Badger problem

261 Posts


I have a badger visiting my driveway on a regular basis. It occasionally leaves a smelly little present but apart from that it's not a problem. Until last night. The whole family were woken at 4:30 by our dog. First thought was that we were being burgled. After a thorough search we could find nothing amiss. We all returned to bed. A few minutes later the dog was barking and we heard our side gate rattling. I rushed downstairs and clambered onto the kitchen work surface to get a better view of the gate. There was the badger digging a hole in the gate! I banged the window and he ran away. The relatively new gate is a mess. I know that this can be territory marking but how can I deter the badger without causing it harm. Hope that someone can give me a suggestion or two. Thanks
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The only normal people you know are the ones you don’t know very well
2p has said what i thought re: scent marking, and yes, highly pungent smells like citronella, tea-tree, et al other foul smelling oils is the best bet - bar the bored method - sadly illegal ...... 😬🙄😣🤐
I had a dunging area for a while, which is probably a sign that I am on the boundary of a couple of territories (the "experts" tell me that badgers don't do this and only have a single dunging area near their den) but the dunging only happened for a couple of months and then it stopped.
I also had them trying to dig under my oil tank, which I stopped by leaving a few bricks in the hole.
Since you've got a dog, can you encourage it to pee on your gate? Or take it out on a lead whenever it hears the badger?
I have scrubbed the path and gate.
Unfortunately my dog is a wimp. Let's us know when somethings amiss but stays in her bed.
I don't want to leave the gate open for security reasons.
My badger is defiantly leaving it's dung behind so may well be scent marking.
Thanks again. I'm off to order citronella.
A friend of mine recently had a badger trying to get through her garden gate. Being quite wealthy and a big animal lover, to solve the problem she actually removed her wrought iron gate and installed another one that the badger could comfortably walk under (I know, that's a tad extreme! but as I say, she could well afford it). That did stop her problems and she's happy for the badger to potter around in her (large because again, she's wealthy) garden.
I wouldn't call your dog a wimp, she's entitled to look after herself, just like the rest of us. Besides, a scared badger may attack her and that isn't what you want, she is much better off tucked up in her bed.
As well as citronella, scotch bonnet peppers can also be chopped up and left around, apparently they're a good deterrent.
I have a fenced off part of my garden that is a badger run but they did try to dig another set in my neighbours foundations. Haven't seen one here for some time. I think it may have been the tennis courts floodlights right by their set.
Perhaps try a cheap motion detection led light aimed sideways to shine in their eyes. Cheap as a fiver. From above it would just show them the way.
The only normal people you know are the ones you don’t know very well
Fabric conditioner etc will do the job.
They will also ignore any temporary risks in their path, which is why so many get killed crossing roads. Your citronella will be a very minor disincentive by comparison - he wants through that gate.
If you absolutely have to have a closed gate for security reasons, you could look at creating an opening at the bottom so that the badger can get under the closed gate - it doesn't need to be very large as they will squeeze through.
Thank you everyone, defiantly a number of ideas to keep in mind.