Would a Fox make a good pet?

Run_to_da_hills

Would a fox make a good pet? is there anyone who ever had one as a pet? I believe they carry heaps of flees.

kowloon

I'm sure any housepet would be riddled with lice and the like if it was out in the wild.
I've always wanted a flock of woodpigeon, or a pet herring gull.

Monsoon26

kowloon wrote: »

I'm sure any housepet would be riddled with lice and the like if it was out in the wild.
I've always wanted a flock of woodpigeon, or a pet herring gull.

herring gull indeed..!
why do you ask OP..? Have u got a cub?, as that would be the only way to naturalise them to human contact, other than that they are wild, or at best, semi aclimatised through scavanging from humans. - i.e. you might be able to feed them in your garden, but wouldn't wanna go pettin em...

Run_to_da_hills

kowloon wrote: »

I'm sure any housepet would be riddled with lice and the like if it was out in the wild.
I've always wanted a flock of woodpigeon, or a pet herring gull.

I knew a guy in Dalkey that had a large blackback gull as a pet. He was a park ranger and people would call him up regularly with injured birds. He got it as an abandoned chick, several months down the line someone reported him for keeping a seagull in captivity. (I believe is Illegal) to put a long story short when the DSPCA arrived they knew the guy and rolled their eyes. It was let loose, did a few circles around the house and landed again in the garden a few feet from the inspectors.

kowloon

Used to live in Balbriggan, gulls lived on the roof and pecked on the window for food. Used to have the juveniles falling off the roof every year unable to fly back up.

Run_to_da_hills

kowloon wrote: »

Used to live in Balbriggan, gulls lived on the roof and pecked on the window for food. Used to have the juveniles falling off the roof every year unable to fly back up.

I use to work for the Irish Lighthouse service, we should have got danger money during nesting season.

kowloon

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I use to work for the Irish Lighthouse service, we should have got danger money during nesting season.

Theres a knack to picking them up alright. They would tear the hand off you given half the chance.
Interesting line of work, how did you end up in that?

Run_to_da_hills

kowloon wrote: »

Theres a knack to picking them up alright. They would tear the hand off you given half the chance.
Interesting line of work, how did you end up in that?

I served my apprentiship as a mechanical fitter in the Lighthouse Depot in Dunlaoghaire in the 1980ies and a few years experience after. We would service diesel generators, compressors etc around the coast. The most interesting rocks for birds / wildlife would be Rockabill, Skelligs and Rathlin Island. The terns were the worst for attacks during nesting season.

gerky

Sorry to rain on this idea but no, it would neither be fair nor wise to try to keep a fox as a pet.
They are wild animals and although they are similar to dogs they are not domesticated, dogs have been living with humans for 15,000yrs or more.

It has been tried but is rarely if ever successful and usually ends with the fox dying or having to be got rid of or put down.

And there's several reasons it wouldn't be wise for yourself as well, they have very strong scents and they mark and spray their territory, they are born diggers, the are wild animals and even if raised from cubs they never lose that wild streak and hair trigger.

It really wouldn't be fair.
So best to just admire them for what they are, a wild animal even though with some of the urban ones you wouldn't think it.

Run_to_da_hills

gerky wrote: »

Sorry to rain on this idea but no, it would neither be fair nor wise to try to keep a fox as a pet.
They are wild animals and although they are similar to dogs they are not domesticated, dogs have been living with humans for 15,000yrs or more.

It has been tried but is rarely if ever successful and usually ends with the fox dying or having to be got rid of or put down.

And there's several reasons it wouldn't be wise for yourself as well, they have very strong scents and the mark and spray their territory, they are born diggers, the are wild animals and even if raised from cubs they never lose that wild streak and hair trigger.

It really wouldn't be fair.
So best to just admirer them for what they are, a wild animal even though with some of the urban ones you wouldn't think it.

:mad:

gerky

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

:mad:

Would you prefer I lied to you and said its a great idea only for you and the fox to suffer the hassle and heartache others already have.

Run_to_da_hills

gerky wrote: »

Would you prefer I lied to you and said its a great idea only for you and the fox to suffer the hassle and heartache others already have.

I can't see anything at all wrong with a fox hanging around the garden, coming up to the door for food and having its own free will to do a bunk if it ever wanted to.

kowloon

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I served my apprentiship as a mechanical fitter in the Lighthouse Depot in Dunlaoghaire in the 1980ies and a few years experience after. We would service diesel generators, compressors etc around the coast. The most interesting rocks for birds / wildlife would be Rockabill, Skelligs and Rathlin Island. The terns were the worst for attacks during nesting season.

Rockabill is supposed to be the largest colony of the Rosate Terns, used to watch them diving into the sea from the beach between Balbriggan and Skerries.

Run_to_da_hills

kowloon wrote: »

Rockabill is supposed to be the largest colony of the Rosate Terns, used to watch them diving into the sea from the beach between Balbriggan and Skerries.

I know all about it, I was there in 1988 for a fourtnight during nesting season. An official from the Dept of wildlife was out there at the same time with a .22 rifle culling black back gulls, gave me a pot shoot of it and i missed :mad . He had a mobile phone with him. My first time ever seeing one. At that time a mobile phone was something with a three foot antenna that you threw over your shoulder.

gerky

I don't see much wrong with leaving food out every so often and watching them or snapping a few pictures of them or anything like that.

Its the taming of them that's wrong, by getting them to fully trust you your also getting them to trust all humans and sadly for every person like yourself and myself that gets great pleasure out of wildlife there are several who get just as much pleasure out of injuring and killing them and a tame fox is a very easy target.
Wild animals need to have a healthy fear of humans.

Run_to_da_hills

You would have to treat it like a cat, i.e. keep it outside all ther time. If it likes to go for walkies let it follow you. The one I saw last night followed me for about 200 yards and traipsed about 6 feet behind me. I am going back to night with some dog food to see he it will take it.

The good thing about a pet fox is that it would rid the garden of all unwanted cats and pidgeons.

gerky

Its really not a good idea to keep a fox, most if not all animal societies agree on this its not fair to a wild animal and would probably be considered animal cruelty.
I don't know what else I can say to convince you on this.

Run_to_da_hills

I cannot see anything at all wrong with it having a few tame foxes playing about in the back garden. For starters you are not keeping them in captivity against their wills, they can go back to their own dens at their leisure when ever they want. There is no difference to leaving food out for a fox at your doorstep than having a bird table.

A lot worse goes on in this country with foxes and little or nothing is said or done about it.

About 10 years ago I had a letter published in the Irish Times campaigning for people to cut the lid off their new wheelie bins because animals like foxes, badgers and feral cats would suffer from starvation. RTE had a follow up chat about it and I was interviewed, this is the reason why foxes are now becoming more intrusive than ever.

gerky

Your changing your stance first you said pet and bring it for walks then you said it could come and go of its own accord.

But as I said I don't think there's to much wrong leaving out bits and pieces,watching them or taking pictures of them but what your talking about is taming them to become like pets which is wrong.

Run_to_da_hills

gerky wrote: »

Your changing your stance first you said pet and bring it for walks then you said it could come and go of its own accord.

But as I said I don't think there's to much wrong leaving out bits and pieces,watching them or taking pictures of them but what your talking about is taming them to become like pets which is wrong.

Yes bring it for walkies, the one last night was went walkies with me for 200 yards and im sure it would have gone further. As regards to not having a lead or taking a cr*p on the footpath you can simply deny you own it if you are ever stopped by a warden.

The reason they would become tame is that they loose their fear of man, just like the one last night and I am sure the more it hangs about adults and kids the more tame it will get.

doctor evil

Please don't feed vermin!

As for them starving due to wheeliebins did you not think there was too many about in the first place? They're resourceful animals, let them earn their meal.

Run_to_da_hills

doctor evil wrote: »

Please don't feed vermin!

As for them starving due to wheeliebins did you not think there was too many about in the first place? They're resourceful animals, let them earn their meal.

Foxes are cute .:)

They earn their meal by rooting in a bin and do the council a favor, i.e. they leave less food for rats which I would consider a far greater nuisance. As to hand feeding them directly, I would prefer to be doing that than be throwing bread to the rats with wings that plague our cities.

gversey

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Foxes are cute .:)

They earn their meal by rooting in a bin and do the council a favor, i.e. they leave less food for rats which I would consider a far greater nuisance. As to hand feeding them directly, I would prefer to be doing that than be throwing bread to the rats with wings that plague our cities.

I agree 100%

Run_to_da_hills

gversey wrote: »

I agree 100%

There should be an on the spot fine for feeding pidgeons.

Sam Kade

My brother has a fox that comes up to his backdoor every evening with the last three months. He can feed him out of his hand, he used to go to a neighbour of his before that.

Green Hornet

Get a pomeranian instead. They look like a fox .

Run_to_da_hills

Green Hornet wrote: »

Get a pomeranian instead. They look like a fox .

I love teasing these dogs, they have a very vicious temperament

Green Hornet

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I love teasing these dogs, they have a vicious temperament

I love 'em and you're dead right. They almost look at you as if they can understand what you're saying. Used to have one at home and he hated hens! Always at war with them. His face would turn all vicious when he encountered them and chase them.

Probably about the only thing he could bully so he made the most of it

Run_to_da_hills

Green Hornet wrote: »

I love 'em and you're dead right. They almost look at you as if they can understand what you're saying. Used to have one at home and he hated hens! Always at war with them. His face would turn all vicious when he encountered them and chase them.

Probably about the only thing he could bully so he made the most of it

A mate has one in Ennis, It cannot stand me because I love making it show its teeth and snarling which dose not takes much. These dogs are much underestimated and would make as good a guard dog as a Rothweiler or Alsatian, they also make plenty of noise at the drop of a pin.

Sam Kade wrote: »

My brother has a fox that comes up to his backdoor every evening with the last three months. He can feed him out of his hand, he used to go to a neighbour of his before that.

More people should be doing this.

brianthebard

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I cannot see anything at all wrong with it having a few tame foxes playing about in the back garden.

you are being awfully naive if you think you could tame a fox,especially an adult one.it would take several generations before you would have a fox even approaching tameness.it may be ok to leave food out for them but anything else you might do would be selfish imo.

Run_to_da_hills

brianthebard wrote: »

you are being awfully naive if you think you could tame a fox,especially an adult one.it would take several generations before you would have a fox even approaching tameness.it may be ok to leave food out for them but anything else you might do would be selfish imo.

Not being smart but there is several very tame foxes about south Dublin.

I have already encountered one that has been about for several months. Another poster jist mentioned that his brother hand feeds one regularly from his back door.

What more do you expect from them, i.e. fetching and giving the paw :rolleyes:

Esel

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

... I love making it show its teeth and snarling which dose not takes much.

Smart. You probably won't be there when it bites someone. :mad:

Run_to_da_hills

esel wrote: »

Smart. You probably won't be there when it bites someone. :mad:

It would also go for the owner if he napped it I wouldn't exactly trust these breed of dogs at all they are two faced, i.e. the same dog would also be nice to me if I had a bit of bacon in my hand.

Anyway off topic i.e. Poms are not foxes.

doctor evil

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Foxes are cute .:)

They earn their meal by rooting in a bin and do the council a favor, i.e. they leave less food for rats which I would consider a far greater nuisance. As to hand feeding them directly, I would prefer to be doing that than be throwing bread to the rats with wings that plague our cities.

You joking? Do you really think a fox will undo the bin ties and not make an absolute mess of it?

Foxes are vermin and if you think you got one/will get one as a pet I'm afraid you are kidding yourself. They will use you as an easy supply of food and nothing more.

As for their droppings fox dirt is a thousand times nastier than pigeon plop, although neither will bury it as a cat would.

Run_to_da_hills

doctor evil wrote: »

You joking? Do you really think a fox will undo the bin ties and not make an absolute mess of it?.

I have seen them jump out of former conventional bins in the past leaving very little track of any mess behind them. Cats, dogs and crows were worse culprits. Bin liners and wheely bins are only a relatively recent introduction into this country.

doctor evil wrote: »

Foxes are vermin and if you think you got one/will get one as a pet I'm afraid you are kidding yourself.

Rats are also vermin and they make excellent pets and are also known to be very intelligent just like the fox.

doctor evil wrote: »

They will use you as an easy supply of food and nothing more.

Just like any domestic cat

doctor evil wrote: »

As for their droppings fox dirt is a thousand times nastier than pigeon plop, although neither will bury it as a cat would.

They cannot be any worse than pidgeons because pidgeons can drop their plop on top of you, foxes cannot fly. :rolleyes:

dutchcat

i have a fox ,sleeps on the end of my bed;)

brianthebard

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Not being smart but there is several very tame foxes about south Dublin.

I have already encountered one that has been about for several months. Another poster jist mentioned that his brother hand feeds one regularly from his back door.

What more do you expect from them, i.e. fetching and giving the paw :rolleyes:

You are only hearing what you want to hear tbh. Do you really think that just because a fox takes a bit of food from someone its tame? If you had any experience with domesticated animals you would know that even after thousands of years of coexisting with humans they can still be wild and unpredictable. A fox is a wild animal and will always be a wild animal, no matter how much time you spend with it.

whitser

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Would a fox make a good pet? is there anyone who ever had one as a pet? I believe they carry heaps of flees.

absolutely no way.

Zzippy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tame_Silver_Fox

Already been done!

Run_to_da_hills

brianthebard wrote: »

You are only hearing what you want to hear tbh. Do you really think that just because a fox takes a bit of food from someone its tame? If you had any experience with domesticated animals you would know that even after thousands of years of coexisting with humans they can still be wild and unpredictable. A fox is a wild animal and will always be a wild animal, no matter how much time you spend with it.

I already mentioned of rats as making good pets. In Australia Cockatoos, Kangaroos and certain reptiles make excellent pets and these are not "thousands of years coexist” with anybody, in fact some are 1st or 2nd Generation. I already mentioned of a park Ranger in Dalkey having a pet black back gull. The only people in this country that would lobby against keeping foxes as pets would be those that support fox hunts because it would not be in their favor.

gerky

I hadn’t intended posting in this thread again as I felt I was just banging my head of brick wall but your last post just pissed me off enough to bring me back in.

First off brianthebard is fully right your picking and chose what you want to hear, you asked would a fox make a good pet, I responded to tell you no its rarely if ever successful and normally ends with the fox dying , having to be got rid of, or put to sleep.
You then started switching over and back between just letting it come and go and keeping it as a pet.

You then used rats as an example, which makes no sense as people don’t just go out pick up a rat and keep it, they buy a domesticated variety and apart from that by your reasoning just because a certain kind of animal can be kept successfully that should mean all animals can be kept as pets.

Do you think a lion should be kept as a pet or how about a rhino?

And on the remark about supporting fox hunts, are you 12 yrs old or something, the ISPCA do not think wild animals should be kept as pets, do you think that they support foxhunting because their several campaigns against it would beg to differ.
As for me supporting foxhunting that’s the first laugh I got from your posts in this thread, if you take a look through older foxhunting related threads you’ll see I’m passionately against it.

Just because you see no harm doesn’t make it so.
Feed them, watch them grow mature and start their own family but other than that you really should grow up a bit and stop putting your own wants above the needs of an animal.


/rant over

gerky

You chose the words of that poll very carefully to try and suit your own needs, I never said I thought it was wrong to feed them and I in noway class them as vermin, so how should I vote ?
Instead of trying every angle to get people to agree with you maybe you should grow up a bit and stop being so selfish.
A qualified person is who you should be asking not joe public why don't you ask the ISPCA if they think foxes should be kept as pets.

Run_to_da_hills

gerky wrote: »

You chose the words of that poll very carefully to try and suit your own needs, I never said I thought it was wrong to feed them and I in noway class them as vermin, so how should I vote ?
Instead of trying every angle to get people to agree with you maybe you should grow up a bit and stop being so selfish.
A qualified person is who you should be asking not joe public why don't you ask the ISPCA if they think foxes should be kept as pets.

Did I ever once mention in any of my posts the words "captivity", "kept indoors" "enclosure" "trap" "cage"or anything like it. Read again carefully through my posts.

If the DSPCA came out to my house and saw a tame fox eating a can of Master Mc Grath out of a boul in my back garden they could do absolutly jack s*** about it. The majority of family cats live outdoors and can come and go as they choose and as I said before they are only loyal to their owners for the one reason and that is food.

gerky

For starters I didn't say you said any of those things.

Through this whole thread you've said (pet fox) Websters define pet as {a domesticated animal kept for pleasure rather than utility} and said things like bring for walkies, you didn't bring that fox for a walk he followed you on the chance you might give him food.
As I've said several time I don't have a problem with watching them, photographing, feeding them or if they chose to set a den up near to your house letting them stay, I'd do it myself.

But what you've been talking about is taming them to lose their fear of man on purpose which is a selfish thing to do as by doing this your making it very easy for someone else to hurt or kill them.

And out of curiosity how did you intend getting them in to your garden.


I'd prefer to leave it at that and not to row over this as we're not to different, we both respect and want to help wildlife.

kick-on

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I already mentioned of rats as making good pets. In Australia Cockatoos, Kangaroos and certain reptiles make excellent pets and these are not "thousands of years coexist” with anybody, in fact some are 1st or 2nd Generation. I already mentioned of a park Ranger in Dalkey having a pet black back gull. The only people in this country that would lobby against keeping foxes as pets would be those that support fox hunts because it would not be in their favor.

i actually am one of those people who both partakes and suports fox hunting, i recently found a young (sick i think) fox cub in the field at home early one morning and brought it home to try and save its life, it died a day later ( i think it had pnemonia) after i had done my damnest to try feed it n keep it alive, i would have released this fox straight back into the wild as soon as it was fit enough to survive as once they have spent some time in the wild they would never become tame, if there born wild they stay wild!!!!!!!!!!! the only way i believe to geta tame one would be to get a very very young cub before they would have opened their eyes (im presuming there like dogs and cats and stay blind for a week or two), dont think it would be ethical to take a cub from its mother, bar for the mother was hit by a car etc, even us foxhunters stop during the breeding and rearing season

Run_to_da_hills

kick-on wrote: »

i actually am one of those people who both partakes and suports fox hunting

:mad:

whitser

run to hills you have no understanding of foxes or wildlife for that matter if you think a fox would make a good pet. im sure in your mind all animals live in a bambi-esque paradise,but nature is much wilder and harsher than that. i also am a hunter and have great respect for foxes and wildlife and like most hunters have a REAL understanding of how nature works. wild animals dont make good pets,end of.

Run_to_da_hills

Roxy the Domesticated fox TV report.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjqkBcZLwVY&feature=related


The exact same ignorant attitude about keeping foxes as pets goes on in Australia with the Dingo, another breed of dog. I Lived out there for two years and would regularly see dingos kept as pets by both the aborigional and locals. It is illegal to have a dingo as a pet in South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania. Victoria and the Northern Territory require dingo owners to have a special permit. Only New South Wales and Western Australia allow dingoes as pets without a license.

whitser

you seem determined to try and get a fox for a pet despite the fact that not one person on here with knowledge about foxes has said its a good idea. hunters and anti hunters have strongly come out against the notion. but you wont listen. so assume your going to try it. this is the last reply im giving to this thread.

Run_to_da_hills

whitser wrote: »

you seem determined to try and get a fox for a pet despite the fact that not one person on here with knowledge about foxes has said its a good idea. hunters and anti hunters have strongly come out against the notion. but you wont listen. so assume your going to try it. this is the last reply im giving to this thread.

Maybe not on boards.

kick-on

yea whitser is right, you obviously have no intention of listening to the advice given to you by people who are in the know about foxes, i am by no means a expert on foxes but i however have a good understanding of the countryside and there animals and i have also told you how my attempts to nurse a sick fox back to health did not succeed, i think the general concensus is that from both hunters and non hunters or basically anyone with a shred of common sense that any attempt to tame a wild animal would be unsuccessfull and only cause stress to both the animal and there captor