Foxes in the garden

[Marmora Man]

What to do? For three years we've had a fox free garden - now, quite recently and for no apparent reason we've been invaded - they visit every night, plants are damaged, fox faeces on lawn, flower beds dug up, making a mockery of Mrs MM's gardening works.

Has anyone had similar problems? How did you solve them?

What to do?

[Tony.London Suburbs]

MM: This may be useful :

The best course of action is to remove the attraction in the first place which is likely to be food and or shelter.

Taking Action

Refuse bags which have simply been tied up and left outside in your garden are an open invitation to a fox to tear them up and rummage through them. They can scent food from a great distance. You should dispose of all your food waste in a domestic wheelie bin with the lid firmly closed and remove possible sources of other food such as compost heap scraps. If you have dogs or cats, don?t feed them outside and make sure that any food you leave out for the birds is only accessible to the birds and no other creatures.

If you suspect shelter is more the reason for their presence you might need to resort to using some kind of approved animal repellent to remove the attraction and, in a worse case scenario, you may even have to resort to using thick wire mesh securely fixed to make a protective shield around the perimeter of your garden.

[*Bob*]

For the seriously and serially irritated, there's the Scarecrow

Other than that, it's a battle of will between man and beast.

They develop behavioural patterns (digging in the same place etc): you have to try and deter them until they find an easier pattern somewhere else. So fill in holes (with rubble and stuff) under sheds and fences etc and deploy deterrents around probaly digging areas.

Lion poo pellets didn't work for us, but 'Get Off My Garden' is working so far (green jelly bits you sprinkle around lawn and flower beds, planter etc) - at least as far as keeping them away from major problem areas - doubt if we'll get shot of them altogether though.

Human urine is also recommended is you're game.

[Tony.London Suburbs]

Take the final advice of "bob" it p+sses all over mine, above....B)

[*Bob*]

You can piss in a bottle first and sprinkle if you wish.. though the 'midnight run' can be the perfect conclusion to a night 'on the pop'.. and adds a touch of derring-do to the whole shebang.

[woofmarkthedog]

I use the "Sprinkler" god gave me, yes pi**ing out there does work & it is very liberating.....

Ahhhh under a moonlit sky.....

W**F

[????]

Now where is that bring back hunting thread....

[bigbadwolf]

http://johnafacade.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/beartrap.gif

Jobsagoodun.

[Eliza.D]

Buy this stuff from the Dulwich Garen Centre. Can't remember he name but it's a pungent scented liquid. You put it on rags around the garden and the foxes will leave.

[????]

makes your garden unuseable though

[Eliza.D]

Only for a couple of days, the scent then fades but the foxes won't return. They'll go to some other poor souls garden.

[matthew123]

You may also consider the no-nonsense Nunhead approach

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?20,296212,296249#msg-296249

[siousxiesue]

http://www.nfws.org.uk/

Try these people, helpful in the past

[Chick]

Buy your self an audio oscillator, a twenty watt amplifier and a pair of high frequency tweeters. Set the oscillator to 22khz and feed this to the input of the amplifier. Fit the tweeters in your garden and run cables back to your amplifier and connect up. Run the amp at full power, you won?t be able to hear it but the foxes will, as will cats and dogs all of which should stay away from your garden. You can get this lot at Maplins in Forest Hill. Or you can buy dedicated ultrasound generators.

[Marmora Man]

Thanks for all suggestions. Have done the male urine thing today and set up an ultrasonic noise maker. Have also located some rubble (thanks Chris) to block the apparent routes in / out of the garden.

Considering setting the alarm for 4.00am to see what's what in the garden tonight.

[daizie]

i get fox's in my garden. Some times more than others. They bring over rubbish from bins and their faeces are'nt very nice, especially as my dog loves to roll in it ! I saw two baby ones playing together and trying to bounce on the trampoline at 4am , incredibly sweet, .

[AuraCaught]

My barber, Sean from Barry Road Barbers (excellent barbers BTW), says that a lady calls at his shop every now and then and takes the hair sweepings from the floor. She puts them in old tights and attaches them to various places in her garden. She swears that this keeps her garden fox free!

NB Apparently it has to be male hair cuttings not female.... don't ask me why tho...