I think we have a fox hanging about outside our door during the night and I wonder if there's anything I can do to discourage it.

Toby's been unsettled a couple of nights, yesterday I noticed something's been digging up/eating the bulbs I'd just planted ( including the one's in a trough hung nearly 4 feet high on my wooden gates!). This morning Toby had me up at 4.45am. We're in an upstairs cottage flat (4 in a block with own separate entrance) Toby was standing at the top of the stairs giving low growls then barking but not frantic,constant barking. It was bark....bark.....bark....bark....as if he was trying to tell something to go away. I then heard the wooden gates clatter. It didn't sound as if someone opened them but more as if something climbed over them (they're 4 feet high).

It really makes me think it was an animal because Toby was too scared to go down to the door with me. He's a wimp, typical watchdog. He's lets me know someone's there's then hides behind me if it's a stranger:):D) but he would normally have a little look but this time there was no way he was looking :)

I'm not so bothered about it if it is a fox but it's more incase it's got mange. I was trying to find Leigh's recent post about mange but haven't found it yet.

Would Toby pick up mange if the fox only passes through? or is it only if it does the toilet there? and is there any likelyhood that it would do it's toilet there? (It's a totally fenced off area about 27 feet by 11 feet wide)
Thanks
Dot

Edited to add - have just found Leigh's post on sarcoptic mange. Even if I'm not sure it's a fox etc should I use Stronghold just incase? Is it OK to do this? Is Stronghold only available from vet's? and how long should I use it for? Many thanks, Dot

Just a thought Dot, could it have been a Deer, we get them in the gardens round here, and they can jump quite high. Ingrid

Could you set a live trap, and then release it some place away from the area maybe. This way too you will know if it is sick or anything if it is a fox.

Hi Dollface,
To be honest I'm as big a wimp as Toby I'd be scared of it thrashing about :)

If it is the one I've seen going about, it looks Ok. I think I did see another one once that didn't look in as good a condition but I only saw it once a while back.
Thanks,
Dot

Er Dollface, have you ANY IDEA how aggressive a trapped fox is???? It is not to be recommended unless you have experience of handling wild animals that BITE. Further more it would be extremely irresponsible to take a town fox out to the country & release it. If you release it somewhere else in town it will just plague someone else instead....thats not very nice is it?

Sam, if u read my post I never said they should I said maybe. The smart choice would be to talk with someone who deals with wild animals and go on their advice with the whole trapping and release thing. It was just a sugestion, they didn't seem upset by my sugestion.
ttfn :)

I AM SOMEONE WHO DEALS WITH WILD ANIMALS...and you have got my suggestion!

Sam,
Dot was looking for the suggestion, not U. So to get mad and upset at someone over a suggestion is very childish. Any wild animal that is cornered can be mean. Further more it would be a person who deals with wild animals that would deal with the problem. How do u think wild animals are captured and released elsewhere? it's by a profesional. Wolves,and bears ect. are always captured and released elsewhere. Since U deal with wild animals can U not give a humane way of dealing with the fox instaed of KILLING it, why does everything that gets in someones way need to be KILLED, there are other ways to deal with wildlife, and KILLING I don't think should be an option unless all else has failed. This little argument here is not helping Dot at all.

The only thing worse than a fool is the person that argues with one
ttfn :)

Let me try and answer this one Dollface. Urban foxes are not equipped for country life, it is verging on cruelty to catch them and release them in the countryside, they can't hunt for themselves so we either find them dying of starvation or they move into the nearest residential area and get destroyed. I speak from experience, having seen London Borough Vans releasing foxes in out of the way places and later seeing these animals in a terrible state, add that to the fact that on the whole our local fox population is pretty healthy, is it fair to introduce some of the urban diseases to them. Ingrid

Thankyou,
that does explains alot better. No it would not be wise. I never knew that.
ttfn :)

Hi Ingrid,
I'm actually in a built up area in a town :) but I know we have at least one fox because I've seen it. It calmly walks down the street about 10.15pm - 10.45pm. If Toby sees it out the window he just sits still and gives low growls and watches it.

When the bulbs were eaten yesterday I thought it was maybe a squirrel because we have one of those but I thought it'd have hibernated by now. Other than that I thought some of the big crows could've eaten the bulbs but after this morning I think it's more likely to be fox.

Are you in a built up area Ingrid? I've never heard of a deer being about our area but I'll ask about. We're well into the town. Only about 1 mile from the centre of town with about 1-2 miles of housing beyond us to the outskirts of town.
Dot

<<Could you set a live trap, and then release it some place away from the area maybe.>>

BUT NOT NEAR ME!!!

Nimby

Christine

aaaaaaaw y not :) lol :)

A friend of mine keeps chickens and someone told her an 'old wives tale' that is supposed to keep the foxes away from her chickens (her coops were getting raided quite regularly!) she put human hair (unwashed for a couple of days) in an old pair of tights (make up a few of these) and hung them around the coops and surrounding fencing, the smell is suppose to ward off foxes - I laughed when she told me what she'd done - but she honestly hasn't had anymore trouble!!! weird one! I never heard it before and thought it was a wind up - she gives anything a try! and swears by it - anyone else heard of this before? Julie:D

My only thought is, could it be a badger, only my dad had a 'mystery visitor' in his garden a while ago, he couldnt work out why his garden was being dug up! He sneaked out one night, and lo and behold, there was fat Mr Badger, trundling around the garden, digging stuff up, sampling things etc. We worked out that it was really looking for slugs and snails and stuff, not really wanting to eat the plants, but, hey, if their there, why not have a taste!

Emma
(and yeah, i reckon a badger could reach quite high up, ours had pulled cobs off teh sweet corn in the garden, and that was around 4" high)

The badgers I have seen are really quite big so I would be surprised if they *couldn't* reach four inches and a lot more up to the sweet corn. I think they can stand on their back legs and reach too :)

Melody

Melody, sorry that was a typo, (or an incidence of my well known 'dumbass-itis' !) I meant 4 foot, not four inches. Badgers are massive, one bumped into me once, i was having a crafty ciggie, down the field, and it walked into my leg, i think it mistook me for a tree or something!

Emma

Rifle works even better Julie. And a deerhound/wolfhound better still :D.

Well, I'll maybe ask to borrow one of yours Sharon :)
Dot

Hi Dot, No I'm in the middle of nowhere, the whole village is less then a mile wide !!!!!
The deer come in the gardens and eat anything they can find. Ingrid

>>should I use Stronghold just incase?

Dot, please discuss the use of Stronghold with your vet and be guided by them :-)

Can I just say that I have had dogs for twenty years now and living in a suburb, *town foxes* are extremely common and in great numbers. This is the first time EVER that my dogs have been infected and yet, mange in *town foxes* is VERY common. I have lived at my present address for 6+ years and foxes live behind my kennel and sleep on the roof, and still this is the first time that my dogs have caught mange. I am also not 100% sure that my puppy picked it up from *my* foxes. Mange is highly contagious and in reality, she could have picked it up ANYWHERE :rolleyes:

What I am trying to say is, do not panic :-)

Apparently keeping a llama will deter foxes. Not sure it would fit in my garden though :) :) :)
Lorna

Hi dudley
I saw that program and was amazed at that as well
should we all club together and by Sam one for X-maas

I want one as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wonder if I could persuade my husband to get me a Llama for Christmas - or two as they would get lonely on their own :-))

Christine

Thanks everybody and thanks Leigh you've put my mind at rest so I'll keep the panic for another day ;) :)

Interesting about the hair and about the badger idea. I've got an outside light so I think I'll keep it on all night and see if that keeps whatever it is away and I bought some wire mesh today to put over my bulb troughs/tubs :)
Dot

Hi Dot
Used to know someone who lived on the edge of
Ashdown Forest and foxes were a real problem for her dogs.I know there is a solution you can buy(sorry I don`t know the name)that you soak strips of material in and hang it around the perimeter of your property to keep foxes at bay.
Has anyone else heard about this?
Regards Carole

I think the stuff was called RENARDINE - don't know whether it is still available - we had rags dipped in it hanging outside our (very insecure) chicken run when we "rescued 2 dozen battery hens - were supposed to be for the pot - but we could'nt do it - we got about 3 dozen eggs from them in the first couple of weeks, fed them like queens through the winter, kept them warm, clean etc, etc - only to have them all pop off in front of us as the weather turned to spring - and we were told that was all we could expect - still they had a few months happily scratching around before they popped their clogs!

Hi Margot,
I've done a *google* search for Renardine and it says Renardine is a repellant for Badgers, Foxes, Moles, Rabbits, CATS and DOGS. Oops :)
I haven't read on yet to see how it affects dogs but did you have any dogs about the chicken run? Did it repel them too?
Dot

Doesn't work on hedgehogs does it? The lunatic Lewis retrieves them and I really wish he wouldn't. Of course hedgehogs are the only thing the big eejit retrieves!

Oh Sharon,
I forgot my neighbour told me she saw a hedgehog on her doorstep one night. Could it have been a hedgehog? Could it climb 4 feet?
Dot
on second thoughts I think the gates made to much noise for it to be a hedgehog. (just thinking aloud :))

Dunno Dot, with Lewis here they don't get a chance to climb 4 ft in the air :).

"Hedgehogs are brilliant climbers. Wire fences are no problem and they can climb wooden fences well over a metre in height. They have also been known to climb the walls of houses to nest in the roof! They do this by bracing themselves between the downpipe and the wall" Kent Wildlife.

Incidently, hedgehogs are protected by law and they do carry a number of diseases including ringworm which is transmissible to humans :-)

Thanks Leigh :). Didn't know they could climb (without the help of Lewis the Lift!) but the ringworm and fleas they are always alive with is why I'd rather he'd refrain from bringing them to me :).

Thanks Leigh,

What a mine of information you are :)
I think if it's not hibernated, it could well be a hedgehog. The clatter of the gates was quite loud but it could've been a hedgehog squeezing underneath them as there's a small gap at one side.

Dot

Dot, before we had Lewis the Iron Mouthed Idiot to fetch them in, hedgehogs used to send my crew mental so you could well be right. The hounds rarely bark otherwise but hedgehogs seemed to confuse them. They couldn't very well chase then, nor could they pick them up but they were alive. Unfortunately resident hedgehogs aren't desirable. As Leigh said they usually have ringworm, are always minging with fleas and they carry every worm known to man :(.

The trouble with Renardine is it stinks to high heaven! Personally, I would rather take my chances with the fox :-)

<<I know there is a solution you can buy(sorry I don`t know the name)that you soak strips of material in and >>

Strychnine, Arsenic and soak the massacred chickens in them ?????????

now im starting to worry.
I get my Newf pup in 11 days ( im sure everyone is sick of hearing this allready ! ).I live in Kent ad we are quite literally "running" alive with fox's.Every night they trapes accross our front lawns and jump over to the back.
The thought hadnt accured to me about their deseases before now.I know i cant take puppy out untill she's had all her jabs etc ... but will it even be safe for her to go in the garden ?

Don't worry too much about foxes in the garden - we have them around every night (they leave little "messages" as evidence of their visits) and frequently during the day and I let litters of puppies out in the garden as well as the adults, and have not, so far, fingers crossed, had a problem. Most foxes are fairly healthy or they die (unless the TV cameras happens to be around )

Christine

A 12 bore is quite effective Dot

:D @ Sam

Hi Sam

A 12 bore is only effective if you have one and I don't :( :( Have to resort to pans as the last fox I live-caught wrecked the trap.

I've got the targets though if anyone wants any practice

Christine

Christine, why not get your local hunt in to despatch it? They will always do a call-out......and its free.

Christine, is it one fox and do you see it every night? I might be able to help you but if the fox is shot, it will be replaced by another unfortunately. My advice to you would be to get an electric fence. This will keep the foxes out of your birds.