Foxes in suburbia

[LMH]

Just wondered what people thought about foxes visiting gardens.

I looked out the window this morning and saw the most gorgeous fox in the garden. We have a family living on the land to the rear of our property.

I don't have a problem with them visiting, apparently, mange is rife in the fox population at the moment. Very sad as its a terrible condition.

Lisa

 

[Soozeeg]

We have foxes and badgers in our garden (we live in the country, in a very rural area) and I think they're gorgeous, I love seeing them. Needless to say, the farmers hate them. The badgers do dig up our lawn and make a bit of a mess, but I don't mind, I still think it's wonderful having them here, having lived in suburban areas on the edges of towns most of my life up till now.
We also had sparrowhawks nesting in a tree at the bottom of our garden this year, which was fabulous. Again, local people don't much like them because they kill other small birds and mammals. My view is that they're not going to eat the entire small bird population, and nature has a way of balancing things out.

 

[LMH]

Hi Sooze

We had a sparrowhawk sitting on the fence this morning. It killed two blue tits the other week. I know its nature but hey ho.

The fox was absolutely gorgeous. I do like foxes. You're lucky to get badgers in your garden. I also love badgers too but glad we don't get any in the garden because a confrontation could end quite badly.

They've forecast snow tonight so I better make sure all the bird feeders are stocked up.

Lisa

 

[Dustydog]

We live on the edge of the Thames path in the country. Foxes are very common. I've never noticed any damage caused by them.
Fox mange unfortunately is prevalent as a result of which we have to use Advocate rather than Fronttline.
Advocate does everything Frontline does but also includes Foxmange and worming. However it does not stop Ticks so we have to do other things for them.
The fireld at the back is riddled with moles. They are tiny creatures but their mounds are massive. There is also a Heronary so we have to keep the fish pond netted.

 

[LMH]

Hi Dusty

I've just been reading its rare for mange from foxes to be caught by dogs. I need to frontline my little dog because he's allergic to ticks and fleas.

We've had to heron proof our pond too.

Taken from the fox website:

Will my dog catch mange from foxes?

The parasite causing sarcoptic mange in foxes, Sarcoptes scabiei, is a mite that can infect both foxes and domestic dogs. The disease can be fatal in foxes but can be easily treated in dogs (contact your veterinarian for advice on this).
However, the chances for dogs to catch mange from foxes are pretty slim. In Bristol, only when fox density was very high (one the highest ever recorded in the world, i.e. 37 adults/km2) was mange transmitted from foxes to dogs. Since then, fox density has decreased but it is still higher than in rural areas and comparable to other wild animal densities in cities. At this lower, more usual, fox density the number of cases of mange in dogs has fallen to negligible levels.

Lisa

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

I was watching a squirrel on my bird feeding station this morning and she tried the lot, seeds, suet and grated peanut. Despite her hanging and chewing away it didn't stop the blue, great or coal tits from using the feeders. While the squirrel was chomping away the larger male just sat in the tree above watching.
For the last few years ourselves and neighbours have been digging up walnuts what the squirrels have buried but none of us know where the nearest walnut tree is. I have a hazel nut tree in the front garden and although I've never spotted them their teeth mark are left in the empty kernels on the ground. I know a lot of people don't like squirrels and they are classed as vermin but they do look pretty this time of year with their winter coats on and I'd prefer them to our last years visitors, rats.
I managed to catch five although I'm sure the one dead under my neighbours shed was because of the poison I'd put down. I realise that putting feeders out for the birds don't help regarding rats but I can't see the birds go without. The two dogs we have, miniature schnauzers, were bred in Germany for ratting but apart from letting me know when they are around they haven't managed to catch any.

 

[OmOnWeelz]

We live in a viillage and the Fox population is quite fun to watch, but they do cause havoc turning over wheelie bins and spreading the contents around the gardens and road. And they were partial to our birds. In the pub a local farmer told us that the Men of the house should urinate around the boundaries or around hen house and runs or the wheelie bin area and they will stay away.
It does work

but I'm not sure if Men peeing in the gardens of suburban homes would go down well with close neighbours if Foxes become a problem.. Just now and again does it, the foxes learn of the scents and go elsewhere.

Chris

 

[Soozeeg]

I now have this vision in my mind of my husband wandering around the garden weeing in random places *doesn't know whether to shudder or laugh*

Small boys and walls comes to mind, snigger snigger.

As an aside, my grandad (who was a gardener for a living) used to wee in a bucket in his shed and use it on his compost heap, or even to water some of his veg

 

[LMH]

If your dog is licking its paws, urinate in a bucket and dip the dogs feet in it. Better than any cremes. (Not that I have tried it, but that's what a gundog owner told me).

Lisa

 

[extrucker1]

hi, we have a fox at the bottom of our garden. it use to sunbathe with the cats in the summer. what i dont like, is the heron that keeps eating my fish. ray

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Lisa
Thanks for all the info, very interesting. What has happened in our neck of the woods, I think, is that there are a lot more older foxes that have survived since Fox hunting was abolished. I have no views on this subject .

The result has been a higher incidence of fox mange which some dogs have caught. Our vet said the Advocate and Advotix work just as well as Frontline and the cost was the same so I never really bothered to press him on the matter. He sells both.
I am relieved to learn from you that fox mange in a dog can be cured easily so that is a good thing.

There's a fox den just across the river and they watch me very closely with "big grins" on their faces! You can't catch me ha ha

Last winter in the snow we saw a number of rabbit footprints followed by Basil Brush. He didn't go hungry

 

[emmerson]

Hi Lisa. A little tale about foxes.
In a past life, I used to be a delivery driver for the couriers with the red vans, in rural Herefordshire. Driving down a long farm drive early one spring morning, I spotted a large ginger cat pacing me, but on the other side of the hedge. He swerved through the hedge in front of me,and I realised that it was a dog fox. He raced off across the field to the edge of the wood about 300yards away, where a vixen came out to meet him. I stopped the van to watch, and they played and frolicked for about ten minutes, totally oblivious to my presence. It realy was good to watch in the warm spring sunshine.However, I had to go, and as I restarted the van, the pair of lovers ran off into the wood. When I arrived in the farmyard, the farmer said he'd been watching me watching the foxes. " Wasn't it a pretty sight?" says I. " Aye," says he, "now I know where the b*ggers are, I'll go and shoot them"!

 

[ShadySadie]

We've had Fox's in the fields behind our house for years and most years my cats play with young Fox cubs in our gardens. A few times the adults try and see the cats off and soon find out that cat's rule. The Fox cubs and the cats stalk and posture but never actually seem to have direct contact but it is very funny to watch the behaviour of two different animals.

 

[HerinDoors]

Hi I live in a city, so dont have contact with foxes. When on holiday this year on the Gower, we had a late BBQ on the beach with our kids. It was very dark, and when I saw something move just beyond the light of the BBQ fire, I thought I had had one glass of wine too many!!! A torch was pointed at the shape, and a lovely fox was looking at us from about ten feet away. The kids were thrilled, and we proceded to throw some food towards it. The fox loved the sausages and burgers thrown in its direction, and proceded to circle around us for about twenty min, allowing me to get a few good photos. My younger daughter went back to school with a photo, and a lovely story to tell her friends about the fox who came to our beach BBQ.

 

[ValA.]

We live right on the edge of the countryside, backing on to fields, and very rarely see foxes or badgers - but we do see deer sometimes in the field at the back. However, my eldest son lives in North London (built up area of Victorian housing), and you're almost guaranteed to see fox(es) on your 500m walk to his local shop, or in his back garden! His cat now sits and watches them through the cat flap and they don't seem to bother the cat, there must be easier prey to be had!