URGENT - foxes and minding

[Helen Dempster]

He everyone - I know alot of you have had experience of foxes so thought I'd ask advice.

Last night we had a huge fox in our garden, scared the life out of me! Anyway, it didn't seem scared at all and was after our chickens. This morning (about 5 mins ago) it was back, brazen as anything, came right up to our patio door (thankfully it was closed!), then proceeded to do a poo in the garden and ran off.

I need to know if there are any tried and tested ways to get rid of these animals?? I obviously won't be using the garden today and I'm not going to have the patio door open just in case it comes in (it really doesn't seem to care or scare!!)

We think it's getting in via next door neighbour as they have a hole in their fence. Obviously we will speak to them about fixing it and maybe that would stop it coming in, I don't know?

Please help!!!!!!

[Pipsqueak]

sorry no advice to give -

perhaps you could speak to your local Environmental Health or the RSPCA or similar for advice?

[Pipsqueak]

Not least it will alert the council to a potential problem

[christine e]

Someone on the forum once mentioned stuffing human hair in old tights and putting around the edge of the garden - worth a try

Cx

[anthea jane]

We had a problem with foxes, we put down a product that contained lion poo!!! There are lots of child friendly products you can use though

http://www.garden4less.co.uk/rabbit-and-wild-animal-repellent-50g.asp this is good

Since we have got our dog we haven't had to use anything though!! lol
Fixing the hole won't stop them, I have seen foxes clear a 8ft fence easily!!!!

Hope you get it sorted,

Anthea

[Ripeberry]

Can you block off the hole for now? Urban foxes are scary! I live in the countryside and we hardly ever see foxes, they all seem to be in the cities now.

[AliceK]

We have foxes come into our garden too but I've only seen / heard them at night thank goodness. I don't think I'd like one in my garden during the day :eek: . Just to agree with what Anthea Jane said though about the hole, foxes can easily jump over fences so they certainly don't need a hole to be able to get in. I'm not sure how you can stop them. Try googling it and see what is said. There must be some way of putting them off. Good luck, must be quite scary.

xxxx

[~Grasshopper~]

I can confirm foxes can climb very high fences, sadly when i was pregnant with ds1 i forgot that id let my rabbit out for a run and a fox got her, it was only a tiny fox and it cleared my 6ft fence with my fat rabbit in its mouth.

xx

[snufflepuff]

We get foxes too- never seen them, just their poo! The only way they could get in to our garden is to jump a 6 ft fence, so they don't need holes! I have heard that using human hair is good- MIL is a hairdresser and says she quite often has people come in and ask her to fill a bag with the hair cuttings.

[lulubelle]

we get foxes too, one got our rabbit-she was in her fun and the fox managed to get under it kill her and leave her there!

[Tealady]

we get foxes too, one got our rabbit-she was in her fun and the fox managed to get under it kill her and leave her there!

I was going to say they will dig to get under things as well. We had gaps appearing under our fence and thought it might be badgers. Then we had poo on our lawn that looked like a dog had done it. I saw on "The Green Balloon Club" that if you want to know if you have foxes coming into your garden leave a whole egg out. They are the only creatures in the UK that will eat a whole egg, shell and all so if the next morning it has disappeared, you know you have a fox.
So we left out a couple of eggs and they were taken

[mummyMia]

I agree, foxes can jump over high walls. I see them doing it all the time. They can also jump onto flat roofed sheds and sometimes sleep up there. They got two of my guinea pigs a few years ago:(

I am really careful and keep my back door closed at all times when I am not in the back garden to stop them from coming inside. I also always check the garden before letting my children out because they sometimes curl up and sleep in the hedges. I don't really believe that they would attack a child while an adult is present but I would never leave a child in the garden alone. I have added a bit about foxes to my risk assessment.

[jane5]

I have seen a big male in my garden and it just watched us watching him through the window.

I have never seen a fox in the garden whilst we have been out there but I would never let a lo sleep out there alone.