It left it on our welcome mat at the front door on a few of the window sills (upstairs, how it got up there is a real mystery) and on top of a bench we have outside [blink].

We did have two dogs but lost a very large one a few months back [:(]. I am now worried for the very small one being out in the wilds of Dordogne particularly at night without the big one around. This fouine or whatever it is, is definitely showing signs of being territorial, in fact trying to claim our house as his.[8-)]

I assume they eat small animals such as rabbit. Do you think he would be any danger to my little dog? As always thank you in advance for any advise.

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Ah, the ever popular fouine. I assume the excrement was in little heaps which would be typical and if it's in a house you can be fairly certain that it was indeed a fouine. I've never heard of them presenting a danger to dogs, they are unlikely to use a place as a gite that a dog could reach, cats are more likely to scrap with them in greniers, and they are nocturnal, so they will not be out and about in the day. The next couple of months are when they are likely to return to houses on a more permanent basis as the females will now be pregnant and looking for a place to have their young in the spring. The good news is that an individual fouine will have several gites spread over a very large territory, so hopefully it will choose somewhere else.

You're partly right about what they eat, in fact at this time of year they will be eating mainly fruit and nuts as their diet varies with the seasons and availability, otherwise small mammals, birds, eggs, young rabbits and hares. You can tell what they have been eating by their excrement.

Any help? Chris

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We bought our house in December a couple of years ago.  Unbeknown to us there was a fouine family overwintering in the loft.  The following spring, we had the loft cleared of several years' worth of droppings etc and sprayed with something which deters fouines from returning.  We have had this spray done each spring and autumn since then and (so far) the fouines have not returned.

The cost of spraying is not very expensive (What was expensive was the initial clearing and disposing of the mess, including the insulation which was obviously a cosy bed!).  We find this a price worth paying to deter the fouines without damaging them.  It also got rid of the loir which was living in a different part of the loft!

 

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Chris, yes thank you it is some help. However, my little white dog can look like a bunny from a distance so I hope the fouine doesn't mistake him as one.[:(]. By the way,  I was aware that they are nocturnal but both times that my husband and I each saw it, it was during the day.

Thibault, I would be interested to know what sort of spray you used. I have read here that many have used moth balls with success. I do know what you mean about the mess, in fact we have urine stains in areas on the ceiling from the fouines [blink]. The stains were here when we bought the house. Summer before last we had owls nesting above our stairs which is an old pigeonnier that created a lot of mess and again stains on the ceiling. Someone cleared some of it out near the opening but we want to open it up to the roof and I am worried about how much is actually up there. Oh well, I guess a price we pay for living in the country. Fingers crossed,  at the moment at least inside the house, I think we are free and clear. [:)]

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I don't know what is in the spray - it is provided and applied by the "Pest Man".  We were given his name by our insurance agent as we originally enquired if the damage done by the fouines was covered - of course, it wasn't!!

The Pest Man inspects the loft before the spraying and that is how we know that there have been no fouines since the original clearance and spraying.  He comes in early May and again at the end of September - that timing is dictated by our visit times, rather than a natural cycle. We have been fouine free since May 2005.

Because we have "up and over" tiles (the sort like half a tube), the Pest Man said it would be impossible to block entry to the fouines, as they can get through very small spaces, without spending a lot of money and perhaps endangering the ability of the loft/roof space to "breathe". So we are very happy to have the loft sprayed twice a year.

I have heard that mothballs can be useful..  However, when I tried to find really strong smelling moth balls, I didn't have much luck as the modern varieties don't seem to smell much!  I tried in both England and France but with no success.

 

 

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I suppose the nocturnal things a bit misleading, what I should have said was that their principle activity takes place during darkness, probably more than 95% of it in fact, but there will be times when they will be seen out and about during daylight, especially during their breeding periods which I've been fortunate enough to have witnessed, and also around this time of year gathering nuts. It is difficult to recognise the difference between stone marten and pine martin visually when seen out in the open, it's really only the shape of the white patch and ear prominence, all other features are the same. There's photos in the photo gallery on my site.

Chris

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What a wonderful site Chris, well done!

After looking at your photos, I now think it may be a Pine Martin because it was quite dark. They are quite cute, just hope he doesn't mistake my dog for a white bunny. I also recognise the photo of the Capricorne beetle, in fact have found a few dead recently and of course still hear the living munching away at the wood in the house. [:'(

Thibault, if we do have a return of the Fouines or Pine Martins, I will look into this spray you mention. By the way, I have been able to get the really smelly moth balls here but haven't bothered with scattering them in the loft. In fact, I keep the boxes in a zip lock plastic bag because they are so strong and even then when I open that particular drawer I can still smell them. However, if I do hear anything I will scatter them before trying the spray just to see if they actually work. A few months back my husband found a few acorns in one of his shoes in the cupboard so may be scattering them there first.[:)]

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I have successfully evicted a family of fouines using a very generous scattering of moth balls (boules anti-mites) all over the attic space.

I had to buy them over the counter in a droguerie (no, not a drug shop, an ironmonger's!), as they are apparently used by undesirable characters for unregistered purposes!

The smell was overpowering and slightly noticeable from the lower floor, but it did the trick and the gîte had been unoccupied at the time...

I have no wish to see them hurt in any way, I just wanted them to move somewhere else so I could get some sleep at night!

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I have just bought another couple of packets of very strong-smelling

mothballs (the ones containing naptholene) from SuperU so that we can

reinforce the defences against the local fouine population before they

start looking for winter accommodation.  So far they have worked a

treat.

Val

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Thanks for the info on where to get smelly mothballs - our local ATAC only seems to have the slightly scented ones [:D]

We, too, have no wish to hurt the fouines who, as our Pest Man said, are graceful creatures and fascinating to watch, so anything which deters them will be useful to try.

 

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