How can I stop foxes digging up my garden every night?

[bakingdemon]

We have a small city garden which we completely redid six months ago. We have beds around the edges with some spring bulbs coming to the end and an assortment of roses/small trees/climbers/random bushes which my husband thought looked pretty 🙄. It looks quite sparse at the moment but things are generally growing nicely.

Every single morning for the last week, we've woken up to find digging has happened overnight and in some cases a lot of soil has been thrown onto the path/lawn. We're pretty sure it's a fox - we've seen one in the garden and I think squirrels/cats are too small to do this. How do I stop the critter doing this? I've seen various sonic things but 1. Do they work? 2. Would they upset our neighbours' puppy? Or is there something we can plant/spread that foxes won't like?

Have you husband and any other adult males you can collar urinate all over the bits you want protecting.

Your garden will reek, but the earth will stay put!

You've not got any buried pets in the garden have you? A fox attempted to get at our deceased dog 😱. Luckily she was much further down but still a shock.

No, it was concreted over before we turned it into a garden so nothing buried there.

Thanks for the men's urine tip! I will ask my husband to wee in a cup and pour it all over the place!

There was something on gqt about this a few weeks ago, you might be able to search the website?
The cure was to rid the garden of leather jackets and beetle larve( or similar) which the foxes and badgers like to dig up. It wasn’t pesticides, but I can’t remember what they said. Hope the website is a lot more helpful than me....

Nematodes, I should think

www.gardenorganic.org.uk/nematodes

Lion poo.

I’m not sure where you can get it though!

I think the GWT quoted one cure which was leaving a small battery operated radio on in the area .

In think they were discussing badgers .

I was wondering if a cheap action motion light might work
www.ebay.co.uk/p/100-LED-Solar-Powered-PIR-Motion-Sensor-Security-Flood-Light-Outdoor-Garden-Wall/2245530803?iid=401405207564

www.amazon.co.uk/Mpow-Security-Wireless-Weatherproof-Driveway/dp/B016MIBSAO/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=solar+light+pir&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1525250722&sr=8-1

@peridito we already have a motion sensor light on the back of the house which doesn't seem to be deterring them.

@MrsBertBibby do you that's what the foxes are trying to dig up? We haven't consciously added any!

Lion poo might be it...

No no, I am guessing that nematodes were the chafer/leather jacket countermeasure suggested on GQT!

Lion poo had no effect on our crazy bush destroying, digging, shoe stealing, glove chewing monster fox. It did make the plants grow quite spectacularly though Not sure what to suggest as our issues are still ongoing

I found a sonic device very effective - it kept the squirrels out so I did turn it off in the daytime

Additional trellis can reduce their access

They may be trying to dig a den

I’ve just read that coffee grounds deter cats pooing on the garden. The same might work for the fox.

Male urine seemed to work for us, however now the foxes have gone I did see a rat the other day (ugh) so perhaps it's the lesser of two evils.

@Sweetpotatoaddict where did you find lion ooo!

@AveEldon if it works on squirrels, do you think it will upset our neighbours' puppy? We only have a wooden fence between the gardens

Dobbies near me sell it, I think it’s just regular dung impregnated with lion scent though and cost £10. Really not convinced by its effectiveness.

Well around here we shoot the buggers (rural though and pretty much everyone has a shotgun). I imagine there is pest control that would do it in town?

Male wee worked for us in theory, but we also have dogs so I can't prove it. I believe the foxes became a problem after our last two dogs died though, so I think at that time it must have been the wee that helped.

@userxx that is my worst nightmare. May I ask if it was very soon after? We have our lovely old girl out there (for a number of years now) and I was beside myself for the first few weeks worrying about that very issue. We researched it first and dh put paving slabs down on top as well as making sure the hole was very deep.

They did have a go at our poo pit (where we compost the dog poo). One of the dogs found a fox tooth in the garden and I wondered if maybe the fox was old and/or unwell and forced to resort to foraging in the pit.

@thefirstmrsdewinter It was a couple of days after she'd been buried. It was such a shock looking out of the kitchen window and seeing her blanket half dragged out of her grave. Luckily she was buried much further down and the blanket was nearer to the top. We also put paving slabs down afterwards!

@userxx oh god, how awful, bless you.