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How to Control Garden Foxes and Keep Your Garden Safe
Gardens are a widely tormented place by the infamous garden foxes. These foxes are a common animal and can be seen in the roads and streets of Europe. The foxes are cunning and humble and harm the gardens and plant nurseries. They are the also found in other continents like Africa, Asia, and America. These foxes have a benefit as they prevent rabbits and other rodents from harming your gardens but in return, they also damage your garden. They are wild animals are can be dangerous from time to time so these Red Foxes (Vulpes Vulpes) shouldn’t be taken lightly. They are lured into your garden due to the rodents that may reside in your gardening areas. These Garden Foxes are harmful to your gardens as they dig holes in the garden. They also bring about a pungent smell in the garden vicinity as well as often ransack the trash and spread the dust and garbage all over the garden.
1. What are the garden foxes?
The red foxes have a long body, and their limbs are shorter in proportion to the body. They have a pretty long tail, and it touches the ground when the fox is standing. Their tails are furry, and their eyes have pupils who are oval and are vertically oriented. They are the largest of the Vulpes genes of the foxes. They are docile animals but are from the wild in the end, so they should be handled carefully. The Garden Foxes have five claws in their forelimbs and only four of them in the hind limbs. They have small heads and have an elongated skull with a small brain space. These foxes are however quite intelligent. They grow up to about 90cm and has an average height of 50cms.
These are docile wild animals, also known as Red Fox (Vulpes Vulpes). They are not too harmful to the human beings but are a pest in the gardening. They are usually not aggressive, but when cornered or threatened they can attack as they have the aura of being a wild animal. They shouldn’t be treated like a domesticated animal. They help in keeping the rodents from harming your garden by killing those preys. However, they do more harm to your garden than good. They bring a disgusting smell in the garden and also scatter the garbage from the bins all over the garden or lawn areas. They dig up the flower beds and stay in them most often. This harms the flower plants as their roots are soft and can be damaged easily. They also trample up the plants in your garden. These result in the plants dying and your garden being destroyed gradually. The Garden Foxes often also dig up holes in the lawn to stay in them. They may even have cubs in those dug up holes in the garden. They also chew up or destroy fruits and flowers from the garden which may be intolerable by many people. The fencings or the wire meshes in the garden are often mutilated when these foxes infest your garden. They need a place to enter your garden, and hence they make their own. The red foxes have another reason to dig up holes in the garden. They can smell prey underground like beetles, rats or other rodents. They also mar your garden by dropping all over the garden and make the whole place disgusting and repulsive. There are a lot of problems and ways that the Garden Foxes can harm your garden.
They enter your garden through the various fencing that is put around the gardens. They mutilate the fencing or the wires and enter the garden vicinity. They can also harm the hose pipes and the other various gardening equipment. They can make a well maintained and proper garden look dirty and brings a bad smell. These foxes can chew up and bite off your shoes or any toys in or around the proximity to the garden. These foxes have a habit of killing small pets like chickens or pet rabbits. These animals should be kept safe from the red foxes. They can also be attracted to the garden by the leftover food in the trash or even by pet food left behind around the gardens.
2. The red fox features and behavior
These foxes are docile animals and are quite scared of big predators. They also try and avoid contact with the human. They have a very good sense of smell and can track their prey or food aroma from quite a distance. These foxes like serene, quiet, secure and dark environment. They come out for their prey during the night time. They also have a sharp vision during the night and also prey on the rats and rodents that live in the garden. At night they rummage through the garden and mutilate the garden and the plants in it. The puppies, however, are playful and you can see them quite often playing out in the daylight.
3. Factors in the garden that attract the red foxes
There are a number of things in the garden that act as an affinity factor to the garden foxes. Some of these are mentioned below:
- Water source – like any other animals the Garden Foxes also require a water source to thrive in your garden. Without water like other animals, even these animals can’t survive. Sources like a fountain, pond or swimming pool is apt for their presence in your garden.
- Feed other wildlife – if you have a knack to feed other wild animals that may visit your gardens, like multiple birds, hedgehogs, or others, you have chances for the visits of Garden Foxes sooner or later.
- Pet Feeding – if you feed your cat or dog outside, their food smell or the leftovers will attract the hungry wild foxes into your garden to fill their stomach. This is a common reason why the red foxes are attracted to gardens.
- Small Animals – the red foxes tend to kill and eat small pet animals like birds, hens, domesticated rabbits and other such animals as their prey. If you have such animals that are your pets or are domesticated by you, firstly you should keep the animals safe and keep them protected from these cunningly vicious animals. The foxes harm not only the animals but gradually expand their activities in your garden and destroy the whole garden bit by bit.
- Overgrown garden – if your garden is a mess and isn’t maintained properly then there are chances that these foxes will appear. They get shed in the overgrown plants and trees. This also gives them a replicated feel of the wild where they belong.
- Freshly dug up soil – these foxes dig the garden soil for worms or beetles as their snack. However the cubs dig up the earth for the sake of practice and with a loose freshly dug up soil, it becomes more comfortable for the cubs to learn how to dig.
- Natural Fertilizers – there are some fertilizers which are made of fish or marine fossils and are helpful for the plants. The foxes, however, are attracted to the smell of these marine bones and their aroma. The foxes consider it to be food and are attracted to the garden.
- Equipment, shoes or toys – the gardening equipment, children toy or shoes if left outside for a while the pups get attracted to them. As a result, their parents follow them and get into your garden.
4. Signs of foxes in your garden
The foxes have their ways to hide in your garden and may not be visible to you all the time. However, some symptoms can indicate that the Garden Foxes have infested your garden. These symptoms are as follows:
- Smell – they have a pungent odor which is often even musky. The scent is similar to a pet dog that has been dirty and isn’t washed for a long time. The foxes have a similar smell but a more significant version of the smell.
- Droppings – you can notice the droppings of the foxes in and around the garden. It is a disgusting sight and also has a bad smell. These droppings indicate that the foxes are in your garden compound.
- Trampled Plants – the foxes often destroy your plants while walking or by their cubs tearing off the plants. These soft small plants can be crushed and killed by walking over it by these long foxes.
- Holes and Dug up Soil – these foxes dig holes in the garden soil to search for beetles and worms as a nutritious snack. The cubs also dig up the soil as they practice digging holes in the garden. They learn from the elders and practice the digging well. Hence your garden is most likely to have a number of dug up holes if the Garden Foxes are present in the garden.
- Chewed toys or equipment – the cubs of these red foxes are young, and they have a certain itch in their teeth when they are growing up. They usually bite of the barks of the trees when in the wild. In your garden, they find the toys and shoes quite attractive and chew them up.
- Mutilated or half-eaten Fruits – the Garden Foxes often eat up the fruits from the plants in your gardens. They may chew on the fruits and mar the fruit. If you notice half-eaten fruits in the garden, it is most likely done by the garden foxes.
- Damaged Fencing – these foxes are attracted to your garden and need a way to come in and out of their makeshift shelter. They usually damage the fencing or the boundary of the garden and make way for their passage.
- Ransacked Trash – the Garden Foxes have the tendency to scour the trash cans in your garden in search of food. As a result, they drop the garbage all over your garden and litter the vicinity.
- Freshly Ploughed Look – these are the result of the heavy digging habits of the red foxes in search of the food underground. They smell any insects or rodents, and they dig up the soil to have the prey. The cubs dig the soil for practice purposes. As a result of all these, your garden may look ploughed freshly when the garden hasn’t even been ploughed at all.
These are the various reasons that indicate an infestation of Garden Foxes in the garden. They are harmful to your family, the equipment and other material in the garden and also harm the plant life in the process of survival. When you get the belief that the garden has foxes and they are disrupting your garden, you should know that it is time to take some necessary steps.
5. Few ways how to deter foxes from your garden (natural ways)
There are specific ways in which these Garden Foxes can be prevented or repelled from the garden. There are a number of chemical ways. However, to know how to deter foxes from your garden (natural ways) are much more effective. Here are a few natural ways to deter the Garden Foxes from your garden:
- Inhospitable for the Foxes – you can’t make any minor changes that will reduce the infestation of the foxes in your garden. The garden needs some significant structural change. It needs to be completely rid of all the inhibiting factors for the foxes. You should cut off the overgrown plants and also get rid of the trashes, wood piles and wastes that can attract the foxes in your garden.
- Remove Water Supply – get rid of any forms of standing water supplies like ponds, pools or any other such types. Without water, the foxes can inhabit the place. Also get rid of any water stored in buckets or tires, etc. These may not seem to you as useful, but it can be the source of water for the foxes.
- Remove food from the gardens – no food material should be in the garden as it may attract the foxes. You should stop feeding the pets in the garden area as well as it will bring in the foxes. In case there is any leftover pet food, it should be taken inside or disposed of immediately and not kept out in the garden to be done later. The food or waste products of food from the kitchen shouldn’t be dumped in the garden area. Foxes will come and consume them and inhibit the garden.
- Fertilizer or Compost – for the healthy growth of your garden plants sometimes it is helpful to mix food materials like egg or dairy. However, it should be avoided as this food aroma can attract the Garden Foxes to your place and they can destroy the garden that you value so preciously.
- Scare factor – these foxes are fond of darkness, solitude, quiet environment and secured location to stay. Take them away from the foxes, and it will become difficult for them to thrive. Get lights for your garden and light them up during the night times. You can also get equipment like motion sensing alarms.
- Block them out – get a stronger and better quality fencing which can’t be broken easily by the foxes and will keep them out. A hard wire fencing will do the work for you. If the Garden Foxes don’t get the place for entry into your garden, then the entire headache can be avoided. Also, make sure that the fences are high enough to prevent them from jumping into the property.
- Scarecrow – the traditional method of scaring away crows with the help of a scarecrow also works well with these Garden Foxes. They will not enter the garden if they think that there is any human in the vicinity. They get scared away. As a result, a scarecrow is a good option for deterring the red foxes.
- Guard Animal – having a guard animal like a guard dog can be very helpful to keep the foxes at bay. Dog breeds like the Rottweiler, German shepherd and Doberman can be good guard dogs and keep them in the vicinity will keep the foxes away. These dogs can handle a small sized bear so the foxes will definitely not be a problem.
- Predator Urine – these are urine from coyote, bears and other predators that these red foxes are scared of. This predator urine is available online and can be put around in a few places to make them feel that they are in danger in that place where a predator is living. With this thought, these Garden Foxes don’t stick around the garden for a long time.
- Traps – it is one of the most common ways to get rid of the foxes, but it can harm the fox in the process. These traps can be homemade or bought from the market. Make sure that the traps are of the X-large size as it will be required to catch these long garden pests.
These Garden Foxes though are docile and quiet animals can be harmful to your garden as well as your family. They cause allot of torment in the garden, they mar and mutilate moist a lot of plants in the garden and destroy the soil structure by digging holes in the garden. It is better to get rid of these red foxes and keep your garden safe.
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