Baby Foxes!

pinksalamander · #1 (**permalink**) 12-04-2006, 06:38 PM

Hi, my name is Fran and i'm 15. I need to ask a question about some baby foxes...

A few days ago at about midday my Mum noticed a fox in our back garden. We live in the suburbs 3 mins from the town centre in Kent so it was a bit of a suprise (we have foxes around here but never in broad daylight!) She came right down to the steps that lead to our terrace area and stared at us and the cat for about a minute before going back up the garden and behind the shed.

Our backgarden backs onto someone elses back garden which is very overgrown. I know it has a pond because a number of frogs seem to find their way into our garden. Because of our rather poor excuse for a hedge lots of animals seem to find their way into our messy little garden.

Yestarday i was standing in the kitchen when i saw a bushy fox tail disappear behind the wall of our house (where i couldn't see her) and then walk back round to the end of the garden. I have never seen her at night.

And today i was going through the backdoor when i noticed her again! She was standing looking at me so i slowly got my digital camera out of my bag and tried to take a few photos. I didn't want to scare her but i slowly walked up the garden a little bit and took another picture. She then ran off behind the hedge again.

It was then i noticed some movement over under a bush by the shed. I had a clsoer look and discovered loads of baby foxes! I was at quite a distance and didn't want to go any further. The foxes where still pretty small with eyes open and they were wandering around and leaping over eachother. I tried to take a picture but only their eyes showed up.

I was just wondering a) will my shortly arriving rabbit be OK in a garden where these foxes are? and b) is there any food or titbits i could leave out on the lawn for mama and babies?

Thanks for reading this long post!

(Here are the pictures i took)

Mama Fox -

Babies (you can see their eyes glowing) -

Alan · #2 (**permalink**) 12-04-2006, 06:51 PM

First of all Fran, a very warm welcome to Wild About Britain (WAB).

As long as you keep your rabbit cage up off the ground - say at least 1 metre, and make sure the cage is secure with no gaps, and keep a lock on it, the rabbit should be ok.

If you want to give the foxes a little treat, try dog biscuits, peanuts or sultanas.

Your very lucky having the foxes, so try to look after them. Also they'll get on fine with your cat, in fact the cat could do more harm to them if it wanted to.

Hope to hear more from you and your foxes!

Wild-Woman · #3 (**permalink**) 12-04-2006, 07:05 PM

Hello and welcome Pinksalamander. Great pictures of your foxes. They are beautiful creatures.
I have three rabbits that go out during the day-they are in a shed at night. My advice to you would be to have extremely secure runs for them with a close gauge chicken wire doubled up for their security. Also consider digging the wire into the ground around the cage because foxes are incredible diggers.Keep the run the house end of the garden where the foxes are less likely to venture close to. Make sure the rabbits have a little housing compartment too. This will give them somewhere to bolt into should a fox scare them.
I hope you enjoy the boards and your rabbits. Just be vigilant.

PS Make sure your hutch is very secure too. Regards Wild-Woman

Jonny · #4 (**permalink**) 12-04-2006, 07:49 PM

Hello Fran and welcome here. I wouldn't be at all surprised if those foxes are living under your shed. I do lots of work in peoples gardens and know of foxes living under my customers sheds, in at least 2 gardens I have worked in, in the last couple of years and one of those was in a very built up area in crawley.
If you put out food for them on a regular basis, you will be able to get them very close to your house and be able to get some close up shots of them.................Jon

Words · #5 (**permalink**) 12-04-2006, 07:50 PM

That's fantastic to have the cubs in the garden. Lovely photos. You'll see lots more of the cubs as they get bigger, I'm sure. They quite often come out during the day.

As the others have said, you'll need to make sure your rabbits are secure, but I'm sure you will.

glsammy · #6 (**permalink**) 12-04-2006, 08:19 PM

Hi Fran and Welcome.
Your very lucky, make sure you make the most of the experience. Try leaving the treats at a regular time and you should be amply rewarded with loads of brilliant sights! I'm very jealous!