The fox family and what to do..?

[Houseplanter]

Not gardening exactly but definite garden action for us atm..

There is a mum and her cubs nearby.. not in our garden but must be somewhere close as the cubs are playing in our garden every evening/early morning. They're adorable.

I feed the local hedgehog population and the whole fox family will also eat the food. I don't mind this.

We are fairly urban, and most of my neighbours have very wildlife unfriendly gardens and I do wonder if it's a struggle for them. Should I leave out food? Dog food? If there's a very dry spell they can drink from my bird baths

Will I make life easier or should they not learn to be reliant on stuff put out?

Please advise!

The general advice is not to feed them as they become dependent on you. They will eat slugs, rodents and other garden creatures. If they are urban they probably get plenty of food from rubbish bins and the like.

Thank you @MsFaversham. My concern is there aren't many gardens around here where there will be many slugs or rodents because my neighbours have mostly slabbed/decked/gravelled/fake grassed their gardens.

However I completely take your point about them becoming dependant.

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2019/08/what-foxes-eat/

We had fox cubs at the bottom of the garden once. I sometimes gave them chicken but not because I didn't think they had enough food. I'm sure your nearby foxes are getting food from a wider area than just your garden. They are probably catching mice, rats and insects and eating other stuff as well.

They eat hedgehogs too don’t they?

It won’t hurt to have a bit of food down for mum
and cubs.

if you want, you can make a hedgehog feeding station with some bricks. The idea is, the hole is big enough for a hog to get through but not cats or other wildlife

I have foxes in mine and I don’t feed them. Mind you I don’t need to as my neighbour does, but even so I wouldn’t personally beyond the odd egg or apple slices.

They can go a long way though. They can climb over walls if they want to, I've seen one walking on the top in a built up area. We used to see them running up and the street at night, I always found them fascinating.

I have visiting foxes in my garden. I do feed them, but not every day because I also worry about them becoming dependent on me...they need to know where to find other sources of food if I'm on holiday etc.

I keep suitable human food (my DC's leftovers etc - no onion, raisins) and my dog's unwanted food, in the fridge. I mix it up with a little inexpensive wet cat food, such as Classic, and some dog biscuits, and put it out for them every other evening. They are often waiting for their dinner and it feels such a privilege to be able to observe a wild animal in my garden.

I never attempt to stroke them or hand-feed them, much as I'd like to, because it's essential that they maintain their natural fear of humans. Not everybody likes foxes.

I don’t have foxes visiting (only hedgehogs) but I would be over the moon if I did. I would definitely feed them, not ever day but some days.

I can't tell you how cute they are. They're very nervous, but when they're not on high alert they run randomly about and jump up like you'd see lambs or baby goats. So so cute. One sneezed earlier and fell over!

I've got a camera on the bit of garden they seem to frequent and it's fascinating.

"One sneezed earlier and fell over!"

😂

I was lucky enough to have a family of foxes in my garden a few years ago (2 adults and 5 or 6 cubs).

It was lovely to see them all playing in the summer. When I took down my shed, I realised they'd dug under it to make their baby nest 🥹

So cute.
We had fox cubs visit our garden a couple of years ago with their mum. I thought at least if I’m feeding them the mother won’t have to go miles to get food and possibly get run over, leaving the babies alone 😭 so I fed them all our leftovers along with a bit of dog food.

They will only be there a couple of months and then they will all disperse and find their own territory. Enjoy them while you can.

The foxes are absolute menaces around here. I do everything I can to keep them out of my garden since they dug under my shed and they shit everywhere, raid the bins, make a hideous noise in mating season, raid the food waste boxes that are meant to be fox proof, have figured out how to get into the milk bottles...

We fed a fox some chicken for a couple of nights because he had a limp and he may have had difficulty catching live food. We left the dead rat my cat brought home to kill in the garden and it was gone the next day so we suspect a fox had it. We are suburban with woods nearby so they don't live in gardens. I love watching them on my cctv.

I've woken this morning to see from the cameras they've spent most of the night playing on our patio.. seems they only went home to bed about 4.30.
Mum (guessing it was her anyway) appeared a couple of times which was good to see.

I've been trying to work out their age. They're still quite brown and no bigger than a big cat, but obviously happy to roam from their den without mum. I'm guessing 4-6 weeks.

Still debating whether to help mum feed them...

You appear to have failed in the first rule of Mumsnet Cute Baby Animal threads.
pictures
pictures
pictures
the people need fox cub pictures

🦊 🦊 🦊 🦊

We feed our foxes. Not every day but we put things out.

I love foxes. They are my favourite animal after cats. We've fed them in the past and the badgers that we get over the fence.

The cutest, funniest fox families visited my garden the last couple of years but sadly no sign of any this year. I never left food for them, in fact they must have thought I needed feeding as they brought food and left it in my garden, probably scavenged from rubbish bins.

I keep uneaten cat food and scrap to feed them. Occasionally buy chicken legs from supermarket.

I wondered it they could eat liver or kidney?

Which dog biscuits do you get as I would like to get some.

We don't have them in the garden I just take to where I know some are.

I’m astonished that so many people feed foxes. There really is no need and you are not doing them any favours by doing so. They are wild animals and you are encouraging them to restrict their territory. There is plenty of rats and mice for them to eat; even in urban areas foxes don’t go hungry.

My only hope is that all the foxes around here will move to your gardens. They dig and shit everywhere and drive the local dogs crazy.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/04/should-i-feed-foxes-we-ask-an-expert

I've spoken to my neighbours today to see what their thoughts about us feeding them.. and I'm surprised to find they already feed foxes.. although they weren't aware of the new family.

I think what we'll do is continue to feed the birds (we do this year round) and the hedgehogs, and provide plenty of water too.

We will add some extras for the foxes randomly, but try not to make them overly dependant. Not least cos they are welcome to my slugs.

@Sunshineandrainbow

Which dog biscuits do you get as I would like to get some.
I get Bakers Meaty Meals - the "small dog" ones, as foxes are surprisingly small under all that fur! My fussy dog loves the Bakers biscuits (much more than the vet-recommended ones she's supposed to have), so they must be tasty. Foxes don't tend to live very long, sadly - most die on the roads - so I don't think their food has to be particularly high quality. I think even supermarket's own brand would be very much appreciated!

I had a very friendly fox couple, Felicity and Finbar, for many years. They had cubs at the bottom of the garden. I fed them all year round, scraps and chicken drumsticks. The cubs were adorable and caused havoc!
Both Felicity and Finbar died last year and the den hasn't been used this year. However I spotted three young cubs playing in the garden this morning.
More chicken drumsticks will be purchased!