How To Deter Foxes Without Harming Them

Foxes can become an enormous problem for homeowners. These animals cause substantial damage. They tear up lawns and flowerbeds, and tunnel beneath fences. In addition to this, they also tear apart garbage and leave a huge mess all over the place. But how can you deter foxes and prevent this from happening? More importantly, how can you do this without harming them?  

Can you deter foxes without hurting them?  

Urban foxes are not easily chased away. They are used to being around humans and are not afraid of us. However, they do prefer to keep a distance. Some people want to keep them out of their gardens or front drives, but don’t want to harm them in any way.

So how do you deter foxes without harming them? The first step is making your home as unattractive as possible. Foxes enter into your garden because they are looking for food. Most of the time, this food comes from bins. To prevent this, all bins should seal tightly and also lock. Foxes should not be able to get into your bins. You may also want to keep your bins inside the garage. At the very least you should place a brick on the lid of your bins. Also make sure to wash out bins from time to time.

Foxes eat a wide variety of food. They may be attracted to berries growing on a bush. If you have a vegetable patch, then this could be enclosed. Foxes are also attracted to compost heaps. Your compost heap should be covered up or also enclosed.

It’s also necessary that you prevent urban foxes from digging beneath your fences. To do this dig a one foot hole beneath your fence. Then place chicken wire across this hole and cover it up again. This should help to deter foxes and stop them digging beneath fences.

Natural ways to chase foxes away

If foxes are still getting into your back garden, there are other things you can do to stop them. Automatic sprinklers should be set to come on at night. If there are foxes this will chase them away. You could also install motion sensing lights or get 24 hour pest control. These will come on and help to deter foxes – although it may annoy your neighbours. Something else which works well is anti-fox spray, which you can get at garden centers.  

You can also make natural deterrents to stop garden damage yourself. Foxes hate chili pepper and garlic. Mix these together in boiling water, and then place this in a spray bottle. Spray this solution around your garden and hopefully the foxes will leave. Finally, placing animal statues and shiny objects in your garden may help to chase away foxes.