Gransnet forums

Pets

Fox

(23 Posts)
Minniemoo Sat 13-Jul-19 22:58:07

I have a family of 3 foxes who visit my garden at night. No idea where they live but I caught sight of a skinny one so decided to leave out some food. We installed a camera and sure enough the foxes were there for 3 or 4 hours a night. I was putting out dog food but we've now found out that a cat has discovered this supper and is eating it before the foxes get here. So what I'm wondering is what can I leave out for them that the cat won't eat? I tried fruit but much was left which surprised me as I thought they ate anything. Anyway, any advice would be great. And I know some consider them vermin etc etc but we have no homes with chickens nearby so I shall continue with my fox feeding. If I can only put the cat off!

DanniRae Sat 13-Jul-19 23:02:20

I can't help with food ideas but wanted to say "Well Done" for caring about the foxes smile

SalsaQueen Sat 13-Jul-19 23:28:27

Apparently, foxes like sweet things, such as jam sandwiches and cake.

We had a fox who used to come into our kitchen! I used to give her eggs, raw or hard-boiled, which she liked. She loved cheese, so I used to buy blocks of it, plus tins of luncheon meat, which she enjoyed.

crazyH Sat 13-Jul-19 23:37:47

Oh I wish I lived in the country too - I only get birds. They love the grains I give them.anyway. But I do wish I had something more exciting, like a fox or badger.

DanniRae Sun 14-Jul-19 07:51:36

crazyH - I live in South East London and get foxes in my garden. Sadly, no badgers though.

Nortsat46 Sun 14-Jul-19 08:04:22

We live in East London and frequently have fox visitors in our garden.
Several years ago they dug a bolt hole, near our cherry tree. We filled it in and found it dug out again. After this happened a couple more times, we gave in and left it.
Then when we had that area paved, we had to pave around the fox hole!
We enjoy their visits, but don't leave out special food. I think they sometimes snaffle fruit left for the birds ...

Ginny42 Sun 14-Jul-19 08:18:26

I save all odd scraps for the foxes. They had a portion of leftover mushroom Stroganoff courtesy of M&S last night. I started feeding the mother as she was so skinny when feeding her young. She put on weight fairly rapidly after that. She visited with her cubs too. The noise they make when feeding is truly dreadful though.

I look at it as they are only trying to survive and do what is natural for them. They have young to feed and deserve some help.

crazyH we have badgers in the woods and I see evidence of their nocturnal activity in the mornings, but I went out specially to watch for them one night. It was awesome to see them up close.

DanniRae Sun 14-Jul-19 09:05:48

Ginny42 - the noise they make when they are making new baby foxes is pretty awful too shock

crazyH Sun 14-Jul-19 09:15:35

I live in S Wales. Houses all around . How lovely for you Ginny and Danni and all who have nocturnal visitors. Enjoy!

Urmstongran Sun 14-Jul-19 09:23:47

Our daughter in Leeds has a fox family regularly visit their garden. She puts food out for these urban foxes!

EllanVannin Sun 14-Jul-19 09:26:01

There used to be a fox hanging around where I am as now and again I'd hear it quite close and last year it had dragged the cover from out of the stray cat's kennel half way up the garden. It probably wanted it for its own home.
I did used to have to shut the cats in during that time in case it attacked them.
They're lovely close up though.

petra Sun 14-Jul-19 09:31:28

I was fascinated the other night by 'our' fox. Earlier in the day I had given the lawn an absolute soaking.
Come the night and there she was rolling around on the soaking wet grass, really enjoying it: wonderful ?

Callistemon Sun 14-Jul-19 10:31:23

They like guinea pigs and pet rabbits if you have a handy supply of those.
They're quite adept at digging under runs and/or opening cages.

dragonfly46 Sun 14-Jul-19 10:37:31

These are foxes in my DD's garden in SE London.

shysal Sun 14-Jul-19 10:37:43

I leave out peanuts for the badgers, but they are sometimes eaten by foxes, hedgehogs, birds and deer. There is only one local cat who will eat nuts, and he only takes a few.

SynchroSwimmer Sun 14-Jul-19 10:42:04

Well done for feeding them and looking out for them from me too.

When I had visiting dogs, the foxes would also play with their toys, and they seem to love playing with old shoes.

There are some nice Facebook pages - eg in Uk The Fox Preservation Society, also pages with domesticated foxes that have been rescued and domesticated elsewhere.

Previously saw one of my cats nose to tail (in interest, not danger) with a magnificent dog fox, another cat used to go and “find” the fox cubs and lead them back here to come and play.

I used to go out just before sunset to sit quietly....had some lovely nose to nose encounters (only until the end of August, the cubs are more fearful when they get older at that point it seems.

Ellianne Sun 14-Jul-19 10:47:50

EllanVannin We used to think that the foxes would attack our cats too, but it has turned out to be the opposite. Maybe it's to do with the pecking order or the bravery of each individual cat. We have two cats and they regularly see off foxes who visit our garden. I think where food is concerned the cats have the upper hand too.

Ellianne Sun 14-Jul-19 10:50:06

Outside neighbour's house the other day.

Minniemoo Sun 14-Jul-19 12:56:42

Ooh fabulous photos! I only have grainy ones from the camera. Thanks for all the advice. I put out mealworms and nuts last night. They all went but sadly the camera must have run out of batteries and we only had one clip of the cat!! I'll see what happens tonight. Thanks for the input

Minniemoo Sun 14-Jul-19 12:57:54

Oh and thanks for the FB heads up, SyncroSwimmer. I'll get on to those.

Jane10 Sun 14-Jul-19 14:46:45

You are so lucky with the fox and badger encounters. We sometimes see a fox near us. It feels like such a privilege somehow.

grandtanteJE65 Tue 16-Jul-19 15:57:24

Could you put the food out when the foxes arrive? That way the cat won't get it first.

watermeadow Wed 17-Jul-19 19:26:23

I’d feed foxes too but none here.
Years ago in Wales a fox broke into our rabbits’ hutch on Christmas Eve and killed them. On Christmas morning our little girls unwrapped jumpers with bunnies on and cried.