Patrick may have been gone all last week, but I wasn’t alone at night. I had these guys keeping me company outside my window:
Yes, we have a family of four foxes that have decided to take up residence under our deck. Over the past week, I have observed their patterns. Every night at around 10:00 pm, they wake up and come out from under the deck and get ready to go hunting. They must have to get themselves pumped up because I can hear them running around on the deck, knocking things over, and slamming into the windows—the first time I heard it, it scared the crap out of me! Now that I know what it is every night, it doesn’t freak me out so much anymore, but it still is pretty unsettling to hear all that ruckus going on right outside your window. Then they go out for their hunt and I try to fall asleep. Sometime around 8:00 or 9:00 am, they come back and play around on the deck and in our backyard for awhile (this is when the above pictures were taken) before they crawl under the deck to go back to sleep for the day. After a couple days of this, I was done. The fact that they use our deck as their toilet doesn’t help either (what is it with finding rogue turds lately?)
So I called the city wildlife department to find out what can be done about this little problem. The lady said that I could kill them or that I could “encourage” them to find a new home. Since foxes do help control the bunny population, I thought it was probably a good idea to keep them alive. . . just not in my yard (also, Kendall told me we were NOT allowed to kill them since that is how animals become endangered). So in order to get them to feel unwelcome at our house, here’s what we have to do:
- Put a radio out on the deck, and in the morning turn it to a talk radio station and let it blast as loud as possible until sundown. (This disturbs them while they’re trying to sleep.)
- At night, soak some rags in pure ammonia and toss them under the deck. (Have you ever smelled STRAIGHT ammonia?)
- Repeat steps 1 and 2 for 5-7 days until the foxes get the hint.
The plan has been in place for the last two days.
No neighbors have complained about the radio yet.
Foxes are still holding strong. (But as I just typed that, they are making the freakiest noises outside—maybe they’re not digging the ammonia.)
We have our bishop “the hunter” on retainer. . .
7 comments:
i would have peed my pants the first night!! good luck getting rid of them!
Crazy! I have bunnies under my deck out back. Found some remains of one the other day. Maybe your foxes are killing my baby bunnies. Sad. But maybe not so much since I just planted my garden and if they eat all my lettuce I'll be mad.
And I totally follow your friend Erin's blog; I love her. Small mormon world, no?
Keep us posted--this story is too funny. (because it's not happening to me!)
Okay, when Patrick said "four little foxes" were living under the deck, I pictured these four tiny little guys. You've got a pack of wolves there! That is so crazy. I can't wait to see if your solution works. If they are still there when I come and visit in June, we might have to have ourselves a little hunting party!!!
Crazy! and frustrating...we've had birds making nests under our deck and in dryer vents, and ground squirrels digging holes in the grass, but this is extreme--the foxes do look like a pack of wolves!
Tyler told me today he read a book that talked about a guy in Alaska who came home to a grizzly bear in his hot tub, so I guess things could be worse...look out, Monette & Aaron!
no way. i can't believe that at all. you have foxes in your yard. i had no idea this was possible! we have chickens in our yard. and dogs, bats, rats. not as exciting as foxes.
and jan-wife-of-bear-slayer, you should know the difference between a fox anda wolf.
oh, different jan. oops, sorry! i thought you were my little sister jan. you two look alike in print. i mean, not that many jans in the world...hee hee, (awkward.) by the way, does your husband hunt bears?
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