To think that someone was trying to break in?

[WobbleHead]

Neighbours didn’t see anything and DH thinks it was ‘a fox or something’.

Somehow our hose got dragged out of a garden cupboard between yesterday evening and this evening and I don’t know whether this means someone was in our garden.

Apologies for slightly barmy post but we’ve not long moved in and before we replaced the back door there was evidence that people had tried to break in before so I’m feeling worried and paranoid.

I’ll explain the particulars then you can tell me I’m bonkers and put my mind at rest.

Diagram included.
1 = back door of house - sliding doors
2 = garden gate opening on to side road, but we’ve never been able to open it because the bolt is rusted shut and it’s still rusted shut tonight
3 = side road
4 = steps from rear terrace to patio
5 = rear terrace
6 = garden cupboard under terrace, with hose bits dragged out

We don’t have holes in the fence so I’m not sure how a fox would get in to the garden, and why would it try and grab a hose? It’s not like it smells like food or we have food/rubbish in the garden cupboard. Also the hose is heavy - could a fox drag it? It’s one of those hoses on a reel.

Cupboard has a hole cut in the door to let small creatures / air out & in and some of the hose was pulled through the hole.

The fence is rotten and knackered so if someone tried to climb it it probably would have broken.

Are hosepipes ever used as tools for breaking and entering? Was someone seeing if we had a lawnmower they could pinch out of our garden store? Did they levitate in??? Do I have garden ghosts?!?

Young fox?
Once I found our hose (that I’d left out) shredded across the grass and The Fox had also had a go at our Rotary washing line - I presume it got tangled up in the wires and had chewed the wires to escape?

Or a cat? They’re very agile and could easily scale the fence.

Foxes can jump onto high fences like cats. They are amazing agile. I live by an open field and the foxes hop up on everything. They also open up the door of the children's playhouse and go and rummage inside.

They've not gone for our hose but they do like rubber things like shoes and wellie boots.

It obviously doesn't rule out someone being in your garden but it is something a fox would be capable of.

I don’t understand what a burglar would see in your hospice? I’d say ‘weird’ - but almost certainly an animal

The only way someone could get in is to jump over the perimeter fence all around the garden ( I presume the other sides of the garden have some sort of boundaries). These people can jump from garden to garden. They’re more likely to jump over a sturdier fence to avoid noise n case the fence/trellis breaks.
Unless someone was hoping to find tools behind the hose, it’s an odd thing to do.
I don’t think foxes move stuff without the promise of finding food.

Put motion sensor activate lights all around the garden. And warning signs. And cctv. When you can.
We did this immediately after a break in and apart from mice, nothing can pass through our garden without us seeing. The funny thing is that I noticed something different in the garden, a bit like you, in the morning of the break in and my family made a bit of a joke of it when I was concerned - later it came to light the burglars did a rekkie the night before. Luckily nothing was stolen and all was fine but it was scary.

I can understand you feel worried but you don't know if there was anyone in the garden in the first place. The best thing you can do is to make your garden and house as difficult to get in as possible for opportunists. Simple measures that we often put off because there’s always something else that needs doing. Maybe this could be your new year resolution so that you feel safe and I’m sure your DH would be supportive.

*hose

Buy a Blink XT2 from Amazon and it will record any activity in your back garden and send pictures to your phone.

It’s true foxes play with stuff in the garden but I didn’t realise they’d even move a hose! I once forgot a pair of flip flops in the garden and one of them was next door half chewed over night.
Yes get some cctv system. We are like Fort Knox now and most neighbours have also installed cameras so the whole street is covered (quite fascinating to watch how much small wildlife is around)

A house I rented was same layout as yours, we had 3 break-ins during a year so ended the tenancy. I know how you’re feeling, but don’t immediately assume that’s what happened. I agree with those saying get cctv set up so you know for sure. As you’ve just moved in it could be someone assuming the house was empty or previous tenants come back for something. Is it possible for the hose to be used by general public, CF borrowing it to avoid their own water costs?

Fox got over the fence and opened my rabbit hutch one night.

I found a dead bunny in the middle of the lawn in the morning and her mum cowering against the house, freezing cold.

Another house, found an old glove on the lawn which alerted us to foxy presence, it vanished the next night, eventually replaced by a huge bone from a carvery roast, a really big one, I looked at it in wonder at how big the fox would have been to bring it in through the wrought iron gate.

It is highly probable that it is a fox but would also suggest a camera just to be sure.

My kitten brought back a squirrel 4x her size so I'm sure a fox or cat could move it but equally you would be surprised how many people scout around properties at night.

Sorry I am struggling a bit imagining this - was the cupboard locked? Was the hose reel in the cupboard and then moved out of cupboard?

My initial thoughts are an animal has got in through the air hole and tried to drag the hosepipe out, or got tangled in the pipe coming out.

Foxes do like to chew rubber. Our horse wears rubber overreach boots when turned out (silly mare tends to tread on the back of her front shoes and pull them off, the boots stop her doing this). We used to livery on a yard with lots of woodland and masses of foxes, and very frequently we'd find boots missing only to discover them 2 or 3 fields away well chewed.
And don't think foxes cannot climb, we lost all the last of our hens to a to a young fox that climbed a 6ft fence, got zapped on the overhanging electric but still managed to throw itself into the hen pen, in broad daylight.

Ok thanks guys - we’re getting a rear camera fitted and I believe your fox stories!

There was an amazing story a while back about a village that was being terrorised by someone cutting the brake lines of parked cars. They were worried that there was a maniac randomly targetting people, but it turned out to be a fox. Apparently, brake fluid tastes sweet to foxes. So random!