Can we talk about my fox family please?

[nahthatsnotforme]

Well they’re not actually mine, they live in a garden at the back of me, which is all but abandoned and very overgrown. They’re not disturbed.
The last 2 years they’ve raised a family of cubs, which have been a complete joy. The cubs often played on our lawn and jumped over our garden furniture and I know several neighbours fed them.
There have been adults in the garden all winter, and I fully expected more cubs this year, but it seems not.
Does anyone know if this is common? That a seemingly healthy group of adults (there’s at least 3) don’t breed every year?

This was in January - inner London. I get a visit at least once a week from one fox 🦊 or another. I don’t feed them.

Lovely thread ❤️ I’m afraid I have no foxes to offer for tax, as we don’t get them here, will goslings do?

I got mine from Essex wildlife trust, I paid the £15 donation fee but they would have sent it anyway. It was two little vials I think that had to be given a few days apart. On their advice I have it to the affected fox mixed in with a bit of honey on toast. I had to send pictures of the fox first too. It was too severe for the homeopathic one although I have had that in the past.

Mange is a horrible parasite and I have zero regrets about helping a fox that would have died a horrible slow painful death from it whilst infecting other wildlife.

I’m loving this thread. The pictures are beautiful. You really are blessed having these beautiful creatures in your gardens.
I would absolutely love it if they could come to play/live in mine.
there’s no chance of that as I live in the middle of a busy estate but we do hear them sometimes at night in the woods about a quarter of a mile from us. Sometimes we hear owls too.

I've had foxes in my garden for years and love them. This year I had two dens, both with cubs, and noted that both sets of cubs would gather to be fed by one of the vixen. I'm told, in family groups, that this is not unusual.
The younger family started with 6 cubs, but are now down to 3.
They give me endless joy and many photographic opportunities .

Fabulous photo @SorrowsPrayers. How could anyone want to hurt such a beautiful creature.

There is zero % chance of a homeopathic remedy having any effect on mange.
This is the RSPCA advice on what to do if you find a mangy fox https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife/foxes/injured#:~:text=Foxes%20and%20mange,skin%20sample%20under%20a%20microscope. summary: if it’s mild - leave it be. If it’s severe the fox needs to be caught and treated by a professional. Do not leave medicine out as it could be dangerous for other animals. (Obviously fine to leave homeopathic medicine out if you enjoy doing that).

Mange is highly contagious so it is unwise to encourage foxes into your garden if you have a dog.

The RSPCA are unlikely to do anything to help a mangey fox. I’d always turn to other animal charities before them.

And when obtaining the vet-approved treatment for mange, they’ll only give it to you if you can guarantee you’ll target feed it to the right fox. You don’t leave it lying around. It’s a very effective way of helping individual foxes without them having to go through the trauma of being trapped and taken away for treatment.

And actually it’s not ‘fine’ to leave homeopathic medicine out either, it should still be target fed. Some of it contains small traces of arsenic.

Re mange: I got Bravecto from Atlantic Pet Products. It worked really well and very quickly. Covers ticks and worms too

I can guarantee it gets to the right fox though.

(And fox mange can spread to cats and dogs too btw)

Yes, many humans are vile. I'm also a big fan of rats and love to watch them if I see them around

What a wonderful photo!

Thank you for your reply, urban (S.London), small garden. We live close to a common but the foxes aren't interested in living or hunting there, except for pulling stuff out of the bins on the common.

I used to love foxes as a child and was vehemently against fox hunting. But now all they do is seek to destroy what little outside space we have, cost me money and add jobs to my week I could do without (re-bagging the mess of refuse out of the bin because they've managed to get the lid off again). I haven't even mentioned the hole digging and destruction of plants - that's less costly then the chewed stuff.

This is exactly what happened to my friend who is vegan and loves animals but even she got to the point where she had had enough. She got a humane pest control company in and they successfully made her garden impenetrable to foxes.

This thread made me smile! Thank you

Oh I’m so jealous!! I love foxes. One of my favourite animals!

I don't have a fox family or even a regular fox, but I do see one occasionally on a local walk. Today I randomly saw one in a field near Slimbridge - it was huge.

Oh, i want a fox family. Used to see them all the time at uni, only seen them once in my a garden and haven't a clue where they are living. My husband claimed he saw one early one morning tucking into the hedgehog food I left out. I have a lovely memory of one night when was walking to my husband student house, he said there is a fox behind you and so i stopped and looked back and there was a little cub following me down the path and when I stopped, it stopped and when I carried on walking it followed again, it was playing with me. I saw one once when I was waking home from work around dusk, thought it was cat at first, it was just sat in the middle of the road, as I approached it got up and moved away, that was when I saw its tail and realised it was fox.

This little one has been snoozing on and off for the past hour 😀

One more pic

Adore foxes, this is Big Tail, the matriarch of our family unit. The photo is from the winter, she has lost her winter coat and is not pregnant so is a lot slimmer and more athletic now. Her latest litter are being brought up with assistance from last year’s litter (Bandit and Scruffy).
I love feeding them and getting to know them. Big Tail is confident, Bandit and Scruffy are becoming less shy and Little One, one of Big Tail’s from this year is a pocket freight train, motoring around the garden and not caring and anything.