The fox is back again this year!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Over in this thread last year I asked if the little critter I was seeing in my back yard was a fox or not (it turned out to be a small family!) We had some discussion in that thread, due to the crappy pictures I had taken, about whether the creature was a coyote or a fox. I watched them long enough to finally figure out that they were gray foxes after all.

I hadn’t seen the foxes at all so far this year, and was noticing that my pear tree was very heavy with ripe pears, meaning I knew that soon I was going to have to go deal with all of the pears myself instead of having the wild creatures “help” me get rid of them.

Then, last night, one of the cats wouldn’t come in from the sunroom at about 10:30 pm. I knew that meant she had found something interesting she was watching through the windows. The windows in that room kind of wrap around, so you can see almost all of the back yard from there.

I went over to the windows and at first I couldn’t see anything unusual. But then I spotted it. A little “dog” curled up on the patio, sound asleep. It was a fox! It looked like the male from last year. It stretched out onto its side and, for a few minutes, the only thing moving was its ears. It stayed out there about an hour, changing positions every few minutes, but definitely trying to sleep. It looked like it could barely keep its eyes open. But every time there was some kind of sound, it snapped awake and looked around.

I’m really happy to see my little fox buddy back again, but I’m concerned about him for a couple of reasons.

One, the city announced that a rabid fox had been found in a downtown cemetery a few days ago. It was all over the news. The authorities cautioned people to report any foxes they see to Animal Control. I’m afraid folks around here will just put out poison instead if they see him.

Two, it appears that his back left leg may be injured. Keep in mind that it’s pretty dark out there on my patio at night. The only light on that part of the patio is from one outside spotlight. But one time he got up and actually stretched a bit, and he kept his left back foot held up high like it was injured.

I never saw a momma or any adolescents last night, just the one exhausted-looking fox. I couldn’t stay up much past midnight last night (was pretty exhausted myself) but I’m going to try to stay up as late as possible tonight to see if he drops by again and also to see if there are others.

2

Oh, poor little tired fox! I hope he’s okay.

3

I saw a fox in the park a couple weeks ago that was bright red. he sure was pretty. I bet breeders would love to get their hands on him.

4

Is there a non-profit organization in your area that rescues wildlife? They can advise you as to the proper course of action. Perhaps they can lend you a humane trap and you can transport the fox to their facility. Their vet can check his general health and decide which action is appropriate. Best of luck to your little visitor.

5

You’re probably right. Just a heads-up, though: it is illegal in many (USA) municipalities to own one.

6

I’m sure the state wildlife federation could give me advice. But I would be concerned about trapping him right now in case he’s trying to keep youngsters fed.

As we speak, he’s currently curled up like a cat snoozing on “his” patio (oh sure, I pay the mortgage, but that patio isn’t mine, it’s HIS.) I kept the blinds open on several of the sunroom windows tonight so that I could sit in there and see out when he arrived. I was beginning to think I wasn’t going to see my little buddy tonight. But shortly after 10:00 I noticed some slight movement in the grass in the back yard. There he was. He stayed out there in the grass for a few minutes, I guess waiting to see if it was safe on the patio. I’m sure he noticed light coming through the windows that he hadn’t seen before from the blinds being open. Once he decided it was safe after all, he then came up onto the patio, turned around to face the back yard, and then did a full body flop onto his side and just lay there and relaxed. My cats do that body flop thing, too. In fact, the more I watch this little creature, the more he reminds me of a cat.

He has changed positions a couple of times and even got up once and went over into an area of shadow when the neighbors came home and made noise shutting their car doors. But soon he was right back in the same spot right in the middle of the patio and did that full body flop onto his other side. It’s kinda cute to see. I wish I had the camera equipment to take pictures or, better yet, video of him doing this.

I never saw any other foxes last night, so I don’t know if he’s trying to keep any youngsters fed or not. I woke up with an awful cold this morning, so I don’t know how late I’m going to be able to stay up tonight. I don’t get sick very often. In fact, I don’t even remember the last time I had a cold. It was literally years ago. But when I’m sick, not even cute foxes can keep me up. So I may have to wait til another night to stay up late on “fox watch.”

Oh, and another thing I noticed. Last year it was very, very dry, and he and his family came into the yard to eat the pears that had fallen on the ground over and over every night, seemingly every half hour or so. So far, my fox hasn’t made a move toward the pear tree. It hasn’t been so dry this year. And we just had a period of over a week of almost-every-afternoon showers. It makes me wonder if he’s going to eat any of the pears. I know gray foxes eat fruit, but maybe he’s got plenty of other things to eat right now.

I’m going back to the sunroom now to see what happens next.

7

Not to hijack, but check this out. The link goes to the beginning of the gallery. No, no, not the pig. The one you need to look at is the 5th photo in.

8

I personaly would love to have a pet fennec fox! One of the cutest critters around!

9

I’m beginning to believe that foxes, like cats, are creatures of habit.

A few minutes after 10:00 pm tonight, I looked out the sunroom windows and there he was, curled up in his favorite spot right smack dab in the middle of the patio, snoozing. His ears were moving around picking up sounds, but they weren’t standing straight up on alert. Instead they were relaxed, out to the side. I watched him for a little while, and he would occasionally stretch and change positions, all the while with those relaxed ears.

Montgomery has a professional baseball team, and periodically throughout the season they’ll have fireworks after the game. Tonight was one of those nights. The baseball stadium is downtown. I don’t live near downtown and can’t see the fireworks but I can hear the booms and cracks as they explode.

As I heard the first boom, I thought for sure he was going to turn tail and run lickety split out of my back yard back to his den. But this little guy is so content on my patio, he didn’t even seem to notice the firework booms. Not once did his ears come up. Not once did he even lift his head, not even during the “finale.” You go look up the word “contentment” in the dictionary and you’ll see a picture of this little fox snoozing away the evening on my patio.

I figure if he’s got time to snooze, then he must be well-fed. Last night he “hunted” a big bug in the holly bushes. I don’t know if it was a cicada or maybe a June bug or maybe just some big beetle. But it was big. And loud. When he snatched it out of the holly bush that thing kicked up a huge loud squawky buzzing. I just had to see what he was going to do with it. At first he dropped it in the grass and picked it up again a couple of times, toying with it. The louder and more strident the buzzing got, the more he toyed with it. Then I suppose he decided he was tired of playing around and just munched away.

Oh, and I checked out the pear tree this afternoon and noticed there weren’t any pears on the ground yet. So I picked one, washed it off, and cut into it. Hard as a rock. The pears aren’t ripe yet. So no wonder he’s not eating them. I don’t want to eat them, either.

I stayed up as late as I could last night, but I never saw any other foxes, and after his little bug snack, I didn’t see my friend again either. So I still don’t know if he’s a bachelor or if he has a family to support.

You know, it’s really peaceful to sit quietly in my sunroom and just watch this little guy stretch and snooze on my patio while fireflies blink on and off out in the yard. I know it sounds really boring, but it’s not. It truly is peaceful. I’m fascinated that this wild creature feels safe out there, safe enough to stop by to visit me (or at least my patio) every night.

10

I am very jealous . :slight_smile: Foxes are really one of my favorite creatures.