Foxes making a mess in my garden...

[Startingagainandagain]

This topic has probably come up many times before....

I woke up, went in my back garden and saw that foxes had left poo in one flower bed, chewed and threw around a seedling plastic tray, dug up a hole near one of my apple trees and left paw prints all over my garden furniture.

I have seen foxes many times in the garden, even during the day, and I love animals so I don't mind them being around and I would never wish them harm but the destruction is really annoying...

Any tips on trying to contain the furry menaces/protect the plants?

I don't leave food outside (although I have pets) so there is no major reason for them to squat in my garden all the time :).

To be honest, I don't think you can. If you have a small garden then a movement activated sprinkler might help, but you would need a lot to cover a big garden. My mum hates the foxes and I tell her to be thankful that we don't have to live with bigger predators like bears and tigers. She just glares at me for that though!

We have this problem. Our neighbour puts out food for them in both front and back gardens <sigh> and they have a nice cosy den at the back of a big garden in the next street - house let to students who ignore the garden so it's ideal for them - and our back garden is the connecting link between the all day diner and the den. We were utterly fed up with opening the door and finding fox faeces on the paving. We bought several battery-powered devices from Amazon which my husband has put on the fences and back wall of the house. They emit sounds (motion sensitive) that are supposed to scare the foxes off. They seem to be working. You need to recharge them from time to time. The foxes still pass through but they don't linger near the house, which was what we wanted.

We did little plastic boxes filled with water which we’d boiled with chili and garlic (just chop some garlic bulbs and whole chilis and boil for a while then strain and use the water). We placed the containers around the edges of our veg patch (this was where we were having the issues-they we digging up newly planted seedlings, etc, I guess looking for worms). So I guess that would work elsewhere in your garden? I think like dogs, foxes have extremely sensitive noses so the smell kept them at bay.
I don’t know if that would help you?
alternatively, sprinkle white pepper around? My mum used to do that to keep (our own) cats off places.

Thanks everyone for the feedback so far.

I like the white pepper and chili/garlic suggestions, especially if that would also help keep my cats out of the flower beds!

Overgrown garden next door is a haven for the foxes, they drive my ddog mad especially when they're mating.
I've no advice except don't waste any money on electronic fox repellents, they don't work

Thank you for the warning about electronic fox repellents.

We have a lot of them around in general (small coastal town with lots of green spaces/countryside at the back)...and one neighbour opposite has a really overgrown garden as well.

My lovely elderly neighbour told me over the weekend that she loves foxes and has been leaving food for them at the bottom of her garden for a while...

That is one explanation as to why they are now using all our gardens as bed and breakfast and party central.

@Startingagainandagain
I've tried all sorts to keep the foxes out, mixing up smelly pepper mixture to spray on the fences (Google suggested this) blocking holes, anti climb paint, plastic fence spikes then finally the electronic fox repellents.
They still get in.
Your neighbours overgrown garden and your other neighbour feeding them will be the problem.
My friends suggested I just try to love them as wildlife but tbh they drive me mad and I'm a little bit (a lot) scared of them.
They're twice the size of my little ddog and the noise they make is horrendous, it's like a woman screaming.
I actually recorded them and sent it to my friends, they were horrified.
If you come up with a master plan to get rid of them, let me know!

I don't mind them passing through. What I don't want is for them to linger near the house and in particular foul our paving. Our electronic devices do seem to be preventing this (so far).

Personally, I like the foxes presence in my garden, as I find them fascinating to watch.

I work for a wildlife charity, hence we deal with many foxes.

The dens are used primarily to raise young, however a fox might use it to sleep in during winter, most sleep above ground.

Foxes do not remain in the same place permanently, the adults will eventually move on, even if there's a regular food source.

However, their offspring will hang around if food's regularly available.

Humane deterrent sprays and water devices can work effectively when used properly, however there's no guarantee.

If you, or anyone else on here have any other fox queries, feel free to ask.

We use the electronic deterrent and find it stops them hanging around. Our garden isn't covered in poo anymore which was the main issue.

We have them pooing on our drive and driving the dog crazy at night.

I have just bought some solar panel box deterrents which emit flashing red eyes at night. No idea if they will work but fingers crossed as I didn't want to use any audible deterrent as I figured it would upset the dog.

I hope I can come back later to recommend them.

Thank you everyone for the additional advice.

I forgot a cushion yesterday in one of my garden chairs and of course this morning to to find it on the floor with teeth marks and one corner ripped out! :).

For some reason they also decided to pull out some apples from one of my trees last night, again left on the grass with teeth marks...

These foxes do seem to love my garden. It seems like a fox playground at the moment.

I think I will just have to live with them!

I second @itsgoingtobeabumpyride advice not to bother getting the electronic fox repellent.
A total waste of money imo.
The flippin fox lies on the grass in front of one of them ( we have 3 gadgets) in our garden basking in the sunshine at 2pm on any given afternoon.

I've had some success with Pestly Urine Stop spray. I don't have pets though!

I just spray it round the edge of the patio.

Unpopular opinion but I have heard that if an adult male urinates on beddings it puts foxes off...something to do with territorial thing. Never tried it myself but my BIL has and said it worked (don't judge my family 🤣)

It’s possible this new behaviour is also partly to do with this year’s cubs. Everything is a toy to play with just now. We find the cubs usually move on later in the summer but you’ll likely still have some fox presence continuing if they are being fed nearby.

We have a young, not fully vaccinated yet puppy, who is, naturally, obsessed with the huge amounts of fox poo left every night. I try to scope the garden in the morning before letting her out, but they're now going in lots of different places and I can't seem to cover all that ground successfully. I'm quite concerned about her catching anything before she's completed her vaccine course, as she's trying to eat it all, and wonder if any of you have found anything that works please? That wouldn't be harmful to pup and the neighbourhood cats. Who also like to poo here, but that's a more manageable situation!

Do you know where or how they are getting in? Maybe make it more difficult for them.

@chisanunian

They just jump over the fences from garden to garden. Sometimes even in the day time. It is a small town with lots of green spaces and fields/parks nearby and we have a lot of foxes...

Get a wildlife camera that is movement activated and works in the dark, fascinating if you have wild animals around. We found out we had badgers wandering up and down the garden at night, as well as foxes that we knew about and deer that we thought we didn't have any more due to people putting up more fences. Also various cats we hadn't seen before and unfortunately the odd rat, although not close to the house.

I used to leave old gardening shoes out for them, for some reason they were attracted, it’s a joy to watch them tossing and playing with them.

If they are intent on mischief, maybe leave some dog toys out there for them to play with.

It does work
This is how we got rid of foxes