Help - Foxes digging hole in my garden

usignuolo

while doing some weeding yesterday, I noticed a very large hole had appeared, dug in the flower bed next to our garden wall near the shed. I assume it is the start of a fox's burrow. My OH filled it in and tamped it down but it is back again this morning. So far it it just a starter hole but we are about to go away for 2 weeks and I do not want to return to find a family of foxes in residence.

Any tips on how to deter them?. Would filling it with bricks help or would they just build another hole nearby? It is a very small town garden with no room for foxes and us. One of us has to go and it is not going to be me. (It is a walled garden by the way, they get in over the wall.)

pinkcandyflossprincess

not much help im sure but is it possible someone could watch your house-perferably with a large dog which may deter them?
are you sure it is foxes as cats dig holes too, i have seen one cat recently that has made a large burrow under a garage door and i see it come in and out

emiff6

You could try spreading a few oil/diesel soaked rags around where they are digging, see if that discourages them. Or fill a watering can with Jeyes fluid mix and water over the area. Strong smelling stuff, particularly if it will get on their fur, usually helps to discourage them.

emiff6

pinkcandyflossprincess wrote: »

are you sure it is foxes as cats dig holes too, i have seen one cat recently that has made a large burrow under a garage door and i see it come in and out

Ooh, someone's in for a garage full of kittens then!

pinkcandyflossprincess

emiff6 wrote: »

Ooh, someone's in for a garage full of kittens then!

thats what i thought:o- im not sure if the house is empty or not as there is a pram in the porch etc but this poor cat is filthy- i presume from the tunnel it has dug.
it may actually be the peoples pet for all i know but unsure how to ask them if i ever see them without bringing up that the cats obviously took up home in the garage and is quite grotty looking!
there are a lot of ferals in my area though so it probably has just moved in-hopefully not to have kittens...:(

I had a fox poo in my garden the other week but its not been back thankfully- i think they may have a taste for strawberrys as its since i put them in
i goggled fox poo to identify the evidence:eek:

valk_scot

If you can get a bit of mesh or an old bread crate then put it over the site of the hole and weight it down with stones or bricks. Also, check the other side of the wall for the matching dig.

thetope

Is there any chance there could be a former pet buried in your flowerbed? It would be unusual for a fox to start to make a den in someone's garden, but there is maybe something attracting it back to dig?

pinkcandyflossprincess

thetope wrote: »

Is there any chance there could be a former pet buried in your flowerbed? It would be unusual for a fox to start to make a den in someone's garden, but there is maybe something attracting it back to dig?

round here lots of foxes nest in gardens and digging under sheds is one of their favourite hobbys if pregnant.
if you google foxes you can see the problems people have with them, i dont mind them presonally-just wouldnt want one in my garden ( that sounds like fox racism reading back:eek:)

usignuolo

I did wonder if next door has a den on their side of the wall, hence the access hole being dug from my side. I asked them and they said no but frankly they are elderly and eccentric and never go in their garden which is piled full of rubbish (if you talk to them about it they seem to live in some sort of fantasy world as they insist it is full of flowers. In their dreams...)

As I have a wall all round my garden I fortunately don't have to look into theirs but I imagine it could well contain a foxes den.