Foxes

Biology and Habitat

Foxes mate during January and February, litters (average size five) are born in March and April and cubs may remain with the Vixen until July.

The Urban Fox is generally nocturnal and its search for food, in addition to mice, moles, insects, earthworms, may include scavenging from dustbins and bird tables, etc. It will also certainly take rabbits, guinea pigs and poultry not held in secure pens and hutches and when rearing cubs may occasionally take a kitten. It must be emphasised, however, that foxes and cats regularly encounter and usually ignore each other.

In urban areas foxes will find cover and sites for earths in numerous locations including parks, cemeteries, overgrown gardens and beneath sheds, etc.

Control

Killing foxes in urban areas is both unnecessary and unlikely to provide a long-term solution as other foxes move in to vacant territories. Certainly Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Pest Control Service does not provide a fox trapping or eradication service.

If foxes are living on or under your property then specialist advice should be sought (see below). If you wish to deter them from gaining access to your property at night do not use a chemical preparation – most are illegal and those few which are not, are approved for home garden use only, usually to deter cats and dogs and are not proven against foxes. You can discourage foxes from areas where they are unwelcome by not feeding them, clearing undergrowth, proofing areas under garages and sheds and securing waste in solid bins. Fences of a minimum 2m height with a 30cm overhang should keep them out as also should single strand electric fencing at heights of 15cm and 35cm.