Guinea pigs/ rabbits vs. foxes

[smogsville]

My kids want a pet and we are weighing up various options. As children my sister and I had GPs and rabbits. They used to sleep in their hutches at night and would spend the day on the lawn in one of those wooden enclosures that you can move about so they always have plenty of fresh grass. This morning I spotted a fox mincing about in the garden. Does anyone have any experience of foxes succeeding in turning these over to get at pets? This never happened to us back in the 90s and I obviously know foxes aren't a new entity but thought it worth checking. Thanks.

It happens. A few years back a regular poster was devastated to lose her children's beloved pets to a fox. Fox broke into the hutch. You need bolts on the door not just a swivelling piece of wood.

If you are in a fox area never leave the run unattended and piggies are best kept indoors where they can be part of the family. And make an almighty mess which you will be constantly sweeping up 😂

I know this isn’t what you’re asking and I’m not sure if this is what you intend to get anyway but please don’t mix guinea pigs and rabbits together. I know people used to but the advice is now not to do this (if you google Guinea pigs and rabbits together you’ll see loads of explanations about it).

Generally speaking most people who have Guinea pigs keep them inside so there’s no worry about foxes / extreme temperatures etc (they don’t like the cold and can get heat stroke too). We have 4 guinea pigs and they live in a huge c and c cage in our kitchen / diner.

(C and c cages are custom made to any size you like, google c and c cages and you’ll find loads)!

It's all about fox-proofing. Don't buy housing from high street stores or that's cheap and flat pack as that stuff is no match for a determined fox (or indeed badger or rampaging loose dog!).

In fact forget a traditional hutch for rabbits (guineas are actually better as indoor pets than outdoors and shouldn't be kept together with rabbits as Fairylea says). Get housing that you and the kids can physically get into and sit with the animals, its better for interaction and leads to happier owners and pets.

There's lots of good suppliers here, yes the set ups are NOT cheap but a good set up should last the lifetime of the animal, in the case of rabbits that can be 10 years or more. I lost my previous two at 12 and 13 years.
www.thebigrabbithutch.co.uk/outdoor-suppliers.html

This is what my pair live in. The run is on slabs so no issues with digging as we do have foxes here.

Thanks everyone. I think we'll revert to plan A - cat. Our GPs/ the one mad rabbit my sister wanted used to sleep in their hutches in the shed back in the 90s but it sounds like that's no longer considered acceptable. I don't think having them indoors would work for us given our set up. Thanks again and may I wish you all much continued happiness with your dear little furry cherubs!

@bunnygeek Can I ask have you ever had any issues with foxes trying to get thru the wire?

We are thinking of getting rabbits but new to it so just trying to make sure we get the best possibly housing. I like the idea of Wendy house/shed with run attached.
Oh and we definitely have foxes.

Sorry for thread hijack op

@Bramblespoint yes but not with my current set up. When I had a hutch with a run underneath, I found a fox at 3am sat on top of the wire of the run and pulling at the wire on the hutch. Fortunately it was a very solid and expensive set up with padlocks and tower bolts - a cheaper set up from a certain chain store would have crumbled. It was shortly after that I ordered the shed instead ;)

I've not yet found a fox going at this wire, but it would take more effort because the kick boards at the bottom of the run mean they'd have to be more imaginative to get any kind of purchase on it. Totally recommend kick boards!

Wire must always be decent welded mesh, never chicken wire. The shed also has an inner mesh door as well as the outer door and the bottom two windows of the shed have hinged shutters with more mesh behind for warmer days.

If you go for a shed or playhouse - get a shiplap or tongue & groove build and NOT overlap. Overlap is the cheapest option for a reason, too flimsy.

Sounds like foxes have changed hugely since the 90s! We definitely lived in a foxy area but they were much more timid. Never had any problems. Glad I asked, this is an eye opener.

Depending on where you live, they're definitely not timid. There was one barking quite a bit a few doors down this morning at 6-7am. I often see them in broad daylight which is why I shudder when people tell me they let their rabbits free-range in the garden during the day unsupervised!

Foxes have been described as dog software running on cat hardware which is so accurate, a 6ft fence or wall is easily scaled and cheap wire or thin wood can be bashed through or chewed through.