We live in the middle of 3 acres of wooded property, and over the years we have seen our share of wild animals. There have been the turkey families, who have sometimes defied me as I attempted to drive up to my garage; the moles, leaving lovely "soft spots" in our yard where their tunnels are; the squirrels, enjoying the bounty of acorns from our oak trees and helping to plant more; the deer, transforming my hostas into yucca-like plants after eating all the flowers and leaving just the stems; Chuck, the woodchuck, sunbathing on my deck when not eating my cone flowers (he sits on his haunches and eats, reminding me of Bugs Bunny eating a carrot); and now we have Fred, the red fox, living under our front deck, who we found out recently is really Fredrika because she has babies!
We've seen Fred off and on over the past two years, but Pearl is who discovered her babies for us. She and I had been hearing soft bumping noises under the deck when sitting in the kitchen. She decided to take a look out the kitchen door to the deck, and lo and behold, there were three fox babies playing in the ground cover! Pearl went crazy! I managed to catch her and gate her in the back hall so that I could watch. They were about the size of a beany baby and they played and rolled around like little puppies. We saw them off and on for about a week. Fred would leave treasures for them to eat (once we saw a rabbit leg, another time a squirrel tail and torso) at the "door" to their hideaway. But Pearl's barking must have finally spooked them because Fred eventually moved them to the woodpile in the backyard.
Nighttime is when we hear Fred and/or her mate. They are nocturnal animals, and so are out hunting in the woods when it's time for me to let Pearl out for her last potty break (don't worry, she's on a chain). Foxes make the creepiest sound...it's a very raspy, throaty bark. Fred doesn't come close, she just walks the perimeters of our yard, barking at us. I had no idea that foxes made any sound at all, until I googled "creepy night barking" and red foxes was one of the animals that came up. When I clicked on the YouTube video, I immediately saw and heard a fox barking like Fred does! Even knowing what the bark is, I still don't like it and always go outside with Pearl at night, armed with my weapon-like flash light that I shine out in the woods! When I've caught Fred in the light, her eyes glowed red....euwwwwww!
It didn't take long for the fox family to miss the spaciousness of our deck, so they soon moved back. And suddenly I counted FOUR babies, instead of three. And then in another week or so, while watching the four of them play (my living room chair is a front row seat to watch them), I noticed another head poke out from under the deck...a FIFTH baby! By now my plants are getting destroyed by their antics, as they think our deck and surrounding ground cover are their own personal playground! We have a three-tiered fountain that we haven't taken the cover off of yet, because they think it's a jungle gym for them and we can only imagine how much more fun splashing in the water would be!
In the meantime, poor Pearl has been going crazy with these babies always around. She spends her days going from window to window, looking for them, and when they're around she is beside herself. And as much as I enjoy watching them (they're so dang cute), they're upsetting the balance of our happy home. So on Thursday, I called animal control.
My first question I asked was do they catch and release, to which she said yes. Good. But when I told her what kind of animals I wanted caught, there was a pause, and then she said she didn't know of anyone who has ever caught red foxes because most people like having them around to catch mice and other small pesky animals. But she was excited and wanted to take the challenge! So out she came with five large cages, which she baited with cat food, sardines, and dead mice! She put them near each opening we found by the deck and told me to call her if we caught any before she came back to check on them later in the day. That night I had a hard time sleeping...I felt so guilty betraying my babies!
Well, there's a reason for the saying, "sly as a fox", because the foxes outsmarted us! They took one look at the cages, and got out of town! They didn't touch the yummy food (except for one can of cat food that was set out on the deck and not in a cage...they took off with that one!), they just decided to relocate again. I did catch them on the deck on Friday when I came home from doing errands, but the babies just made a dive for under the deck, and Fred calmly walked out in the yard, watching me (in the car). I rolled down my window and told her to take her babies and run for it...I really didn't want them to get caught, I just want them out from under my deck!
On Monday, we surrendered and the traps were all taken away. We didn't catch the foxes, but hopefully we've caused them to relocate permanently somewhere else. In the meantime, I've ordered a couple of solar and ultrasonic animal repellers that I'll put out in the yard and hope that helps deter the foxes, and also the deer. We still hear Fred at night barking at us, but maybe these will help keep her from coming close again. Who's out-foxing who?!
We've seen Fred off and on over the past two years, but Pearl is who discovered her babies for us. She and I had been hearing soft bumping noises under the deck when sitting in the kitchen. She decided to take a look out the kitchen door to the deck, and lo and behold, there were three fox babies playing in the ground cover! Pearl went crazy! I managed to catch her and gate her in the back hall so that I could watch. They were about the size of a beany baby and they played and rolled around like little puppies. We saw them off and on for about a week. Fred would leave treasures for them to eat (once we saw a rabbit leg, another time a squirrel tail and torso) at the "door" to their hideaway. But Pearl's barking must have finally spooked them because Fred eventually moved them to the woodpile in the backyard.
Nighttime is when we hear Fred and/or her mate. They are nocturnal animals, and so are out hunting in the woods when it's time for me to let Pearl out for her last potty break (don't worry, she's on a chain). Foxes make the creepiest sound...it's a very raspy, throaty bark. Fred doesn't come close, she just walks the perimeters of our yard, barking at us. I had no idea that foxes made any sound at all, until I googled "creepy night barking" and red foxes was one of the animals that came up. When I clicked on the YouTube video, I immediately saw and heard a fox barking like Fred does! Even knowing what the bark is, I still don't like it and always go outside with Pearl at night, armed with my weapon-like flash light that I shine out in the woods! When I've caught Fred in the light, her eyes glowed red....euwwwwww!
It didn't take long for the fox family to miss the spaciousness of our deck, so they soon moved back. And suddenly I counted FOUR babies, instead of three. And then in another week or so, while watching the four of them play (my living room chair is a front row seat to watch them), I noticed another head poke out from under the deck...a FIFTH baby! By now my plants are getting destroyed by their antics, as they think our deck and surrounding ground cover are their own personal playground! We have a three-tiered fountain that we haven't taken the cover off of yet, because they think it's a jungle gym for them and we can only imagine how much more fun splashing in the water would be!
In the meantime, poor Pearl has been going crazy with these babies always around. She spends her days going from window to window, looking for them, and when they're around she is beside herself. And as much as I enjoy watching them (they're so dang cute), they're upsetting the balance of our happy home. So on Thursday, I called animal control.
My first question I asked was do they catch and release, to which she said yes. Good. But when I told her what kind of animals I wanted caught, there was a pause, and then she said she didn't know of anyone who has ever caught red foxes because most people like having them around to catch mice and other small pesky animals. But she was excited and wanted to take the challenge! So out she came with five large cages, which she baited with cat food, sardines, and dead mice! She put them near each opening we found by the deck and told me to call her if we caught any before she came back to check on them later in the day. That night I had a hard time sleeping...I felt so guilty betraying my babies!
Well, there's a reason for the saying, "sly as a fox", because the foxes outsmarted us! They took one look at the cages, and got out of town! They didn't touch the yummy food (except for one can of cat food that was set out on the deck and not in a cage...they took off with that one!), they just decided to relocate again. I did catch them on the deck on Friday when I came home from doing errands, but the babies just made a dive for under the deck, and Fred calmly walked out in the yard, watching me (in the car). I rolled down my window and told her to take her babies and run for it...I really didn't want them to get caught, I just want them out from under my deck!
On Monday, we surrendered and the traps were all taken away. We didn't catch the foxes, but hopefully we've caused them to relocate permanently somewhere else. In the meantime, I've ordered a couple of solar and ultrasonic animal repellers that I'll put out in the yard and hope that helps deter the foxes, and also the deer. We still hear Fred at night barking at us, but maybe these will help keep her from coming close again. Who's out-foxing who?!
Oh Marcia your little sly foxes are so cute. They look like a kitty and a puppy mixed together :). I know you have had fun looking at them and watching them grow but dealing with their "messes" is not fun. We have had raccoons before and was very glad they went back into the wild.
ReplyDeletePS.... I like your new blog page design.