Foxes in garden - good or bad?

[guessmyusername]

Hi, I live in a city and while I saw a fox wandering a couple of streets away a few years ago. Twice this week early morning I have spotted one actually in my garden, or rather on my shed and then walking along the top of the fence. I don't know if we should do something to discourage it or what. There are no young children or pets in this household. Anyone have any idea?

We like watching the foxes that come into our garden. They are also supposed to deter rats. In my experience they are very shy and disappear if we go out; and were even scared off by our little dog who was about 1/3 of their size - he only had to toddle out onto the patio for a wee and they'd vanish.

A fox will dig a considerably larger hole than a hedgehog.

Badgers at a total PITA for tunnelling though - far worse than foxes or hedgehogs

Yup another Londoner here 🙋🏻‍♀️

We have a den in a park we back onto and while it is cute to see them play with their cubs in the garden they poo EVERYWHERE.

We have had poo
-on top of the garden table
-on the seat of my sons balance bike we accidentally left out
-diarrhoea sprayed on our back door
-on the door step by our front door

They also constantly wee outside both doors. We have a dog so think our garden is a war for territory with various shit campaigns going on

And we've often found bits of dead mice, rats and pigeon in our garden too

Whilst I don't want them harmed, I wish I could deter.
them from the garden

We have so many, because we have chickens, and they visit day and night. My hens are in a fox-proof enclosure so they just watch them, lazily, from the comfort of their sandbox. I don't mind them, they're just doing what foxes do, but the smell is hideous.

Don’t leave your back door open either, a friend (lives in a city) heard a bit of an odd noise one evening and looked up from watching the tv to see a fox looking round the end of her settee! I don’t know who was more startled! Thankfully her little girl was upstairs in bed.

Oh, and the chew through things. Don't ever leave a hose pipe it as you'll find small, spraying holes from teeth marks. Plus the fuckers chewed through the strings of my hammock and through the long line I have to put my dog on because they've dug under the fences.

Another Londoner here, one attacked a friend's cat, poor thing got a broken leg. BTW, fox poo is generally black, I find it on my allotment!

@Pixiedust1234 the tunnel was much bigger ( I was actually amazed by the amount and size of the stones they had managed to scrabble out of the tunnel on my neighbours side of it) than a hedgehog would have made, unfortunately I’ve only ever once seen a hedgehog in our garden and that was years ago, our neighbours have a big rough looking dog so it’s probably just as well. We discovered in which direction the tunnel ran by my hefty DH’s foot going through the turf and into the tunnel. We had to fill it in with stones and earth etc to stop the surface collapsing in when our grandchildren were playing on it.

Urban foxes are bastards, totally different to the country sort.

Now I live more rurally I hardly ever see one and when I do they are timid. In town they are so bold. As well as all the shit they nicked stuff from the garage in broad daylight, and I once got stalked by one while walking home. Sounds daft but it was quite scary, it wouldn't leave and followed me for about a mile.

Foxes absolutely are a PITA here in de London. They're not in my garden doggie keeps them at bay but they throw rubbish all over the street, shit on the doorstep, break into the milk keeper, and screech like fuck. They are not a blessing.

Oh yeah and they chew anything you leave out, shoes, hosepipes, paddling pools, football nets everything

I can’t dislike urban foxes: they’re here mainly because they’re attracted by the waste food humans don’t dispose of properly so we’ve really brought it on ourselves. Best thing you can do is make sure all your neighbours are on the same page about how you deal with food waste, always putting trash in a lidded bin, weighing down bins small enough for them to knock over and raid etc. so that they head to other places for richer pickings.

As others have said, poo stinks, wee stinks. When I lived in west London you had to put heavy weights on top of your food waste box or the contents were strewn all over the pavement on bin day. If you have dogs they can pass on sybaritic mange - and you see some really mangy ones around. They make the most God awful noise when having sex - like someone is being murdered. They dig huge holes under fences, they wreck fences climbing up them. They dig under sheds and summer houses to have their cubs. They kill cats - I know people say this isn't true but friend's cat was killed by a fox and it was really horrible. Now live in a country town and I haven't seen one since I moved, about which I am not sad.

A relative has a fox that has appeared in her garden. Raided the food waste bin. She now has to hide that. Her neighbours couldn’t be bothered and let the fox leave rubbish everywhere which could then attract rats (although assume the fox then might kill them!)

The tunnelling is what I hate, they tunnel as if they want to get under the fence, why can't they just go over.

Actually they can be dispatched by licensed guns check with your council you'll have to pay though

They are everywhere. Just be sure your rubbish is put in big bins and if you eat outside you don't leave any food around. You can't really stop them coming in - they can be very wily.
They won't do any harm other than be a bit noisy and leave the occasional poop.

Won't do any harm? Have you not read the various accounts on this very thread of the harm they do?

I live fairly rurally and while i would never do a thing to harm them. I don't want them in my garden. Their poo reeks and the smell clings, they will not only rummage through your rubbish and compost for edibles, they will bring edibles from other places and stash them at yours. They carry fleas and ticks. Its the fault of humans and the edible rubbish they leave around.

We have frequent visits from our local city foxes- I like them, though we do have outdoor rabbits (their space is very secure).

Not so keen on fox poo though as it seems to stink worse than other animals!

I've sometimes put down some of that stuff that's supposed to discourage animals from pooing in the garden (eucalyptus crystal thing) but I am not sure how effective it is.

I arrived home in the early hours one morning in London to see five trotting around and then guess who came down the street meowing as usual - my feline night wanderer bold as brass

We had them living under our plastic compost bin. We would wake up on bin day and find the food waste from the bin scattered down the road… that was always fun. We have frequent items appear in our garden they’ve stolen from other houses - a dirty nappy, shoes, dog toys. My DD and DH have both had flip flops taken ( only one obviously). I’ve had a young fox wander into my sitting room while I was sat there. I think they’re eating my cats food in the kitchen while the back door has been open this summer but I need to put up cameras to double check. My poor cat used to be regularly chased by foxes when she was a kitten but has started to turn the tables on them a bit now. Fingers crossed she doesn’t get injured.

I live in the country and I definitely don't like foxes. Whilst they are very handsome animals the carnage they leave if they get in amongst chickens has to be seen to be believed. I wouldn't mind so much if they just killed one to eat but no, they have to try to rip the throats out of the whole lot.....And their poo is positively rank. I definitely wouldn't be encouraging them

There's nothing to worry about but I certainly wouldn't do anything to encourage it.

Fox shit in your garden is horrible. And they make a horrible racket in mating season.

They are our 'wildlife' but the numerous urban foxes I see are skinny mangy looking beasts, living off discarded fast food and ripping open rubbish bags. So they don't keep down vermin.

Rural 'wild' foxes are more shy, hunt for their natural diet (and chickens if they can get them) , and when you do see them are bigger with bright coats and bushy tails.

I have foxes in my suburban garden. Three adults ( one of last year's cubs stayed) and 5 cubs born in April. I love them...despite the poo, and damage to my hose pipe and anything left outside. They seem to get on ok with my cat, and will happily walk past the dog kennel in the daytime. I often look outside to see them sunbathing during the day.