Urban fox in my garden

FRockStar

A fence won't help, they'll just jump over. I spent ages putting up netting to cover any gaps around the bottom of our hedge, only to see the bastard fox bounding happily over our 7ft fence! 
I found that sprinkling hot chilli powder where they were digging worked. Gives em a nasty little surprise! Be prepared to buy a big bag though: they are persistent little buggers! I had to keep sprinkling nearly every night. 
Another tip I tried is different kind of sprinkling: Some say they are put off by the scent of human wee! So, you have to go around marking your territory, as it were. I had many a late night, post pub, jaunt around the garden, chilli bag in one hand and the old chap in the other. I would advise pissing first and shaking out the hot stuff second (I made the mistake of trying the other way round!) 
In not sure the urine was that effective though. I think maybe town foxes are used to it, or maybe are also alcoholics and liked the high booze content! In any case, you won't want to be pissing on your son's footy pitch! 
My foxes have not been digging this year so maybe last year's sprinkling put them off. They are still about though and will chew up the kids' plastic balls if they leave them out. 
You can also get deterrent devices that emit high pitched sounds to scare them off. I didn't try these as I didn't want to freak out the numerous neighbourhood cats & dogs! 

ICBM

Get a cat - probably something tough and fairly aggressive from you local cat rescue. You might be surprised to know which wins in a fight, if you haven't seen it… foxes aren't that much bigger than a cat, and won't mess with something with claws that sharp. The cat does see the fox as a threat though, and will chase it off.

FRockStar

Our fox is quite friendly with the neighbours' cats. I've seen it sleeping side by side with one of them. 

paul_c2

capo4th said:

a fox repeatedly visits my garden digging and yesterday has chewed up the net in my sons football goal thus costing me cash.

what is the answer fretboarders ? 

Did it break the offside rule? If so, then some simple pointers on strategy and optimal attack formation would help. If not, then ball control skills and exercises on passing and shot-at-goal would probably be better.

Rocker

Shotgun is the only solution that actually works all 

boogieman

ICBM said:

Get a cat - probably something tough and fairly aggressive from you local cat rescue. You might be surprised to know which wins in a fight, if you haven't seen it… foxes aren't that much bigger than a cat, and won't mess with something with claws that sharp. The cat does see the fox as a threat though, and will chase it off.

We've got two cats and a dog and it doesn't deter the foxes at all. The cats are both big semi-feral toms and they sleep outside, so it's not like a fox wouldn't notice them. And yeah, foxes can jump fences. They get over the six foot panels into our garden with no problem. 

Tbh I like foxes and they don't bother me that much, apart from the horrible noise they make when they mate and the little piles of poo they leave. No worse than the cats' crap though.