Lone fox cub living in my back garden. Lost?

LRNM

Last week I heard some commotion in my garden shed. When I went to investigate a little fox cub jumped out and ran into the ditch.
I left it be but a week later it's still residing in the ditch and playing in the garden randomly at day/night.

We've regularly been sitting out enjoying the sun and it's getting used to us now and quite friendly although still somewhat timid.

It seems to be healthy weight but separated from it's family or maybe they got killed. I'm not sure of it's male or female.

We live rurally but the way our house is it won't be able to get back up the fields without making a short trek across the stream and up the village. As for now it only has about 1/4 of an acre marsh beside our house, a little stream and a garden to play in.

We feed it very sparingly. Maybe a bit of ham every evening which is probably bad but I'm worried it can't support itself yet.

Any advice on how I should proceed?
I'm hoping it will grow up and move on soon but I wouldn't mind a resident fox either. I'm mostly worried it will get hit by a car.

Will post some pictures shortly.

LRNM

New Home

I'd say you should be ok with giving him/her dog food, but maybe ring a local wildlife ranger or a wildlife rescue place and ask them.

(also, how gorgeous! )

LRNM

New Home wrote: »

I'd say you should be ok with giving him/her dog food, but maybe ring a local wildlife ranger or a wildlife rescue place and ask them.

(also, how gorgeous! )

Thanks I never thought of that, I'll give one a shout asap. Do you know how much it would need to eat each day?
And yes it's a lovely looking fox. Very curious and friendly.

jasonb

This website might help, they have contact details etc. for different areas.

http://www.irishwildlifematters.ie/animals/fox.html

gimli2112

He may have been born a fox but he's now your dog.
What a cute fox.

New Home

jasonb wrote: »

This website might help, they have contact details etc. for different areas.

http://www.irishwildlifematters.ie/animals/fox.html

Excellent, thanks for posting that.

LRNM wrote: »

Thanks I never thought of that, I'll give one a shout asap. Do you know how much it would need to eat each day?
And yes it's a lovely looking fox. Very curious and friendly.

I'd say as much as a dog.

jasonb

New Home wrote: »

Excellent, thanks for posting that.

No worries, that website has helped us twice in the last couple of months, with a Bat and then a nestling Blackbird!

ratracer

It would be better to give him raw meat as opposed to packets of ham, it will be closer to his normal diet in the wild. Feeding would be similar to a pup I’d say.

Mickeroo

That is one cute fox :eek:

Tabnabs

These guys specialise in fox cub orphans and may be able to help you out directly. Have a neighbour who volunteers for them and her garden is like a wildlife sanctuary.

https://www.facebook.com/Wildlifeunitkildare/

Alun

Mickeroo wrote: »

That is one cute fox :eek:

Very cute, and in very good condition too !

LRNM

I bought a tin of dog food for it. Will definitely throw it some raw meat too.
Kildare is a bit of a drive for me but I'll consider calling that rescue if my other contact falls through.

jasonb wrote: »

This website might help, they have contact details etc. for different areas.

http://www.irishwildlifematters.ie/animals/fox.html

Brilliant. Found a listing not far from me. No answer but sent them a text so fingers crossed they get back to me.

gimli2112 wrote: »

He may have been born a fox but he's now your dog.
What a cute fox.

As much as I'd love to keep it as a pet, it's still a wild animal and I'm just concerned it could have a better life if it found it's way back to the wild. It must be very lonely and scared with no companions or underground den for shelter. My garden is all high walls, the marsh is walled in, the only way out of here is over a bridge onto the main road.

I'll wait to see what the wildlife ranger says. Maybe it might be best to leave it do it's own thing here.

I'll keep ye updated with pictures and videos soon.

New Home

Thanks for those links, guys, I might open a thread with all the contact details for wildlife rescue places, "what-to-do-if"s etc. and leave it as a sticky. Not tonight, though, I've actual work to catch up on.

magicbastarder

good idea - we foster rescue hogs occasionally, from hedgehog rescue dublin, and it's their busiest summer ever so a good time for that.

yvonne was interviewed on the ryan tubridy show about it yesterday.

magicbastarder

magicbastarder wrote: »

good idea - we foster rescue hogs occasionally

Talk about a dream job! I couldn’t imagine doing anything nicer.

Away With The Fairies

That is a cute little fox.

LRNM

Interesting experience this evening. I got home from work, opened the back door to see the cub bolting across the garden towards me like an excited puppy. There was even a bounce in it's step haha. I wish I was recording it to show ye.
I never thought I'd see a fox so happy
It circled around my legs a couple times.
Very playful behaviour in the garden in general.

Gave it some food which it devoured.
Check out these facial expressions:D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0A9BncdJTk

The ranger text me back and said he was very busy currently and can't talk until next week but said it should be fine as long as it's fed n watered.

Day Lewin

Foxes can be "tame" as in, very habituated to humans. But they don't make good pets - please do not go down this route!

They never get house-trained, and will make messy droppings, dig holes in your garden, and be smelly too.

If this little cub gets too trusting of humans, and then runs off one night, it may trust the wrong human one of these days: they are safer being left wild.
You might be better off transporting it yourself to the area where you believe its family group are living. Yes, foxes have family groups and this little one has gone missing! They will probably know it by voice and smell.

NB It is extremely difficult to sex a fox unless you get a clear, direct look at the undercarriage. I've watched them for many years and I still often can't tell at a distance which is dog and which is vixen.

LRNM

Day Lewin wrote: »

Foxes can be "tame" as in, very habituated to humans. But they don't make good pets - please do not go down this route!

They never get house-trained, and will make messy droppings, dig holes in your garden, and be smelly too.

If this little cub gets too trusting of humans, and then runs off one night, it may trust the wrong human one of these days: they are safer being left wild.
You might be better off transporting it yourself to the area where you believe its family group are living. Yes, foxes have family groups and this little one has gone missing! They will probably know it by voice and smell.

NB It is extremely difficult to sex a fox unless you get a clear, direct look at the undercarriage. I've watched them for many years and I still often can't tell at a distance which is dog and which is vixen.

I agree. It's cute to have in the garden now but I really don't want to make a pet out of it. I'm just viewing it as a foster cub for the time being.
As soon as that ranger is free I'm going to hopefully see if he can re introduce it to the wild it next week.

tricky D

Does any body else think that assuming abandonment and fostering is premature?

The fella is in good condition.
He has been around for at least a week.
There is no confirmation of abandonment. He could just be wandering while the parents are asleep or hunting. Just because the parents have not been seen does not mean they are not around.

That doesn't mean a bit of dog food isn't a bad thing.

/my2c

LRNM

tricky D wrote: »

Does any body else think that assuming abandonment and fostering is premature?

The fella is in good condition.
He has been around for at least a week.
There is no confirmation of abandonment. He could just be wandering while the parents are asleep or hunting. Just because the parents have not been seen does not mean they are not around.

That doesn't mean a bit of dog food isn't a bad thing.

/my2c

I think lost is more likely. Fwiw it sleeps alone in that grass ditch all day. Emerges around 2-3pm for an hour or so then goes back into the ditch until sunset.
I've seen it drink from the stream at random hours. It runs about my garden until at least midnight.
I've seen it around the ditch early in the morning too around 6am.

Im no expert but I would presume it's too young to be living alone in a ditch for such extended periods of time. There's no underground burrow for him here either which I presume it's missing and would like to return to.

At a guess it's about 2 months old.

Is it normal for fox cubs to go off from their den for a week or more at a time?

gimli2112

he's probably distracting the op while the parents take the turkey out of the fridge

magicbastarder

magicbastarder wrote: »

good idea - we foster rescue hogs occasionally, from hedgehog rescue dublin, and it's their busiest summer ever so a good time for that.

yvonne was interviewed on the ryan tubridy show about it yesterday.

this is stevie trundler; he's blind so gets up a little early (around 8pm for the last couple of days) because he can't really tell the difference between day and night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arJ5d-sbrmg

if you're on facebook, give hedgehog rescue dublin a follow, and more importantly than that, throw them a couple of bob from time to time.

LRNM

Hi. Just an update for you all. As per irishwildlifematters.ie and all your help yeah the fox did infact decide to move on. They grow up so fast



It's moved next door to the 1/4 acre marsh. Last time I saw it I was going out for my jog and as i was crossing the bridge it was sitting on the stream bank. Though it does return once every night or two for a sniff around my garden.



Turns out it's quite normal for fox cubs to move out around 2-3 months old for a bit. It's just finding it's feet. Lovely little fella really, very curious and playful. I left the garden shed open last week and it hopped in and started routing around even, brazen out!

New Home

Absolutely gorgeous.

carzony

He's in such great condition.

LRNM

Can't help but post one last picture here. I still feel so blessed.



On a couple of occasions the little fella would follow me around the garden then act nervous and hide before following me back to the other side of the garden. Playful glint in its eye

New Home

I really hope that's not the last picture.