Caught two foxes in the garden!!!!!!!!!!Advice

k.mdaniels · Jan 25, 2011

My worst nightmare has started...........

About 3am this morning one of the Rabbits was thumping, so quickly got out of bed to look out the window and saw not one but two foxes playing in our back garden:shock:

Thankfully they werent near the hutches but they must now know about the rabbits as the back garden will probably smell of them

There's high fences/bushes around all of the garden a part from the bottom part of the garden. Theres a four foot fence and then behind that theres a 2 foot bit of empty land (really the neighbours) its got trees and weeds and rocks in it but this is where they're getting in.

Do you think if I add a tall bit mesh to the fence it may stop them??
How high do foxes jump????

just to add the rabbits were fine, I have heard them thump worse when they saw a hedgehog one night. So by this Im assuming the foxes didnt have time to reach the hutches before I ran out.

William · Jan 25, 2011

Maybe you could trap them in humane traps and release them somewhere else?

k.mdaniels · Jan 25, 2011

William said:
Maybe you could trap them in humane traps and release them somewhere else?

I wouldnt have a clue where to start with that. Would the SSPCA do anything. Im so scared that they keep comin back now

steph182 · Jan 25, 2011

Meshing it up is a good start, but I'm not sure how high they can jump. It might be worth meshing it up to about 7 feet and adding some mesh on the other fenses too to make sure they cant scramble over the top?

Sky-O · Jan 25, 2011

I think you're likely on a hiding to nothing, but you need to reinforce their hutches as well as trying to do the garden. You can also buy fox deterrants which would be sensible too.

William · Jan 25, 2011

k.mdaniels said:
I wouldnt have a clue where to start with that. Would the SSPCA do anything. Im so scared that they keep comin back now

You buy humane traps. Fox sized here would be about $50.. there's places here that will give you traps to borrow, but I have no idea about whether they will do that over there. I'm guessing foxes wouldn't have babies in January? You don't want to separate any from their babies.

loppy ears · Jan 25, 2011

William said:
You buy humane traps. Fox sized here would be about $50.. there's places here that will give you traps to borrow, but I have no idea about whether they will do that over there. I'm guessing foxes wouldn't have babies in January? You don't want to separate any from their babies.

Where would she release them? Are you allowed to catch and release foxes?

Guinea pig Lady · Jan 25, 2011

loppy ears said:
Where would she release them? Are you allowed to catch and release foxes?

The only good fox is a dead one.

My farmer, who I get my hay from shoots at least 5 foxes a week at prescent. He has to do this as it's coming up to lambing season. He has someone who is trapping the "Urban foxes" and then releasing them on his land. These urban foxes don't know how to live off the land. They raid bins ect, so can't fend for themselves in the wild. They therfore are just terrifiing the sheep and nothing else. Don't forget that a fox will kill for fun. Not kill to eat.
Please don't trap and move them. Moving them is only moving the problem. You need to contact vermin contractor. If they don't deal with them contact your nearest gun shop. They will put you in touch with somone who will.

Foxes can't jump but they can climb. Sorry to be harsh, but I wouldn't love it if they got my be loved buns.

William · Jan 25, 2011

Guinea pig Lady said:
The only good fox is a dead one.

My farmer, who I get my hay from shoots at least 5 foxes a week at prescent. He has to do this as it's coming up to lambing season. He has someone who is trapping the "Urban foxes" and then releasing them on his land. These urban foxes don't know how to live off the land. They raid bins ect, so can't fend for themselves in the wild. They therfore are just terrifiing the sheep and nothing else. Don't forget that a fox will kill for fun. Not kill to eat.
Please don't trap and move them. Moving them is only moving the problem. You need to contact vermin contractor. If they don't deal with them contact your nearest gun shop. They will put you in touch with somone who will.

Foxes can't jump but they can climb. Sorry to be harsh, but I wouldn't love it if they got my be loved buns.

:shock::shock: err... no, it isn't right to kill them. They are wonderful creatures. "The only good fox is a dead fox" is an awful thing to say. They were there first, it isn't the foxes fault. They probably don't have anywhere to go. They don't know it's wrong to go in people's yards and eat the tasty animals there.

Loopy-I dunno, but maybe there's a nice woods nearby?The fox might be scared so you wouldn't want to stress it to a long journey. Maybe 30 mins tops..

k.mdaniels · Jan 25, 2011

Guinea pig Lady said:
The only good fox is a dead one.

Foxes can't jump but they can climb. Sorry to be harsh, but I wouldn't love it if they got my be loved buns.

I know what you mean. If I didnt have my rabbits then I would have been looking out the window thinking how nice but now that I have my boys and know more about evil foxes - I just dont have much sympathy for them now.........still though I couldnt actually harm them myself:roll:

rabswood · Jan 25, 2011

I disagree that the only good fox is a dead one. It's nature, it's what foxes do. We share this world with all sorts of creatures and need to remember that. Share. Everything has a right to life. Our job is to keep our buns safe.

I have foxes that come into my garden, I can't stop it really. I just make sure my buns are as secure as they can be and are all locked up and covered up at night. I actually put food and water out at the front of the house for the foxes because my house is on part of their nightly route.

Without jinxing myself I have never seen any signs of a fox even trying to get into one of my runs. So paws crossed they continue to eat their snacks at the front of the house and move on.

William · Jan 25, 2011

They aren't evil. They're doing what foxes do naturally. Why can't you enjoy them just because you have rabbits?

k.mdaniels · Jan 25, 2011

William said:
They aren't evil. They're doing what foxes do naturally. Why can't you enjoy them just because you have rabbits?

Eeeeeevilll!!!!:evil: no ok, I know its just nature but I've heard too many horror stories containing foxes and rabbits, so can nature kindly take its ass out of my back garden please!

Amethyst · Jan 25, 2011

Guinea pig Lady said:
Don't forget that a fox will kill for fun. Not kill to eat.

Sorry but this just isn't true. A fox is an opportunistic hunter, so if it finds a hutch full of bunnies or a coop full of chickens it will kill all of them. It then carries each one off to be buried, but of course it's often interrupted by human activity and it scurries off before it finishes burying its stash. So whilst its original intention would have been to store and eventually eat everything it killed, it isn't able to do so and the situation we humans come down to find is a coop full of dead chickens or a hutch full of dead rabbits. It's a terrible shame and an awful thing to have to come across but it's not as a result of the fox being evil or vindictive.

It's our job as people to build secure hutches and coops, put down deterrents, reinforce our fences and generally do everything else we can to keep our pets safe. Foxes can and will break in to any weakness in the structure if they think they can get a meal. They're simply wild creatures doing what they need to do to survive.

AMETHYST

angieb · Jan 25, 2011

ask a man (OH maybe) to urinate where you think they are coming in......
sounds silly but worked for me.

k.mdaniels · Jan 25, 2011

Silence!!!!

This thread is getting out of hand.

Any advice on keeping foxes away is what im looking for not opinions on nature of foxes.

PS........... I also think people are evil that hate bunnies

k.mdaniels · Jan 25, 2011

angieb said:
ask a man (OH maybe) to urinate where you think they are coming in......
sounds silly but worked for me.

Well I might try that............cost effective too

might leave it to the weekend or after a full bottle of peach schnapps :lol:

Wuezybun · Jan 25, 2011

My friends who have chickens have an electric fence which has worked really well. Their neighbours have lost lots of chickens but they haven't lost any.

It's a wire which runs about 5cm above the fence all around the chicken enclosure and it has a battery and solar panel to keep it charged. It wasn't cheap but it is what I would do if i had this problem.

angieb · Jan 25, 2011

k.mdaniels said:
Well I might try that............cost effective too might leave it to the weekend or after a full bottle of peach schnapps :lol:

to be honest and in my opinion i suspect as the fox's werent around your rabbits and trying to get to them i suspect that they have been many times and this is the first time youve caught them. otherwise i would pressume the rabbits would be there first port of call and not playing in your garden.
before i got rabbits we used to feed the fox's and i loved seeing them play in the garden and fend off daring cats who tried to eat there dish of food.
sometimes the cat came off better! :?
when i got the rabbits thats when i started to look up what deters them and i read male human urine works. :? it really does sound silly but we dont see them anymore. but they must be around cause we have woods behind us and even have had a deer in the garden.

parsnipbun · Jan 25, 2011

Wuezybun said:
My friends who have chickens have an electric fence which has worked really well. Their neighbours have lost lots of chickens but they haven't lost any.

It's a wire which runs about 5cm above the fence all around the chicken enclosure and it has a battery and solar panel to keep it charged. It wasn't cheap but it is what I would do if i had this problem.

It really works! And is worth every penny.

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