• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Nearly worst nightmare, foxes in garden last night

lisa82

Mama Doe
I was woken at 3.50 this morning to movement in the garden (our bedroom looks over buns/pigs and had window open). I looked out to see not one but TWO pretty big (IMO) foxes on their way to the buns playhouse/pigs hutch :shock: I turned all the lights on and darted down the stairs and they had gone, but the buns were having a thump.

The furries have only been out since July as I have always been so worried about foxes. Everyone was moved in the house this morning ( I spent the rest of the night in the lounge with windows wide open and kitchen light on, needless to say I didn't sleep :( I'm so tired having just got in from work and DH is already getting in a strop saying how overdramatic I am being!!! They will be back now won't they? Does anyone know why there were 2? Is this normal?

I'll be showing this thread to the DH to show him I'm not overdramatic so comments much appreciated :)
 
Last edited:
I'm not the biggest expert on foxes but I have been told once a fox or foxes kno where rabbits etc are they will keep comin back! Even if they have killed they will come back to see if there are others!

Sorry to be telling you that, but if I was you I would keep them inside for the time being to be safe!
 
I'm not the biggest expert on foxes but I have been told once a fox or foxes kno where rabbits etc are they will keep comin back! Even if they have killed they will come back to see if there are others!

Sorry to be telling you that, but if I was you I would keep them inside for the time being to be safe!

I agree 100 per cent!

Once they know they will come back!

I know a few people have lost bunnies to foxes lately :cry:
 
You might find that it's the mum and one of her babies.

We have a family who live across the road and it's mum and 6 babies. They are all about the same size now and all go out together. Across the other side of the road, there is another mum and her 1 baby.

I posted on a thread a while back about not being too worried about them as my buns are secure and because to date they don't seem to have crossed the road. Earlier this week, I found one of them coming to say hello at my front gate. When the security light went on and I went out clapping my hands, it just stood there and said where is my supper?

The problem is that my next door but one neighbour feeds them so they are not afraid of humans.

I'm still not too worried as all of my accommodation is totally secure but I do understand your concerns and no you are not being paranoid.

I was at my vets this evening (I work there as well as being a customer) and they were telling me that yesterday they had a bun in having it's ear sewn back on after a fox had ripped it off.

Not sure what the accommodation was like so it may just be that it wasn't shut away and was free range - but it is worrying.

Helen
 
The foxes would be looking for easy ways into your bunny enclosure. As long as you double check that everything's secure, you should be fine.

We have foxes around here, but they very rarely venture near the rabbits. I sometimes find fox poop an the garden in the mornings but the rabbits weren't banging during the night so they can't have been bothered by the foxes.
 
You might find that it's the mum and one of her babies.


I'm still not too worried as all of my accommodation is totally secure but I do understand your concerns and no you are not being paranoid.


Helen

But how do you know it is totally secure? Thats what OH's argument is but I've read so many times "you can't stop a determined fox" :? :(
 
How secure is your bunny homes? Is it a shed or a hutch?

I've just had a look on the web and aparently foxes can get thro very small wholes in wire etc... :cry:
 
But how do you know it is totally secure? Thats what OH's argument is but I've read so many times "you can't stop a determined fox" :? :(

TBH I think many cases you hear about are because people have forgotten to shut hutch doors properly and stuff like that. A good quality hutch in good condition, and with secure catches or bolts should be fine. Perhaps you could post piccies of your set-up?
 
a secure hutch

Has good fastening like a large metal bolt and maybe a padlock or clip
Is on patio not grass so they can't dig under
Has a strong wire mesh, not chicken wire
Has a hutch firmly attached to the run which can't be pushed off.....again probably with bolts.
Is in good condition with no holes, rotton wood etc.

You could also think about having a light that goes on with movement out the back. Good for stopping human intruders too. Would not stop a determined fox but might make them think twice.
 
How secure is your bunny homes? Is it a shed or a hutch?

I've just had a look on the web and aparently foxes can get thro very small wholes in wire etc... :cry:

The buns have a playhouse with all perspex windows attached with wood frames holding them in. They have a mesh door behind the main door which has 2 padlocks and a big bolt I then put two run panels in front at night held with bricks. There is a catflap into the run which is locked at night with a big rock then another run panel which is wedged with a patio chair. The run just has one layer of galvanised wire with some stiffer wire panels on the outside.

The pigs have a thistle hall hutch with padlocks. They have a cover at night, then 2 run panels wedged in front with a patio chair. Yes it is quite a performance but I'm just worried that I've read that buns have died of fright, and sometimes mine do get wound up by the smallest things :(


Just to add, after DH's speech this morning on "well they'll be ok today, foxes don't come out in the day". I knew this was not true and in the car, at 8.15 2 roads away we see a fox leisurely wander across the road in front of the car.
So they could come back in the day, when cat flap etc would be unlocked :?
 
Last edited:
TBH I think many cases you hear about are because people have forgotten to shut hutch doors properly and stuff like that. A good quality hutch in good condition, and with secure catches or bolts should be fine. Perhaps you could post piccies of your set-up?

I can't find the camera, would you believe, as that would be good :? I've described it above, the run is on patio BTW
 
The only way in would be the cat flap. Perhaps you could make a wooden flap out of a small piece of plywood and attach it to the outside of the playhouse with hinges, so that it can drop down over the cat flap, and can be secured with a catch or hasp and staple type lock? if that makes sense
 
What about in the day though? It would have to be open for the buns to use it? I know its less likely but they might come back in the day mighten they seeing as they know where they are now :(
 
The play house and hutch sound very secure to me - but I'd worry like hell! Altho the place my bunnies go on holiday sound just the same as your set up and touch wood they have been safe!

I like the light Idea that would help i think!

How do u feel about the whole thing now?
 
What about in the day though? It would have to be open for the buns to use it? I know its less likely but they might come back in the day mighten they seeing as they know where they are now :(

If it was me I'd only open the flap if I was at home and leave it locked when not
 
i was just the same, i have a plastic cover, and a very heavy pallet in front of my hutches they are against the garage wall with a build barby on one side and a very large potted plant on the other the only a fox is gonna get into my hutches is in the front as they are also on slabs to, the fact frosty is so blimin noisy if theres one in the garden i dont panic too much as i knwo she will wake me up, search lights are usless to a fox but do wake me up, either way if a fox tries theres gonna be a lot of noise before he even gets to them, i got 2 that are in the garden around 3 times a week at the mo, one night i watched one to see what it would do, he just sat in front of it, til frosty started thumping and he run orf , the other one well she snuck up behind me i was at the other end of the garden and she jumped over the fence behind me closer to the buns she soon pegged it when she saw me
 
What about in the day though? It would have to be open for the buns to use it? I know its less likely but they might come back in the day mighten they seeing as they know where they are now :(

I think I mis-read your post. Is the cat flap into a secure run? (i.e. weld mesh, roof, etc). I thought it was just into the garden
 
I think I mis-read your post. Is the cat flap into a secure run? (i.e. weld mesh, roof, etc). I thought it was just into the garden

Its probably me not making sense. The catflap goes into the run, made from aviary panels, with one as a roof too. The end of it is a piece of thick MDF fitted with brackets to the sides and roof of the run. Does that make sense? It is made from weld mesh and on patio.

Am I being overdramatic? :(
 
I personally know that foxes will do almost anything to feed their young...we had a fox jump through our window into our kitchen in broad daylight. Although our windows are quite low but lucky the buns were in the garage at the time but I know that some indoor buns have lost their lives from foxes breaking in! :cry:
 
Back
Top