# How do you "out fox" a fox?



## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

A couple of weeks ago right before it got dark out I saw a red fox outside my foster building. It ran when it saw me but it made me a little nervous. A few nights later my husband saw it on the opposite side of our house right beside our screened porch.
We have 3 acres fully fenced with probably 1/2 acre being a heavily wooded area. I assume the fox has it's den somewhere in there. A few years ago we fenced in the backyard and recently put a small fence inside that fence because of the problems we've had with the neighbors Pitbulls. That way I can let my dogs out after dark and not worry that something might be lurking in the darkness that I can't see. (A little overkill I realize but when you've had several run ins with their dogs a little caution is necessary.) 
Anyhow, night before last Toby my Chihuahua had to potty in the middle of the night. I opened the door to the small yard, sent him out and closed and locked it back. They have a doggie door there but I keep it locked to where they can only get back in but can't go out. I walked to the bathroom while I was waiting for him to come back in and when I went back to check on him he was pooping about 2 feet from the fence. Suddenly I saw movement behind him and the fox was laying on the ground in my large fence stalking him! I freaked! When I went to open the door to run out there I realized it was locked but I was in such a panic I was trying to yank the door open at the same time I was unlocking it and it took me a few seconds to get it open. I guess I made enough noise to chase it away because when I got the door open it was already nowhere to be seen. Then my motion sensor lights came on on the other side of the house and then the others came on behind the garage. So I knew the direction it ran. Well needless to say I'm really worried about any of my dogs going out at night now. If they weren't all under 12 lbs maybe it wouldn't be an issue but they are. So this morning I get up and let them out and the fox has dug a huge hole under the fence right where it was stalking Toby the night before. Is it setting the stage so it can slip right under next time I offer a Chihuahua up for it?! This thing has to go! 
Since I saw it the first time we've set a trap with several things in it but no luck yet. So far we've tried dog food, cat food, raw meat and even figs because it's eating figs from our fig trees. Any suggestions guys? I need help!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Wow. I've never had a fox stalking my dogs before so I can't really help. I wonder if you could reinforce the bottom of your fence so the fox for sure can't dig under it. 

I think they are pretty smart. Do you have a wild animal group close by you could ask for help in getting rid of it?


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## minnieme (Jul 6, 2011)

I've got it!!! Get a BIIIIIIG guard dog to send out with the little ones. Hehe.  Sorry, you know I love the big ones!! 

Foxes are tricky.... my mom had a problem with one recently, and tried setting live humane traps, but the lil bugger wouldn't go in it for anything either. I think by now she has named him and isn't too concerned about him and her dog (dog's a bit bigger so no easy meal there). I'm pretty sure she realized it was a lost cause.

As sad as it makes me to say, you might have to get animal control involved in this one if it's a real nuisance/danger.


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

I found out that if you call a trapper they have to kill it because it's against the law to relocate it. I hate to hear that because I think they're beautiful but I like my dogs a little more than this fox so if that's the only option then so be it. 
Jill, I actually told my husband we need to borrow my friends Presa. Of course if she sends him over I'm not giving him back so I don't know if that's gonna work for her.:biggrin:
As far as the fence goes, we have a wire that runs around the bottom to keep it rigid but it would cost a fortune to do anything else like pour a trench of cement under it. AND I read that they primarily climb over fences and can also climb trees. (Didn't know that...) I really wonder if it didn't dig that hole so that it can lay waiting under our huge fig tree for a snack, aka my Chihuahua, to come outside and it can then sneak up on him easier. I don't know if they're that smart but it would be less likely to catch one of my dogs if it had to climb the fence rather than go under a previously dug hole. It appears to be in the 15 lb range and my 2 smallest guys are around 6-7 lbs. I really want this thing to go away....


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## KittyKat (Feb 11, 2011)

How big is your live trap? 

Foxes are pretty shy usually, so you shaking the door likely gave it a big scare. Because of their dislike of human interaction, just going out with your dogs at the same time every night (say you take them out at 9pm) and make some noise the fox will avoid showing up near your house at those hours.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

I wonder if it might be cheap to put a small electric fence outside of the dog fence? We used to do that to our garden to keep the varmints out. It had a low shock, not enough to kill anything. 

I can't remember how much it cost, but I know we were pretty poverty-stricken so it couldn't have been very much.


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

We are having trouble with a fox behind our fence right now. It sits back there in the woods and actually sort of screams at us at night and the other night it was doing it at 5 am when I was out with the dogs. It doesn't appear to have any fear of my big dogs. My husband has shot a BB at it to scare it and that kept it away for about a month but now it is back again. 

Rocky ignores it but Shade hates it and will refuse to come in we are all inside and safe. He kind of stares it down. I really worry about it because we seem to get a lot of rabid fox reported here. Just about a half mile from me a rabid fox attacked someone and animal control came out and caught it. 

If you tell animal control that the fox came into your yard they will probably come out and get it. They will here if it starts interacting with people and actually enters their yards.


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

The trap is big enough to catch probably a 30 lb dog so it's definitely big enough. My problem is that Toby frequently had to go out in the middle of the night because he takes lasix and has to pee more than the other dogs. So I'm kinda thinking this fox is quite happy with me sending a late night snack out for him. I can assure you my wee Chi will not be going out without me standing on the porch anymore though until Mr Fox has been taken away one way or another. 
And I'm not sure about the electric wire because the fox seems to be able to go under or over so wouldn't know if it should be at the top or the bottom of the fence to be most effective. And my fenced in backyard is HUGE so it would take a lot of wire. And I don't really want to put it on the small fence because I'd probably forget to turn the juice off to it and shock my own dogs. :frown: 
We're gonna call a pest control company tomorrow that traps critters so hopefully they'll know what to do to catch this guy and make him go away.


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

chowder said:


> We are having trouble with a fox behind our fence right now. It sits back there in the woods and actually sort of screams at us at night and the other night it was doing it at 5 am when I was out with the dogs. It doesn't appear to have any fear of my big dogs. My husband has shot a BB at it to scare it and that kept it away for about a month but now it is back again.
> 
> Rocky ignores it but Shade hates it and will refuse to come in we are all inside and safe. He kind of stares it down. I really worry about it because we seem to get a lot of rabid fox reported here. Just about a half mile from me a rabid fox attacked someone and animal control came out and caught it.
> 
> If you tell animal control that the fox came into your yard they will probably come out and get it. They will here if it starts interacting with people and actually enters their yards.


I'm well acquainted with my local AC and unfortunately they won't deal with wildlife so that's out. From what I'm reading about foxes they can be pretty bold if you don't make a real effort to scare them away. I read that if you see one and don't yell or gesture or throw something at it it will continue to encroach more and more on your territory. Apparently that's what I have going on now. But that's about to change. Nobody messes with my babies without paying the price..... :suspicious:


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

Well it's been a month since I posted about this and we have had quite the experience with foxes. We started putting food out for it and we saw it coming to the food every single night like clockwork at 8:30. We put a trap out in the same area but kept putting the food outside of it. The fox didn't seem to mind the trap at all but wouldn't go in once we put food inside. 
We ended up calling a friend of a friend that has done some trapping, knows what the laws are in our area and said he'd help us out. He set up a trap that was well camoflauged and so far we have trapped 4 and there's still another that we saw tonight! We both told him to just take them away and leave us to assume they were relocated in a lovely field with other fox friends and tons of available food. I really don't want to know....
We live on 3 fenced acres and our property is in the middle of a lot of houses and busy streets. I can't believe there have been at least 5 foxes regularly in my fence. Hopefully this will be the last of them.

Oh hell, I just remembered that my hubby shot the first one so that would make it 6. I read that there can be up to 8 in a territory. I seriously hope that's not gonna be the case.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Wow. That's alot of foxes. Weird that you only see one at a time.


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

We've seen 2 at a time before but from what I've read they don't hunt together but will meet back up in a general area. When we've seen the 2 they were just running around in different areas in our yard. If I had big dogs I wouldn't be so concerned but knowing how many there've been is a little scary....


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

You need to borrow someone's dog with a high prey drive. I'd loan you Snorkels but she's a little slow.


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## HayleyMarie (Jul 6, 2011)

Yah foxes are a PITA! I have to deal with them on a regual basis since I live on farmland, but thank God we have terriers so that usually keeps them away and I never worry about the foxes going after my dogs. We usually just let them be, unless we see a mangy one then my brother usually shoots it, Same goes with the coyotes.

The worse thing is their screaming, and screaming. They seriously sound like a demonic creature dying.


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

They do make a very eerie sound. These are very pretty and I would have actually left them alone other than going out and finding one stalking my 7 lb Chihuahua while he was pooping. Scared the crap out of me figuratively and apparently him literally. :wink: 
Seems so strange that there could be so many and I've just started seeing them within the last couple of months. I guess they moved in and thought it was a great place to set up shop. Wrong!


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

HayleyMarie said:


> The worse thing is their screaming, and screaming. They seriously sound like a demonic creature dying.


We had the one that would sit behind our fence and scream at the dogs and us when we'd walk at night or early morning. I had no idea what it was at first, but you're right, it did sound like a demonic creature dying! I got it in my flashlight once and the darn thing wasn't scared of us at all. Just sat there screaming at us. 

We scared it off with some pellet shots and so far it hasn't come back. I used to think they were pretty until this thing started screaming at me in my own back yard!


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