Attracting foxes

[phil2]

how can i attract foxes to ym garden,i have like a 6 foot fence so i doubt they will get here,i have a substation behind so they could be there,id love to leave stuff out and have foxes visit,were not far from local woods too were there is also foxes.

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by phil2

how can i attract foxes to ym garden,i have like a 6 foot fence so i doubt they will get here,i have a substation behind so they could be there,id love to leave stuff out and have foxes visit,were not far from local woods too were there is also foxes.

Foxes are agile enough to scale a six foot fence. How do I know? I've seen the ones that visit our garden, do just that.

[phil2]

ok so what stuff do i put out etc,water and what food.how long wil it take for them to say find it.

[Kymba]

I use to put out cheap dog food for my foxes and a bowl of water every evening, now and again i would give them left over scraps of meat from our meals and Barbi's in the summer. Once they knew it was there they started to visit during the day as well, so i would put food out then to. Eventually ( within few weeks) felt so safe they started using my garden to have a doze in and even brought the cubs to who use to play happily for several hours (with short naps). This is when we lived in a flat in the middle of a large housing estate near croydon. (they would normally leave when neighbours kids got home from school).

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by phil2

ok so what stuff do i put out etc,water and what food.how long wil it take for them to say find it.

My biggest worry here is that I think it may not be a good idea to attract foxes to your garden in the first place. My reasons are these. Neighbours who dislike their presence. Putting food down will attract them but it's not natural and may lead to them relying on your generosity. If you have an urban garden, the foxes risk their lives crossing roads to get to a regular eatery. As much as I love foxes, and I do,they could potentially become a nuisance leading to the unpleasantness of the council removing the population of them, if complaints come in.
It may be ok if your garden has access to open land, but even then I think I'd leave them to their own devices. I hope you don't think I'm being a party pooper here and I do understand you wanting to see them close up but I'm thinking of the foxes wellfare over our desire to attract them into potentially dangerous 'human space'.

Jules

[Garden Carpet]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

My biggest worry here is that I think it may not be a good idea to attract foxes to your garden in the first place. My reasons are these. Neighbours who dislike their presence. Putting food down will attract them but it's not natural and may lead to them relying on your generosity. If you have an urban garden, the foxes risk their lives crossing roads to get to a regular eatery. As much as I love foxes, and I do,they could potentially become a nuisance leading to the unpleasantness of the council removing the population of them, if complaints come in.
It may be ok if your garden has access to open land, but even then I think I'd leave them to their own devices. I hope you don't think I'm being a party pooper here and I do understand you wanting to see them close up but I'm thinking of the foxes wellfare over our desire to attract them into potentially dangerous 'human space'.

Jules

Unfortunate though it is, Jules is right.. we do ourselves and these gorgeous animals no favours by feeding them. What happens if you were to move.. the new people might be terrified by them (silly but possible). I would dearly love to see a fox, I have never had more than a distant,fleeting glimps. I love the pictures Word has in the Gallery. In particular the one where he is leaning forward to chat with the little fox, but still think we should give a great deal of thought to why we want to feed them. Is it for their benefit... or for ours?

I actualy feel this way a little about feeding wild birds too. Jaki.

[Kayleigh]

I actualy feel this way a little about feeding wild birds too. Jaki.

I don,t think its the same as feeding wild birds. If we didnt feed the birds in winter alot of them would perish.

[Words]

It's a dilemma.

In my case the foxes found me (their primary earth is in a neighbouring garden and has been for many years more than I've lived here). They frequent all the local gardens and are generally tolerated. As for feeding, I leave out a few sultanas and an occasional dog biscuit to attract them for photography and check movement. The exceptions are if we spot a fox needing mange treatment. That one gets fed over a regular period, with a dosed feed once a week. And in the cubbing season we may be a little more generous given the general feeding pressures, but never at a level of creating dependence. If I do give dog food it's about a fifth of a standard tin, with a teaspoon of cod liver oil. No fox ever gets fed on a daily basis (apart from any sultanas they scavenge), and they are all somewhat irregular come autumn. Of at least 10 foxes that have been around over the past year (7 were cubs), only two are 'familiar' with me (both males).

You do need to be aware of neighbours, especially if foxes haven't previously visited. You also need to be aware of what else you might be feeding: mice, rats, cats (they ignore sultanas but take the dog biscuits), birds (they go for sultanas not picked up over night). I never leave dog food out unless I'm treating one, and then I keep a careful watch (or if it's our old faithful, he'll wait while we get the food, get treated and then disappear for weeks).

So my advice would be small amounts of food (a handful of sultanas/ a couple of dog biscuits) placed in a regular spot and see what happens. If they do find their way to you (fences aren't a big problem... just as likely to dig under as go over) then they'll add you to their regular territory as they pass through.

[aeshna5]

I remember a few years back seeing a leaflet by the Wildlife Trusts on Foxes in gardens + their advice was not to feed them in gardens.

I love watching them + they are regular visitors passing through my garden. As others have pointed out, not everybody appreciates them + by encouraging them they will also spend more time in their gardens as well.

Many people dislike them for a variety of reasons including noise at night-particularly mating time, digging up holes + flattening plants (mainly a problem with playful cubs), danger to their pets/poultry, fouling, ripping open rubbish bags, etc.

If you have a good wildlife garden they will visit anyway if they are in your vicinity- fruit trees/ brambles- they enjoy windfall, a pond where they can drink + maybe catch a frog, a lawn where they may hoover up earthworms, long rass where they may find rodents, etc.

Hope you don't find these responses discouraging, but Foxes are successful + adaptable animals that don't really need extra feeding + you'll probably not doing them any favours if you do.

[nightshade]

I do get infrequent visits from foxes they actually trot along the tops
of fences right up through neighbours back gardens,I have pulled one
out of the pond before now!
We also have had occasional visits from badgers but they tend to get
killed on the roads(I am in the middle of two main roads)