You may have heard the warnings before: keep your pets indoors at night or a fox will snatch them up. But what if you’re the owner of a prized lawn and landscape instead? There’s nothing quite like the sight of a healthy, green lawn – unless, of course, that lawn is being ravaged by pesky foxes.
Foxes can be just as destructive to your property as they are to your furry friends. As much as we love seeing wildlife in our yards, there are some animals that we just don’t want around. Foxes are one of those animals. Luckily, there are steps you can take to deter these creatures from calling your yard home.
If you’re looking for ways to keep those critters from ruining your yard, you’ve come to the right place. In this blog post, we will discuss some tips on how to deter foxes from your property. Stay tuned for more information!
What Are Foxes?
Foxes are small or medium-sized mammals that are in the same family as canines such as dogs and wolves. They have a flattened skull, erect and triangular ears, a sharp, somewhat upward-slanting nose, and a lengthy bushy tail.
Foxes are among the relatively few animals that have been able to adapt themselves to urban and suburban human habitats. Like squirrels or deer or raccoons, they are among the most commonly-seen animal in backyards and neighborhood gardens. They have an omnivorous diet, which means they eat both meat and vegetables and really anything, so they may subsist on waste food. Additionally, their cautious and often nocturnal nature ensures that they are frequently able to avoid detection, despite their bigger size.
Why Are They In Your Garden?
Foxes are often seen in people’s gardens. The main reasons for this are because they love security, darkness and cover, shaded and secluded areas that offer protection and peace and quiet, as well as a consistent and easy to find food source, and often home gardens offer all of these.
Foxes primarily eat small animals like small reptiles and birds, as well as insects. They also eat vegetables, fruits, and eggs, so any of these in your lawn might be a reason foxes come wandering through.
Additionally, foxes love hiding and storing food, as well as looking for places to hide themselves and any of their offspring. Therefore, if you have lots of obstacles or objects in your yard, these could provide small shelters that foxes take advantage of and hide out in.
How To Get Rid Of Foxes
It’s important to know what foxes are and why you keep finding them in your lawn and garden if you want to more effectively eliminate them from those spaces. So, now that we know all about these troublemaking pests, let’s look at some humane and natural ways to get rid of them!
Keep Food Sources To A Minimum
This method is more about not attracting foxes in the first place than getting them out of your yard once they’ve come in. You want to keep your yard clean and free of debris, fallen branches, nests built by birds or bats (which foxes like to use), garbage bags, open compost bins with food in them, etc. If you want fewer foxes around your garden and lawn, make sure there is nothing out there for them to eat!
Fencing
Foxes are incredibly agile animals. They can squeeze through surprisingly small spaces, so they are difficult to keep out of your yard with fences. They can also jump on top of tall places, so they can jump over the fence even if you plant it deep in your soil and make sure there are no gaps in it.
Adding wall spikes to the fence are usually enough to keep them out. Foxes frequently scale your fence or gate, so boosting the top with some spikes may serve as a strong deterrent not just for foxes but also cats, birds, and other creatures seeking to get in via the fence.
However, if you yourself or your neighbor has a cat, this can potentially harm them as well, so just be certain the only animals affected by these are ones you don’t want in your yard.
Motion Sensor Lights
Foxes are nocturnal creatures, and while they are predatory to some animals they are also prey for others, meaning they like quiet, dark spaces that they can feel comfortable and protected. On this note, getting a motion sensor light that triggers every time they run by is a very effective way to keep them away from your lawn.
They will get spooked at the sudden blinding light and will run away very fast, so fast that they might never come back. However, if they do come back, just make sure to have the motion sensors on for a few weeks or so to really keep them away.
Sprinklers
This operates under the same method as the motion sensor lights. A sudden, random, and unexpected sprinkling is a very unpleasant event that foxes will want to avoid. So, if you have a lawn with a large area, set up several sprinklers around it so whenever a fox comes in they’ll get sprayed by one of them.
The starting of the sprinklers is loud, startling the fox, and then they harsh, cold water is enough to get them running away. Plus, you get the benefit of watering your lawn!
Natural Repellents
Foxes have an incredibly strong sense of smell, in order to make up for the fact that they can’t see all that well. This means you can spread out some smelly substances and they will stay away from your garden and all of the fruits and vegetables you have planted there.
Smells like garlic, chili powder, and capsaicin are effective repellents for foxes. You can boil garlic and chilies together in water and then mix it in a blender. Spray that mixture over your lawn’s perimeter, and foxes won’t want to come in for a long time.
In Summary
Foxes are a common nuisance in suburban areas. They’re drawn to your garden because it has something they want – food sources, water, and shelter from predators. It’s important to take action now before they make themselves at home in your yard!
At first glance this may seem like a daunting task, but if you’re looking for a way to keep foxes off your lawn, there are many different methods that can be used. Some of the most common ways people have found success with is using motion sensor lights and sprinklers as well as keeping food sources to a minimum. Have any other tips or tricks? Let us know in the comments below! We hope you have good luck getting rid of those annoying foxes!
