Please be Badger and Fox aware.

Status
Not open for further replies.
summerleaze

summerleaze

Adult Guinea Pig
Joined
Mar 14, 2007
Messages
1,385
Reaction score
9
Points
0
Location
South Devon
For those of you with rabbits or/and piggies outside in hutches please ensure the accommodation is safe and secure and sturdy.

I've definitely had an increase in the number of people reporting badger and fox attacks in their garden. Sadly many small furries have not survived.

Here is a pic I've been sent as a reminder of the damage that can be done by a fox. Sadly the resident rabbit did not survive the attack.


hutch1511380x507.jpg



I don't wish for this to become an indoor/outdoor debate but hopefully it may help demonstrate the vunerability of outside hutches.

There are lots of ways to make them more secure.

On this picture the weakness appears to be in the weldmesh.


Louise at Little Brambles Guinea Pig Rescue
 
Thats why i always had 2 layers of mesh one on the outside with a wooden border and another on the inside with a wooden border .

Poor Bunny 8..., they are sitting targets in hutches
 
Far easier to deter badgers and foxes from gardens, imho...

Double-bagged meat/fish scraps and then all bin bags sealed properly and inside weighty wheelie bins;

Make it difficult for them to have an easy escape route. If they get disturbed, they will want to bolt - if they can't see an easy way out, they are less inclined to enter in the first place.

Spot/sensor lights. Triggered by movement, cheap to put up.

Hard landscaping - I know the ideal is for a lush, natural garden, but having features that attract foxes is counterintuitive to keeping them out, so a garden that has nowhere to hide/den/rest up or store food or scavenge food would make it far less attractive.

Human urine deters foxes - add some to your compost heap.

Dogs - big dogs' scent keeps foxes away.

Of course, you can do all these things, if a fox wants to eat a tasty-looking bunny or piggy, then Fort Knoxing the hutch is really the only safe thing to do.

Poor bunny.
 
Aww, poor bunbun :(

I'm so glad we don't get foxes/badgers where I live (Australia). We're lucky in that respect! Although we do have snakes... and giant lizards... and feral cats... oh and I'm pretty sure I saw a Kookaburra (bird) eyeing off my piggies while they were out in the run the other day.

Oh dear. Guess we're not as lucky as I first thought... :))
 
The other thing to do is make sure you put wire mesh on bottom of your run. And yes piggies can still get grass. I have found many holes in my lawn from foxes digging to get to piggies. And foxes will attack during the day as well as at night.
 
sadly 4 or our rescue guineas that were rehomed last year to a lovely home/set up were killed 2 wks ago a fox got in and killed them all and killed the ladies rabbit too:( so gutted :0:0:0
 
NotFondOfCarrots said:
Far easier to deter badgers and foxes from gardens, imho...


Make it difficult for them to have an easy escape route. If they get disturbed, they will want to bolt - if they can't see an easy way out, they are less inclined to enter in the first place.

Spot/sensor lights. Triggered by movement, cheap to put up.

Hard landscaping - I know the ideal is for a lush, natural garden, but having features that attract foxes is counterintuitive to keeping them out, so a garden that has nowhere to hide/den/rest up or store food or scavenge food would make it far less attractive.

Human urine deters foxes - add some to your compost heap.

Dogs - big dogs' scent keeps foxes away.

.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately even with all of the above methods will not deter most Urban Foxes and Badgers, they are just too used to humans, dogs and lights.

We had our chickens and old rabbit / guinea pig hotel attacked in broad daylight with 4 dogs in the house ( door was open onto the garden at the time)

we have tried lights, higher fences, Human urine ( male and female ) around the borders, in the compost heap and the entire fence line.

The security lights don't even make them flinch ( tbh it seems to aid the ones round here)

As for wheelie bins, the little blighters jump on top of them to knock off bricks or chew through straps that hold the lid down and then manage to get inside the bin! that gave us a fright i can tell you :{

If a Fox or badger wants its dinner to be your Piggie or Bunny you really need to secure your hutch and run.

Horrid critters!
 
A lot of the time they just kill because they can kill. There have been many incidents of them breaking into a hutch/coop and just slaughtering what was in there with no intention of eating what they killed.
 
Kazz said:
The other thing to do is make sure you put wire mesh on bottom of your run. And yes piggies can still get grass. I have found many holes in my lawn from foxes digging to get to piggies. And foxes will attack during the day as well as at night.
Click to expand...

Walking on wire mesh causes bumblefoot though? :{
 
My guinea pigs are not in the run 24/7 so are not constantly walking on the wire. If I don't put wire on bottom of my runs the foxes tunnel in. Any ideas other than wire ? My guinea pigs have never had bumble foot despite me putting wire in bottom if runs.
 
dogs do not deturr foxes, a friend has two greyhounds and the foxes actually live in the same garden (and just out of reach of the dogs). I know a fox comes into mine as pepper goes even more mental when she sniffs where they have been than the cats.

Urban foxes are far too used to people and how they live, they are frightened of nothing and quite frankly will do as they please.

I would say that picture has the lower grade wire weilded mesh found in most DIY stores and not the thicker fronts now found on hutches. I do have bolts on my bottom doors on the hutch, never leave the pigs outside unless I am about and the top section of the hutch is latched but very high up.
 
Aw, R.I.P little rabbit, it wasn't your fault hunny. xoxo 8... 8...
Karma will get that fox, don't you worry...

My pigs are in a shed - I would hate to think they are outside, exposed to all sorts of things.

___

Best regards,
Isabella, Tallulah, Penelope & Lily.
x
 
Kazz said:
My guinea pigs are not in the run 24/7 so are not constantly walking on the wire. If I don't put wire on bottom of my runs the foxes tunnel in. Any ideas other than wire ? My guinea pigs have never had bumble foot despite me putting wire in bottom if runs.
Click to expand...

I just don't have the pigs in the run unless I am out there to keep an eye on them, but that's just me. I only go by what is generally advised regarding wire, I guess if you have really long grass they wouldn't directly be on it.
 
SDRB_TP said:
My pigs are in a shed - I would hate to think they are outside, exposed to all sorts of things.
Click to expand...

Steady on before you offend those of us who DO keep our pigs outside, it's not like being in a warzone or something.
 
Luckily, touch wood, I've never seen a fox around my garden. It's completely sealed off at the bottom of the fences because of our puppy, mum didnt want her digging out.
 
I didn't have wire on the bottom of run until I left my rabbits in their run. popped in for 1 min to grab something. And in that time a fox was in garden and dug a hole trying to get into the run. Luckily I was only 1 min. And rabbits were ok. And so were my dogs that were fast asleep in the garden. so don't take that chance now.
 
We hadn't long been shifted into our new house here when one summer night a fox scared the heck out of our outside budgies and also tore a hole in the mesh (it was thick mesh too!) hence we've never had any of our animals live outside!
Bella our dog sleeps inside at night, Tommy the budgie lives indoors permanently and the girls live inside in the workshop, and only have playtime outside if i'm literally standing over the top of them!
We have foxes and cats that roam around :(

THANKS LOUISE FOR YOUR TIMELY REMINDER XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
 
My Eglu, which is made by Omlet.com has a unique skirt going all around it which makes it 100% fox proof. No animal can dig under them, so there's no need for mesh floor.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top