To not want foxes shitting on everything?

[RightSaidPleb]

Help me. We are at war and fighting a losing battle!

We have a den of foxes in some woods that are close to our back garden.

We often see little Cubs stretching out and bathing in the early morning sun over the summer. Very cute!

However, our adoring view of them has changed since they started shitting on everything!

I can cope with lawn poos (we have a Labrador so used to poo pick ups) but this campaign has turned personal

We have had diarrhoea sprayed shit on our back door which has a narrow step in front of it so they'd have to really be determined to do this! They've started peeing on my toddlers garden toys (no room in the shed for big stuff and no matter how high we leave it, they get to it!). Massive shits on our front door step in our porch which I've stepped in while taking my son to nursery.

This morning I've looked out onto our patio to find they've climbed on our outside wooden table and chairs and there are two shits on it and one on a chair.

I apologise for the continued use of 'shit' but I am at a loss!

They're used to the dog barking and chasing them but it doesn't put them off and they obviously use our garden overnight.

How can I deter them without using harsh chemicals that will affect my dog and toddler?

The garden is as secure as it can be but they use the shed roofs and fences to hop between the gardens!

I don't want to cause them harm but I really want to try and keep them out of the garden, or at least from using it as a personal lavatory!!

Apparently having an adult male pee round the garden helps deter them.

@SoupDragon Ahhh, this rings a bell. I'll ask my DH today to save all his wees for outside.

I assume around the boundary is best?

Probably. Unless you have a huge boundary and only one male in which case "fencing off" the patio might be a good start!

We have used this with some success if you don't fancy sending DH outside.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Foxolutions-Scoot-Fox-Repellent-100g/dp/B01C678IXU/ref=ascdff_B01C678IXU/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=344357747183&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3496870145670478380&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9044979&hvtargid=pla-697283207506&psc=1

We have one of those garden hose cat scarer things, works on the foxes too, well worked on the foxes that used to come into our garden. You can turn it off during the day and on at night. We have the same one in the video below, the chap goes into full details of how to set it up. You can adjust the range of the water arc etc. It is a bit noisy but it is that or fox poo.

Human urine
I used mine....I'm female ......seemed to work !!!

Sounds like you’re urban rather than rural in which case human wee won’t work. Foxes need to be constantly ‘disrupted’ to keep them out of your territory - and foreign smells can do that. However, if you are urban, the foxes in your garden live in close proximity with humans and as such are well used to your smell. In actual fact, they would find the smell of dog wee far more intimidating, but as you have a dog - and they’re used to that smell too now - that’s not working either. Even if the wee did help, your husband would have to be out there every night doing it as the foxes are very persistent and would keep coming back to see if you were ‘gone’. The product mentioned above, Scoot, is worth a try but you’ll have to use it regularly. And the cat deterrent is also a good option as it will work every time they come in the garden which might be enough to disrupt their nightly rounds. There’s a specific one made for foxes called FoxWatch Ultimate Deterrent which has mixed reviews on Amazon - seems to take a while to work and is better if moved around occasionally. Maybe try both things in conjunction, might work. But foxes are persistent so be prepared to be more persistent.

Getting a tom cat solved our fox poo in the garden issues.

The OP might need several judging by the scale of her problem.

@Etulosba

Getting a tom cat solved our fox poo in the garden issues.

The OP might need several judging by the scale of her problem.

I'm assuming the OP isn't some peculiar variation on the poo troll theme

A cat might do the trick. We used to have foxes in the garden every night but since some new neighbours have moved in with three tom cats who also use the garden we rarely see the foxes - until now I hadn't made this connection.

As PP said, pee might not work but it is worth a try until you can get a cat deterrent alarm. They're about £15 on Amazon I think

Thanks all for your insight.

I promise I'm not some weird variation of the poo troll! It is an honest to god horrible problem we're having at the moment! I'm assuming photographic evidence would be frowned upon 😆

Sadly our lovely Labrador hates cats and I'm not sure we'd cope with dog, toddler, baby on the way and an additional animal! But it does explain why neighbours each side don't have the same issue as they both have cats

We are urban so I'm guessing human wee won't work as suggested above.

I'll look into the products mentioned! Thanks so much

I have a dog, cats and foxes.

We tried everything to solve this problem. The only effective solution was professional pest control. Basically a man comes round to your house at night and shoots as many foxes as he can. Sorry.

@Cuddlywaterfall

We tried everything to solve this problem. The only effective solution was professional pest control. Basically a man comes round to your house at night and shoots as many foxes as he can. Sorry.

In an urban back garden? Seriously?

Foxes quite often poo to get back at any dogs in the house.
My dogs will bark at the window and the fox, we have a family of them, will look up at them and do a poo, then carry on staring. Probably getting its own back for the dogs chasing him or his wife out of the garden. Its happened lots of times and we have it on CCTV.

if you're near a zoo, would lion dung work?

on the other hand it might make matters worse........what the hell animal left THAT.........oops...done it again

OP - we have a similar problem. Foxes poo everywhere in the garden, and in the last 6 weeks, they have bitten through the net of the children's football goal and left part of a killed pigeon covered in their poo in the garden.
We have neighbours who feed the foxes regularly twice a day. The foxes sit in their front garden waiting for food. It's very difficult, I've tried speaking to them, but they love foxes and don't understand why I find them a problem. We've tried the male wee which worked for a time. Every morning I go round the clear up the poo. The smell is revolting.....

Yes, carnivore poo from the zoo can help. I've heard of using wolf wee against coyotes in the States as well.

Think I read somewhere that the smell of predator poo keeps them away? Some zoos sell it. (Colchester used to, when we lived nearby). Maybe put some on the outside of your boundaries?

Leave your dog out as late at night as you can.

Had a terrible time with this in my old property. V urban area (London). It turned out someone down the road was feeding them!! They were shitting in ludicrous places, front and back yards. Horrible.
Plus leaving bits of furr and shaking scabby bits of skin off i'd find the most unpleasant things. They were also said to have terrible worms and that their poo being in the sand pit at local park gave an awful lot of people in the area worms too.
They'd knock over bins, come in to houses if windows / doors open, make an absolute racket at night.

So when she went in to an old people's home, numbers slowly decreased but it was still bad.
Eventually the council got involved.. environmental health and I presume killed them somehow or took them somewhere because they were far, far fewer of them after that.

I left the area last year and have only seen 1 fox since moving to the new, quieter area.

Yes, carnivore poo from the zoo can help

So, replace fox poo with more exotic carnivore poo?

Today 14:00 Etulosba

Yes, carnivore poo from the zoo can help

So, replace fox poo with more exotic carnivore poo?

No need to wipe it up the walls or smear it over the toys and garden furniture

Think the idea is that a dollop on your boundary should be enough to deter. OP’s garden backs onto woodland, so shouldn’t cause anyone else a problem. Worth a try.

I think it's partly the time of year. The ones round here are feasting on plums and leave stinking puddles of diarrhoea all over the lawn, I hate them too.

Foxes dislike strong smells, I find regularly spraying strong smelling zoflora disinfectant on paths, walls etc discourages them and also promptly clearing up the disgusting mess they leave. Jeyes fluid also works but it makes your garden smell like a public toilet. It's poisonous to cats on contact so I leave it in plastic containers with holes in the lids.