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Help! fox!

Amelia

Alpha Buck
Hi

Help! Yesterday afternoon I was letting my bunnies run round the garden and was in the kitchen and looked out the back door to see what was going on only ot see a fox in the garden at 4.00pm in the afternoon. II'll say now that both bunnies are physically fine.

Obviously I shouted and screamed at the fox resulting in my OH coming running out as he thought I was being attacked! (and the next door neighbours came running out as well :oops: )

Anyway nasty Mr fox :x ran off and I grabbed the buns and took them safely into the kitchen where they spent the night getting lots of kisses and cuddles. I didn't want to put them into their shed as I didn't want the fox to come back and be sniffing round the shed and traumatise them further

I don't know how the fox got into the garden as our garden is surrounded by either a six foot+ wall, hence why I thought the rabbits would be safe.

To be honest I was more concerned with cats going after the rabbits.

The rabbits do have a run so it looks like unless I'm actually in the garden they will have to go into that. Although at the moment I am keeping them both in the house, as Tigs is still being very quiet today although Mr B is back to his usual self and can't understand why he can't go back out!

Sorry to cut a bit of a long story short, do any other people have problems with foxes? If so do they know of any deterrrant?

I have phoned the RSPCA this morning and they suggested buying this powder which will put foxes off. My main concern is that he will come back and although he won't be able to get in the pen I don't want him to scare my buns any further. :( and I am doubtful that smelly powder will put him off.

Even thought about getting a dog to protect the buns!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! :)

Amelia

PS Emma, if you're reading this please don't worry about Whiskey, she will be in a very secure pen which you can see on Sunday, looking forward to getting her very much :)
 
We used a fox untra sonic scarere, that seemed to work. But I am not sure how they effect rabbits and also you have to play with the settings to get it setup right.

If you have a secure garden then I would suguest double checking where he came in. Any dererent isn't 100% you have to have sound ones in the right direstions, relay smell ones (one I tried give gave me headaches)

Urban foxes are very daring. I never let my bunnie out for too long even in a run as I had heard of foxes get into them near me (South east London). I really cannot express how much I think its not worth the risk.

hugs
amber
 
Thanks Amber, at the moment I don't even want to put the rabbits outside at all run or not!

I think I will get some of this powder today and it's also been suggested to me to put something ontop of the wall in case he's jumping onto that! Although it is so high I would be very surprised if he could!
 
There is definatly no gape, like a gate or anything like that? The whole place is walled to 6foot? Any clues from the point at which you first saw him or the directions he moved? It just seems so weird.
 
There is a gate but have put wire on top of it, on one side there is trellis on top of the wall which is where he looked like he escaped from. But I'm sure he couldn't squeeze through it, having said that I think they are quite agile.

Going to go round the garden perimeter this afternoon and if neccessary will have to put a bigger fence up!
 
oh Dear Amelia, I am so sorry to hear you and your bunnies have encountered this Foxy problem.
Foxes can jump six foot fences, we know, it happened to us where we used to live, bang smack right in the middle of a busy and noisy housing estate in broad daylight :shock:
At least you know that the risk is there and can make plans to protect the bunnies in future.
I would be tempted to keep them as house rabbits myself and only allow them to roam in the garden with strict supervision at all times.
Unless of course you can erect a very solid run, and padlock all hutch doors and runs, foxes can learn how to undo quite complicated bolts, so you need to make rabbit hutches like Fort Knox.

I am just relieved that you have seen this Fox so you can do something about it.....and the bunnies are safe if not a little un nerved.
Foxes get more daring in the breeding season and I believe they have their cubs in the autumn, so now is a risky time as they venture ever closed to houses to get a food source.

Please let us know what you do to protect your garden as it is useful for other people too :D
 
Hello Amelia, well apart from the obvious concern, foxes are quite charismatic beasts, and unfortunately due to us eating more and more into their territory with our housing, we really are going to have to get used to seeing them about more, as our increasing builds has a knock-on effect to the fox, in decreasing their food supply.

Foxes are opportunists, so I would try to protect your garden by a high fence etc, and possibly dig a trench underneath and put mesh there to prevent them digging under, or the possibility of this.

Bolts on doors and only out in runs or garden under direct supervision.

Years ago you would never see a fox out in broad daylight, but diminishing food supplies has led them to do so.
 
It's hard as obviously I'm very cross with the fox but at the same time it's not his fault as he's only doing what comes naturally to him.

I would love to keep the bunnies as house rabbits but unfortunately our landlady has asked that we don't have the rabbits in the house, although there are in the kitchen at the moment (poor tigs is in one of the cupboards at the moment - I guess she feels safe though as it is dark!)

The shed they are kept in is padlocked and they do have a run (one of the green ones that are from pws greenline) which I can put onto concrete so the fox wouldn't be able to did under it.

Thanks for all the advice, looks like I'm going to have a busy weekend fox proofing the garden (last weekend was bunnyproofing it!) :)
 
go to your hairdressers and ask for some hair.Put it in pop socks dotted about your garden fences, wall etc.They dont like the smell of humans so it keeps them away!(it works for me!!)
 
Make sure you have proper welded mesh not chicken wire on hutches/runs and that its firmly attached. Thin plywood hutches aren't nearly as secure as thicker wood ones.

Have you thought about turning them into house bunnies?

Tam
 
It would be a good idea to dig a trench and sink weld mesh wire underground so they cant dig under your fence. But bear in mind if you just sink the wire a few feet down vertical they will dig straight under it if they really want to get in your garden.

The best way to do it is to sink the wire a few feet vertical and then have the wire going horizontal away from your fence a few feet. That way the Fox is going to hit wire as soon as it start's to dig's. It's highly unlikely a fox is going to start digging a few feet away from the fence! There not that bright! :eek:)

Fox's dont jump up high fence's they scarmble. They have got incredibly strong paws/claw's. A six foot fence wont stop them. The only way you can stop them going over a fence/wall is if you put a ledge on the top of your fence/wall so its facing away from you garden. Sort of like this \ . The Fox wll find it incrediably hard to get over it.

If the Fox does get in your garden and the Rabbit's are in the run's/hutche's. They need to be very secure. Fox'es can tear Chicken wire with there paw's, so run's and hutch front's need to be made from weld mesh with animal proof latche's/bolt's. Mkae sure you wire the bottom of your run's as they will dig.

I have been told that Dog's are a good deterent.

The only GOOD deterent for a Fox is, is to make your garden Fox proof.

When you start puttng powder's down and using Ultra Sonic system's you start disturbing other animal's.

Louise
 
Hi

Thanks very much for all the good advice, after crawling through the undergrowth I may have found where the fox has got in I think i may have found where the fox has got in, there is a small gap between one of the wooden panels and the wall so I think it may have scrabbled its way through there.

I'll be taking a trip down to Homebase this weekend to get more fox proofing materials.

I'm lucky in the fact that the wall surrounding the garden has very deep foundations which the bunnies discovered after a hard afternoon's digging so hopefully it will be highly unlikely the fox will be able to dig under there.

Thanks for the suggestion about putting a slant on the wall. Another thing I will be doing this weekend.

The run I have for them is thick wire coated in plastic which I think the fox would find very hard to get through.

I'm due to a trip to the hairdressers so will ask them to save my hair :lol:

Amelia
 
Also the hutches tha come with blocks of wood that twist as closings can easily be opened so fit proper bolts. Goodluck with the DIY!

Tamsin
 
just keep in mind the old sayings:

Sly as a Fox. They are pretty clever mammals. Ive studied them as part of the Mammal Society - Species Surveys and Population Dynamics of British Mammals.

annie :D
 
I know this sounds a bit rude, but our local inspector (who has also worked on the Fox project) told me that i should encourage my husband to go & pee in the back garden :oops: as the foxes are territorial & are better deterred by the scent of the urine of a dominant male (human or canine)!! We now have an uncastrated male dog that happily does the honours! The inspector's suggestion gave us something to laugh about though!

He too said to forget trying to fox-proof the garden as they'll get in anywhere. If you think about it, you may have a very high fence, but if a neighbour has a bin or object on the other side, then they can easily hop over anyway!
 
oh goodness the images that could conjure up :lol:

neighbour: I have a small observation to make about some activities that go on in your garden with you and your husband, now obviously it is purely up to you what you do on your own territory, and I understand that you have rabbits, but do you not think that you are taking the whole 'rabbit' thing a little too far.....? :shock:
 
Bunnyboarding said:
I know this sounds a bit rude, but our local inspector (who has also worked on the Fox project) told me that i should encourage my husband to go & pee in the back garden

Hiya! I do not think this is rude :D sounds quite reasonable when you understand a Foxes behaviour....mind you, if my husband started weeing in the shrubbery on the pretence that he was warding off those Foxes(when in reality he was too lazy to pop indoors to the Loo)...I would have a thing or two to say about this anti social behaviour :lol: :lol:

I think you would soon be fed up drinking gallons of water just so you could produce extra urine for the garden,...there HAS to be an easier anti Fox deterant than this :lol:
Like have no rabbits to encourage them into the garden in the first place for instance :shock: :shock: :lol:
 
On one side of my house I have a nature reserve and the other side is the sea. There are 3 foxy families that live on my doorstep. On night we left the conservatory doors open, my two dogs were asleep in the kitchin ajoining to the consevatory. We used to to have a massive shoe rack in the conservatory by the back door where all six of my family kept their shoes. One morning we woke up to find one of nearly every pair of shoes scattered around our back garden my nan woke up seeing foxes playing about carrying shoes around on the patio!!!My dogs didnt even wake up.
 
emilou said:
One morning we woke up to find one of nearly every pair of shoes scattered around our back garden my nan woke up seeing foxes playing about carrying shoes around on the patio!!!

aaahhh!! Bless their Souls (SOLES :?: ) :lol: :lol: :lol:
What a lovely Foxy tale, and in such a beautiful setting too.....I can just picture it now :D
 
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