# Fox



## nattylops (Jul 16, 2011)

Right I have got a real problem now. The foxes are coming back every night and are trying to get into the hutch. I have my window open at all times to hear any noise and luckily tonight I woke up, don't no why but there was one trying to get in and the dogs day see it so didn't brake to get me up. :'( I'm really upset now and the thought of my buns being taken away from me is killing me  what can I do ? I really car bring them inside . . . . Please help ?


----------



## Rini (Jun 23, 2010)

Do you have a shed or garage to put the hutch in? The only thing I can suggest is getting extra protection like putting the hutch in shed or aviary type run so the foxes have more work to try to get through before getting to the hutch and to make sure the hutch is made from strong materials and have good locks on!
That's all I can think of really.


----------



## Guest (Sep 29, 2011)

buy a gun.....................


----------



## nattylops (Jul 16, 2011)

No shed or garage  well I got a shed but it's my dads n it's full so. I guess I just have to make it as secure as poss and listen out as always. 


I really don't Want to hurt them, I love all animals and I now he's had 2 little babies so she just doing what's natural to her. 

Iv been search the web and ppl say get a male to wee round the garden or human hair, does any1 know if this is true


----------



## Hel_79 (Jun 14, 2011)

Is there any way you can make a bit of a aviary-style mesh enclosure around the hutch, to provide an extra layer of defense?


----------



## nattylops (Jul 16, 2011)

u mean like putting mesh all around the hutch ? ye i defo cud do that . .. wud that work ?


----------



## AmyCruick (Jul 20, 2009)

My rabbits used to live outside and were frequesntly visited by foxes (and cubs!) but I've never lost a rabbit to a fox.

The wire I used on my run was thick and galvanised so a fox couldn't bite through and I used this on all sides as well as the booton and used U shaped nails about 1.5cm long to attach the wire to the run. They lived in a mini shed rather than a hutch and the run was bolted to the house on all sides.

the doors to the run and hutch had 2 bolts each and were padlocked so that the foxes couldn't knock them open.

As I said foxes used to visit mine all the time as we lived in the countryside and would try to get in but never did. I think them being in a mini shed helped though as the walls were wooden. There was a perspex window but this looked onto their shelf which the rabbits could hide underneath. If the rabbits hid in their house they wouldn't have seen the foxes at all. Could you maybe fix wooden shutters to the front of your hutch that you close at night?


----------



## Kammie (Apr 4, 2009)

We get foxes here all the time, the trio outside are in a big shed with daytime acess to an attached fox proof run. Dylan and Lolly don't like the foxes and will hide in the shed away from them (Lolly is understandable after her experience) but Rosie sits out in the run watching the fox almost tormenting it. Rosie is used to being around dogs though so it could have been from then that she doesn't mind the foxes.

Here's a picture of three foxes in our garden at once last winter. The shed they were sat on is our tool shed not the rabbit shed.


----------



## Lil Miss (Dec 11, 2010)

yes getting a bloke to pee round your garden does work

attach extra thick mesh to your hutch and run, but dont use U shaped nails, buy an industrial stapler, so much more secure

you could even bolt wooden shutters over all mesh pannels, and bolt them shut at night

install bright outside security lights triggered by motion

you need to deter the foxes not just secure the cage, rabbits have such weak hearts the fear/stress, of a fox trying to get in can cause them to drop dead


----------



## Lil Miss (Dec 11, 2010)

also something like this may be an option
Advanced Fox Scarer £27.95


----------



## nattylops (Jul 16, 2011)

thank you all for your advice, im defo going to get sumthin sorted because im worrying so much and im also up most the night making sure they are ok. lil miss will that noise detector thing be oki for the buns ? it wont scare them aswell will it ? right 2,mozz im going shopping for thick mesh and more wood. or i might come back with a shed . . . what do ppl think is best ?


----------



## Lil Miss (Dec 11, 2010)

the noise thing will be fine for the buns, aslong as its not right by them, you dont want it detecting them any way, depends on how your gardens set out

a shed would be best if you can get one


----------



## nattylops (Jul 16, 2011)

Oki that's great. I was just worried it wud see the foxes make the noise and the noise wud scare the buns like.


----------



## Kammie (Apr 4, 2009)

It depends where you live as well as to how easy it is to keep foxes away. I live in London where the foxes are like pets and will walk right past you in the street in broad daylight. I can go into the garden with a fox sat on the shed roof and it'll just sit and watch me. Lights don't scare them away (neighbours downstairs have motion lights and that doesn't keep foxes away even though it lights up our whole garden and Jacks bedroom when it comes on). We've done everything from getting men to pee in the garden to the hose squirter things and even the foxwatch sound thingys but the foxes just pee'd on them. Even borrowed a frieds dog to come pee in the garden in case the smell of a dog would work. It got to the point last summer we had three fox cubs under the tool shed that I caught and put in a carry box for a wildlife centre to take away for the rabbits safety. For us I think as long as the old git in the house at the back of us keeps feeding the foxes they won't be hungry enough to try getting to the rabbits. Afterall without bringing them in the house or putting them in a metal box theres nothing else I can do to keep them safe.


----------



## Lil Miss (Dec 11, 2010)

the noise may scare the buns a little, but it will be less scary then having a fox trying to get into their hutch, if you didnt feel it was working as effectively as you would like you can return it

i doubt the noise it makes would bother my lot, they are used to random noises :lol:


----------



## nattylops (Jul 16, 2011)

Kammie said:


> It depends where you live as well as to how easy it is to keep foxes away. I live in London where the foxes are like pets and will walk right past you in the street in broad daylight. I can go into the garden with a fox sat on the shed roof and it'll just sit and watch me. Lights don't scare them away (neighbours downstairs have motion lights and that doesn't keep foxes away even though it lights up our whole garden and Jacks bedroom when it comes on). We've done everything from getting men to pee in the garden to the hose squirter things and even the foxwatch sound thingys but the foxes just pee'd on them. Even borrowed a frieds dog to come pee in the garden in case the smell of a dog would work. It got to the point last summer we had three fox cubs under the tool shed that I caught and put in a carry box for a wildlife centre to take away for the rabbits safety. For us I think as long as the old git in the house at the back of us keeps feeding the foxes they won't be hungry enough to try getting to the rabbits. Afterall without bringing them in the house or putting them in a metal box theres nothing else I can do to keep them safe.


Im in wolverhampton and they are defo scared of me, we have the motion lights on but they are not bothered by them. although as soon as i make any noise or bang the window they shoot off. im just worried that ill be on a night shift or ill sleep through it and the fox will get them. im having really bad nightmares now where i wake up and look out the window to find my rabbits in a foxes mouth, and the fox runs off and i keep looking for them but car find them  this is really affect my life and sleep. i know it seems daft but they really are my babies


----------



## Hel_79 (Jun 14, 2011)

A layer of galvanised mesh between the foxes and your bunnies, wherever you secure it, will definitely provide a really good layer of protection. Make sure it's galvanised and tough, though, like this:

Mesh Direct (Mesh Direct) :: Wire Mesh Galvanized


----------



## AmyCruick (Jul 20, 2009)

nattylops said:


> Im in wolverhampton and they are defo scared of me, we have the motion lights on but they are not bothered by them. although as soon as i make any noise or bang the window they shoot off. im just worried that ill be on a night shift or ill sleep through it and the fox will get them. im having really bad nightmares now where i wake up and look out the window to find my rabbits in a foxes mouth, and the fox runs off and i keep looking for them but car find them  this is really affect my life and sleep. i know it seems daft but they really are my babies


I still have nightmares like this even though mine now live in the house and nothing can get them! V strange


----------



## SLB (Apr 25, 2011)

We don't have our house connected to the mains as we live rural - and my dog can get into the hutches (he has done anyway) so it'd be easy for a fox to get in if it was clever (new bolts coming this week though.

However since we aren't on the mains our waste (toilet and washing) goes into our cesspit, of which is a lovely (when I cut back the plants) gravelled area - so I put two of our rabbits there, foxes have been on our garden and even though we can't smell the cesspit they obviously can, I've heard babies on the garden too but my rabbits are still there. 

It also helps having a dog (or 3) I'm sure ours have chased them off before when I've let them out late at night.

However I'm not so sure next doors chickens will survive much longer.. they don't have much of a hedge (ours is 6 ft and enclosed the whole perimeter) and I have seen foxes on there before and their chickens wander around the garden 6am till 7pm and I have seen foxes in the daylight.. but they're anti social neighbours who put a fence up so "if they moved someone else might not be as friendly - it's nothing personal" (but it is if they don't move) 

Anyway human waste is good or a dog - they don't like either


----------



## emzybabe (Jun 30, 2009)

I really would recommend getting a shed you might find one cheap at this time of year. can you connect a hose up to a sink and quirt them out the window? also they might not like bottles filled with water like cats apparently dont. 

Also ive used cayenne pepper to keep cats from pooing in a graveled area it worked really well


----------



## Acid (Aug 8, 2011)

this might not work for you but years ago when we had rabbits and before we bought them a shed to keep them safer from foxes my mum would leave a big bowl of dog food (the tinned meaty kind) and occasionally left over chicken from roast dinners in a corner in the opposite end of the garden and the foxes started going for that and left the hutch alone

i guess its cause they were really hungry in the early winter and were desperate for the rabbits as we had dogs at the time and as soon as the dog had come back in theyd be back over the fence (we couldnt leave the dogs out all night as it was cold anyway)


----------



## nattylops (Jul 16, 2011)

just want to say a massive thank you to all the replies iv got and im taking them all into consideration. so the 1st thing im going to do is the rabbits hutch, iv spoken to my dad and he sed i can have his garden storage if i buy him a little thing to put his stuff in. my dads storage is a brick shed with a window. do you think this would be better then buying a brand new large shed ? although i will need to get a new window for it as this ones a little rotted ? im also going to buy the fox noise thing that little miss suggested  fingers crossed now


----------

